After arriving in the company, Mr Buchert likes to grab a cup of coffee. He then goes on to planning the day and handling the first emails. That is what our CEO’s morning routine looks like. In general, there is no such thing as a normal working day< however, Mr Buchert tries to keep his Mondays and Fridays free in order to confer with his direct reports. This is very important to him so that he can keep abreast of things. On the other weekdays, he is usually away on business at different locations, either visiting customers or participating in conferences. This does not leave him with very much free time, so that he especially looks forward to a well-deserved break on the weekend with his family and friends. Whether he goes to work early or late in the day, Mr Buchert prefers leaving later. Naturally, this is because unfinished and unscheduled tasks arise all the time. The good business performance as well as the many exciting projects currently underway at TA provide lots of motivation. Even though, achieving the worklife balance that is much discussed often gets short-shifted. It is here, however, where he thinks he needs to make improvements.
Especially in the case of negative feedback from customers or employees, it is important to remain calm and sleep on the information before you react too emotionally. That is how he tries to keep stress under control. On the one hand, it is a big burden to have to travel at least three days a week, but it is also extremely motivating. Above all, it stimulates him to make constant improvements, be it in our solutions, processes or services. Moreover, with today’s means of communication, it is easy to keep in touch with the office or family. His favourite way to travel is by plane or car. Now, Mr Buchert is particularly interested and involved in the digitalisation of the global automotive aftermarket. It is important to analyse the possible consequences for TA and draw the correct conclusions, so that we can be as successful in 2020 as we are today.
Mr Buchert began his professional career at Bosch as a ‘Marketing & Sales Trainee’. After this position, he took over the management of sales for ‘white label goods’ (dishwashers, refrigerators, etc.) in the Benelux region. In 1995, he took responsibility for the product management of commercial goods (spark plugs, filters, wipers) in the automotive aftermarket sector. From 1996 on, he was responsible for sales in Eastern and Western Europe. In 2001, he was given the opportunity to take on a completely new task: the management of TecCom. The following criteria were of significant importance for him in taking this decision: the development of a start-up, complete entrepreneurial responsibility, and the business segment of e‑commerce, which was a completely new market segment at the time.
Mr Buchert visits a location every week and tries as much as possible to establish direct contact with employees. Whether in the canteen, which he regularly visits, or in the CIT (Continuous Improvement Team), he also tries to understand the everyday problems of his employees.
He has 11 employees who report to him directly. He relies on their taking a high degree of self-initiative and individual responsibility when it comes to management. In other words, he has a rather ‘democratic and interactive’ style of leadership. One of his most important duties is to set the right priorities and create suitable conditions for the teams to accomplish their tasks. Not exactly easy, because the TA team always (!) has more ideas and projects than it has money or resources available.
In the Trainee Newsletter team, we are very proud that Mr Buchert regularly reads our newsletter to get a better overview of the TecAlliance trainee programme’s strengths and weaknesses. The good experiences with trainees are one reason why the trainee programme is being further expanded. In his opinion, the trainee programme should be internationalised so that meaningful exchange with trainees from other countries can take place. Mr Buchert can even imagine having a trainee accompanying him one day. Unfortunately, no trainee or student is currently employed in Mr Buchert’s department. We would like to thank Mr Buchert for providing us – the Trainee Newsletter team – with insights into his professional world and hope that you could also get to know him a little better.