For the second quarter of “A Day in the Life of” campaign, we had the pleasure to interview Hendrik Wollrath, Head of Engineering for the Asteelflash Engineering Team at Bad Hersfeld site in Germany.

Hendrik has been a state-certified technician in electrical engineering and automation since 2013. 

Throughout his professional career, he has worked as an electrical designer and project manager in various companies. Before joining Asteelflash, he held the position of RnD Manager for five years in electronic device construction and building.

Hendrik commenced his role in Asteelflash in September 2022 as an NPI Project Manager, and since April 2023, he has become the Head of the Engineering Department.

Part of his daily responsibilities is to coordinate and develop the team and ameliorate the ongoing processes. He also improves machine availability, machine validations, and Capex for the Hersfeld plant.

He usually starts work at 7:00 a.m. Then, he coordinates with the team on acute issues from ongoing production, reviews and prioritizes the to-do list, attends customer meetings, and liaises with plant manager Roberto and production manager Andreas. 

What motivates Hendrik the most is seeing employees develop, improve, and enjoy their work, thus contributing to the company's success. 

Hendrik prefers to work with the team to find common solutions for exciting and exigent tasks during his working time.

One of the most challenging aspects of his position has been forming a team that contains people with many different personalities and varying levels of know-how and reacting to changing circumstances daily.

Another big challenge was the Nexxiot project, which impacted him and taught him a lot for his future work.

What marks his career is the possibility of achieving goals that he thought were impossible alongside a strong team. Next on his focus list is the Hanon project –an extremely fast-growing project with an extremely fast ramp-up phase.  

In his free time, Hendrik goes fishing and rides a bicycle.