The CFO of LÜHR FILTER reports in an interview about the joint project with GFE Solutions.
How was your technical management organized before the cooperation with GFE Solutions?
At the beginning we had an extremely high work load in the technical processing. As a medium-sized business in the project area, however, we cannot immediately hire new employees when more work is needed. After all, the additional capacity becomes unnecessary when the workload is reduced. In this case, we have already relied extensively on the support of external service providers, which, of course, have corresponding prices.
What was the main objective of the GFE Solutions project?
The goal was to set up an external engineering team that would work exclusively for us. At the same time, this team should be able to take a break for up to four weeks in times of low capacity utilization. This was possible with GFE Solutions in Kiev. There a team was set up which was trained in our processes and procedures and works on our systems from Kiev. The time-consuming and wage-intensive work, which is not constructively critical, is taken over by the team in Kiev. Meanwhile, our engineers focus on the strategically more important and quality-critical topics.
What developments and benefits have been achieved through the joint project?
The benefits achieved lie in particular in increased professionalism and financial savings. The faster and more extensively we have the required technical documentation, the lower the throughput times and the simultaneous increase in quality.
How did GFE Solutions proceed?
In our project, a project manager or rather called team leader was appointed by GFE Solutions right at the beginning. This team leader, in our case Denys Kosykh, speaks perfect English and acts as an interface between our company and GFE Solutions. He commutes weekly between Kiev and Stadthagen, stays one week in Kiev and the next week with us. The Team Leader is very strongly integrated into our processes. He takes care of any new members or terminations in the GFE team and teaches the team members. He collects the questions and challenges during the week and takes them with him to Kiev, where he designs solutions together with the team.
Why did you decide to hire a Ukrainian service provider?
The choice of a Ukrainian service provider was primarily due to a shortage of skilled workers in the engineering sector. It is becoming more and more difficult for us to find good skilled workers in Germany. Kiev, on the other hand, is known for educating good designers and engineers with high technical skills. They are also very talented in software and good programmers. In addition, German providers sometimes demand four times the price for similar quality. As a medium-sized company, we naturally have to look for alternatives. However, the prerequisite for the implementation of such a project is always that it is in compliance with labor law, which is the case with GFE Solutions’ remote service.
Which aspects were particularly important against the background of LUEHR FILTER’s corporate philosophy and customer requirements?
For us, it was important that the designers also have the appropriate training in the field of construction technology. That’s why our team at GFE Solutions consists exclusively of qualified design engineers. In addition, it had to be ensured that the employees were also trained in the use of our CAD system. This was the case with our candidates. Of course, knowledge of English was also a prerequisite, as communication had to be flawless. In the end, the employees had to familiarize themselves with the system just like any other new employee.
How did you experience working with GFE Solutions?
We were very satisfied with the cooperation. This is why we are already planning to expand the cooperation further and to employ 20 GFE Solutions employees by the end of the year.
Contact:
Kloepfel Group
Christopher Willson
rendite@kloepfel-consulting.com
Phone: +4921187545323