The people behind the HF MIXING GROUP

Located in the city of Qingdao (pop. 3.5 million), HF’s Chinese subsidiary has a German history: the port city on the Yellow Sea was a German colony from 1898 to 1919. To this day, traditional Chinese values are fused with the remnants of colonial influence. Chengwei Fan has also internalised that affinity for Western culture – without sacrificing his own roots. Born in Anhui Province, the mechanical engineer is responsible for the team of mechanics at HF Machinery (China). Meanwhile, under the leadership of HF managers Shimin Wang and Xiaolin Ma, Fan has also assumed a central role in the area of procurement for hybrid projects.

The engineer’s working style is marked by his straightforward, conscientious attitude and his strong sense of team spirit. Fan has a broad range of interests. Alongside his fascination with machines, the engineer has a deep passion for all aspects of marketing. This is the source of his clear sense that best-in-class machinery also always demands the highest quality marketing performance, in order to establish and maintain an excellent position on the market. At HF MIXING GROUP, Chengwei Fan is experiencing that in a particularly impressive fashion. “It is a great honour and a good experience to par­tici­pate in the growth and development of HF Qingdao in China”, says Chengwei Fan with unabashed pride. “The process by means of which HF, Farrel and Pomini is merging the top three players of the industry to become HF MIXING GROUP is resulting in a new worldwide market leader in the area of mixing technology.” Fan is convinced of this. And he’s working hard every day to make it happen. Chengwei Fan is honest and humble. And also willing “to work under pressure”. Passion? Fan equates that with “striving for success”. And to be successful is one of his personal goals. Out of this experience, he is acquiring the courage to try out new things and the self-confidence to explore unknown territory and take calculated risks.

Passion for detail – for Olaf Christian, that is one of the keys to the company’s success. Originally from Oldendorf near the town of Stade in northern Germany, he has been maintaining an installed base of some 170 interior mixers for more than 15 years now and is responsible for customer service throughout France. His job is to inspect the machines, assess their condition, and identify any wear, in order to minimise downtime due to unscheduled shutdowns. His detailed first-hand knowledge also makes Christian the perfect candidate to manage the spare parts business. In addition, he implements complete projects in the area of general overhauls and takes charge of installation planning and system upgrades. The complexity of the work is a source of satisfaction for Christian: “Keeping customers satisfied brings new challenges every day. I really enjoy the direct contact with the customers and the communication and interaction with the different HF teams in France.”

In his day-to-day work, Christian spends a lot of time travelling. The service expert places an especially high value on family as a result. Early on, Christian developed a particular affinity for France and its savoir-vivre. His work in the field of rubber mixing technology for the companies Werner and Pfleiderer brought him to France in 1992. Today Christian lives in St. Cloud – west of Paris not far from Versailles – together with his wife, a Frenchwoman, who works in the banking industry as the head of a controlling department. Their 21-year-old son is studying graphic design in the French capital.

Christian takes a very positive view of HF MIXING GROUP’s prospects for the future, not least because the fusion of the different companies provides the opportunity to offer expanded services in France and to combine the best technologies and ideas. But Christian finds that the new dimensions of the organisation also impose new demands. In order to get to know the colleagues from the different locations better, he believes that it would be useful to plan even more customer visits together. That would promote internal and external communication.

The since October 2014 newly married Ahmad Supian is as general manager responsible for HF MIXING GROUP’s South-East Asia region. From the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur (pop. 1.6 million), Supian organises all services in that area. In order to provide rapid response times and good service, Supian has a service employee based in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Some 9.5 million people live in the political, cultural and economic centre of Indonesia – and about 30 million in the metropolitan area of Jakarta. There is another service technician based in Thailand who is also supported from the main office in Kuala Lumpur. The General Manager knows that it’s no accident that the HF office has been established in the Malaysian capital. The transportation network is excellent. That favours the logistics of the HF MIXING GROUP: rapid access to the key customers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand is guaranteed – an important competitive advantage for Ahmad Supian.

The General Manager also has a positive opinion regarding the creation of HF MIXING GROUP. Each and every product offers its own very special qualities and strengths, which have to be combined in the future. That will make it possible to realise synergy effects, which will provide the HF MIXING GROUP with good prospects for further technological progress. If you ask Supian, this will result in additional growth. He’s absolutely convinced about that. And to make sure it happens, the General Manager applies his core attributes of passion and tenacity in the pursuit of his objectives. Moreover, he is also widely admired for his skills as a listener and a negotiator. He knows, of course, that the path forward is never a straight line. But obstacles are there to be overcome. Supian’s credo: he who works hard also achieves his goals.