Perspectives.
A rapidly growing market. Increasingly complex logistics demands. In emerging markets, forklift trucks and warehouse technology are replacing muscle power and hand trucks to an ever greater degree. And no one knows this better than Cristine Sauter.
The mountains of exotic fruit and vegetables are stunning; the displays extend as far as the eye can see in the gigantic market halls in the heart of the booming Brazilian city of São Paulo. Workers still load heavy crates of pineapples, melons and bananas onto traditional carrinhos – slender, makeshift wooden barrows – and manoeuvre them manually through the narrow aisles between market traders and piles of boxes. Cristine Sauter watches the hustle and bustle with great interest. “We could sell loads of forklift trucks here,” says the 37-year-old HR manager of KION South America. “The potential for us here is enormous.”
Everywhere is booming in this city of over eleven million inhabitants. Newly renovated buildings peek out between the high-rises, some extremely run-down, while residential and office complexes tower into the sky. Despite the heat, suits are the order of the day in broad Avenida Paulista, the Wall Street of São Paulo.
Recently, demand for high-quality Linde and STILL products has risen sharply, with the KION Group’s unit sales in Brazil reaching a record high in 2013. It was only a question of time before the plant in Rio de Janeiro reached full capacity. Cristine Sauter belonged to a small group of KION staff members who organised the relocation and fresh start at a brand-new factory near São Paulo.
She had the expertise required, because Cristine is a real Paulista – born and bred in the city. Her grandparents migrated there from Hamburg years ago, but the 37-year old speaks perfect German, as well as Portuguese, English and Spanish. She could navigate the chaotic traffic on the congested multi-lane streets of São Paulo in her sleep.
Looking for staff by loudspeaker
The plant is in Indaiatuba, an hour’s drive from the city. “When we started in 2012, it was a greenfield site. There were five of us, including the CEO Frank Bender, and our office started out in a former farmhouse,” she says. With a recently opened freight terminal, Indaiatuba offered better infrastructure and greater security than Rio.
When the plant was up and the machinery installed, Cristina had to recruit a qualified workforce of 120 within three months. The question was how to do this in a booming region where the unemployment rate is strikingly low, at around one per cent. “One thing we did was to send cars with loudspeakers out into the streets to spread the message that we were offering attractive jobs,” reports Cristina. This actually helped, as German employers are popular in Brazil, not least because they pay wages on time. The HR manager selected all the new employees personally. “In Brazil, direct contact is very important.”
It just had to be Brazil
The new plant, which produces counterbalance trucks and warehouse technology, was officially opened in March 2013. The workforce rose to 200 within a few months – creating plenty of work for Cristine Sauter. She uses two mobile phones to manage her job, juggling it with her private life, which involves four small children, a Labrador puppy and a new house-build. In her spare time, she is also studying for an MBA.
For Cristine Sauter, it had to be Brazil. As a young woman she lived in Saarbrücken for a few years where she studied business administration, but afterwards she wanted to go back home. “At that time, things were too slow for me in Germany.” And why did she join the KION Group? “Here I’m free to organise things myself, which is unusual in Brazilian companies. And setting up a new plant was amazing, it was like a start-up.”
She cannot get away from her German roots, nor does she want to. Her grandfather taught her the importance of a good education. “He always said that nobody can take that away from you,” she recalls. Cristina passes this philosophy on to her staff as well as her children. She works closely with the IFPA German technical college in São Paulo where young employees study for qualifications in areas such as freight forwarding and industrial management under the dual vocational training system. They get their practical experience at the plant in Indaiatuba. This is a new concept for Brazil – and it gives the KION Group a distinct competitive edge.
