A Day in the Technical Applications Team
7. September 2022
The characteristic Microsoft Teams ringtone comes from one of the offices in the Witten plant. Technical Product Manager Andreas Wintzer quickly turns the corner with his coffee in hand, puts on the headset and takes the call. “Good morning, Torsten!” he greets the sales manager of the BU. “Sold anything today?” Torsten laughs. “Not yet, but that’s why I’m calling!”
They check the customer inquiries and product availability that need to be clarified and say goodbye. With the notes he has taken, Andreas walks a few meters further into the laboratory to the application engineers Bettina Schröer and Susanne Peters. “The tests are going well, the pre-expansion time is actually a little shorter,” reports Bettina, who is standing in her overall in front of the extractor next to the working pump. An improved formulation is being tested on a customer EPS sample, which Bettina has been doing for what feels like ages. “Good news for a Monday” says Andreas happily and continues to Susanne’s office.
She’s poring over production planning for the next month. Together they drill down on the order situation, inventories and raw material inflow in order to utilize the production facilities as efficiently as possible and at the same time meet all desired delivery dates. Custom work, especially in times like these. While Susanne is preparing samples of newly produced goods for the release analysis, sales manager Torsten Weigt is dialling into an online meeting with a customer in his office in Leipzig. They discuss the prices for the coming quarter and identify technical challenges where IOI can help. After all, technical after-sales support is one of the business unit’s special quality features.
Then, there are still a few offers to be written and − this is also part of the job − reminders to customers about overdue invoices. The morning concludes with a short team meeting between BU and Customer Service to discuss whether there are any difficulties with upcoming deliveries and which goods can leave the warehouse. Being efficient in communication is also an important key to the success of the Technical Applications team.
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Dr. Andreas Wintzer
Dr. Andreas Wintzer is Technical Product Manager in the Technical Applications Business Unit at IOI Oleo GmbH. He studied Chemistry at TU Dortmund University with an emphasis on technical chemistry, particularly in the area of renewable raw materials. The extensive knowledge he acquired during his studies is the perfect basis for his work at IOI. Before joining IOI Oleo GmbH, Andreas completed a trainee programme at the European Space Agency in the Netherlands, then gained production experience as a technologist at Papierfabrik Hagen, which at the time belonged to the Stora Enso group. He enjoys sports, regularly rides to work by bike and preferably spends his leisure time with his family or friends.
