Salut, David!
David Guidez joins the Vogelsang Management Board as the third Managing Director
David Guidez joined the Vogelsang Management Board as a new member in February of this year. Together with Hugo and Harald Vogelsang, he determines the company’s direction with a focus on the areas of order processing, purchasing, logistics, quality management, production, service and internal sales. Since beginning his duties in Essen/Oldb., the 44-year-old Frenchman has had a clear vision for the mechanical engineering company: to structure work and production processes to be more lean and agile, while keeping customers’ needs in focus and strongly involving employees; and to drive ahead digitization within the company.
THINK RED!: Mr. Guidez, why did you decide to join the Vogelsang family?
David Guidez: Vogelsang is an internationally successful mechanical engineering company and inventor of many technologies that have revolutionized the market. From the rotary lobe pump to the dribble bar system and precision distributor, through to the RoadPump, Vogelsang has set the standard in the sectors with its innovations and is the market leader in many segments. The employees’ passion and innovative spirit remain in full force today, even after the company’s 90-year history. Today the Vogelsang brand stands for quality, service and reliability – around the world. Working at this family-run traditional company and further expanding the brand is a wonderful opportunity. Since I trained as a mechanical engineer myself, I feel at home here and look forward to the challenges that await me at Vogelsang.
What are your impressions of the Vogelsang team so far?
Vogelsang has qualified and motivated employees who feel connected to the company and products. The headquarters in Essen/Oldb. is a meeting place for people from many countries and fields of expertise. Yet they all feel themselves to be a unit and stand loyally behind their employer. To me, that’s a key factor for success. Right from the outset my ideas and visions have been received with much openness and trust – which really motivates me to begin my work in earnest.
What tasks and goals are first on your agenda?
My goal is to optimize our processes along the entire value chain. Quality assurance will be a key factor in production and assembly, both in Germany and abroad. Another core task is to establish uniform standards for processes and quality at the subsidiaries. At the same time, we want to increase production at the various sites and improve our delivery performance.
How will you achieve that?
With my hands-on mentality, combined with an energetic, capable and highly motivated team. I’ve been working in Germany for 20 years and have amassed a wealth of experience in the areas of production management, operational excellence and employee management at medium-sized technology companies. Based on this experience, I know how to make the right adjustments, whether minor or major, that are necessary to achieve greater value. The interplay of company organization, customer-oriented product innovations and employees is essential.
Aside from process optimization, what topics are especially close to your heart as Managing Director?
For me, products and services always have to offer the customer added value of some kind. That’s my basic attitude in all of my duties. Service is a key feature that distinguishes Vogelsang from its competitors.
And that should continue in the future. In order to ensure that we are successful here, I want to invite the employees to get more involved. After all, they know best what the customers’ needs and expectations are. Vogelsang’s path toward internationalization as well as the establishment of new subsidiaries and assembly lines abroad means we also have to deal with the new requirements in order to ensure a uniform service and quality standard. My goal is therefore to increase the trust of customers around the world in Vogelsang and to establish ourselves as a reliable manufacturer, supplier and partner in foreign markets.
To what extent does digitization play a role here and how does the customer benefit?
Our customers’ needs are always the focus. We want to offer them high-quality products at good prices without long delivery times. Although we are very well positioned in this regard, we can still improve our performance by digitizing processes. For example, in the future customers should benefit from high availability of spare parts and an after-sales program tailored to their needs. To make this a reality, we must respond flexibly to inquiries and requirements. Modern technology and digitization will also make servicing our products even more service-friendly and straightforward. We are already performing remote maintenance on some of our products that are in use by customers. The key is rapid intervention with as little work as possible for the customer. That will continue to be the measure for our work in the future.
Professional career
Born in France in 1974, David Guidez has lived in Germany for over 25 years. Following his technical studies in France, he additionally studied mechanical engineering and production technology at the University of Applied Sciences in Dortmund. He then began his career as an engineer at an automotive supplier and went on to expand his career experience at various medium-sized technology companies in production, operations and management positions. He spent most of his career in production management; most recently he worked at Rauscher FX as Managing Director.
Personal life
Things can get loud around David Guidez – especially when he reaches for his electronic guitar: the father of three children is an enthusiastic guitarist. When it comes to sports, he can be found looking for new challenges on the tennis court. The Frenchman also balances out his work with cooking and preparing sophisticated desserts. His French roots are on full display here, whether crêpes flambées or mousse au chocolat – ça va!