No monotony at all

Some like it, others fear it. Daniel Franco belongs to the second category. He has little experience of monotony in the workplace. Fortunately, this doesn't happen to him. Daniel, aged 28, recently became head of maintenance and servicing at VOG Products. For him, that means even more responsibility – and also more diversity in his work. With his new tasks, he has to overcome both technical and human challenges when dealing with employees.

But Daniel Franco has learned to handle challenges."They appeared soon after I joined the company," he says. In July 2015, he had applied for a job at VOG Products after graduating from the mechanical engineering section of the TFO-high school. As he had already completed a school related summer internship at the company a year earlier, the motivated young man did not have to wait for long. Three days after the job interview, he slipped on his work shoes for the first time, accompanied by a colleague, to maintain and repair machines and equipment.

Less than a month later, the first major "test": Daniel filled in with the so-called 4th team, which covers the 24-hour rotation in the 7-day weeks during the high season. Which meant: The then 19-year-old was on his own during his night shift as a technician and had to demonstrate his problem-solving skills. "Today I am glad that I was thrown in at the deep end back then. I learnt a lot, because I not only had to get involved practically, but also understand the context."

Daniel was on rotation duty for four years. He was enthusiastic about it, even if the irregular, sometimes night-time working hours demanded a great deal of discipline and flexibility on his part. That meant that some of his other activities had to take a back seat. But his voluntary work with the volunteer fire brigade and the "Krampus" association were - and still are - very important to Daniel. In 2019, he gladly accepted the offer to work as deputy head of the maintenance and servicing department with fixed working hours during the day. From then on, Daniel additionally took care of the organisation of the work. "The maintenance of the machines is partly carried out by the manufacturing companies," he mentions. "I organise the time and procedure and accompany the process."

Daniel likes working with VOG Products' high-tech equipment. "The company invests in machines and modern equipment every year. As a result of the installation and maintenance, I'm always up to date with the latest technology," he says. Monotony? No chance!

Following the retirement of his predecessor, Daniel has recently been promoted to head his department. As the youngest in the department at the time, this has brought him further responsibility. "People are not machines that run according to a certain pattern. Each and every person has their own character and special strengths." For Daniel it is important to communicate well with everyone in the team and to achieve the common goals.

He is happy to have climbed the steps of the career ladder from the very bottom. "I know all the realities in my field. This also creates trust between me and my team". Daniel Franco very much appreciates the fact that the management of VOG Products trusts young employees and gives them the opportunity to assume responsibility. And even if he now has a lot of work as "boss" and sometimes has to grit his teeth, at the end of the day the positive feeling of having made progress again prevails.