"The right equipment in the right place at the right time"

Stephanie and her team of now more than five colleagues make sure that the "right equipment is in the right place at the right time". This is how Stephanie herself describes her job in a nutshell. She is Head of Production Control at our plant in Aresing near Schrobenhausen. Together with her team, she is responsible for the production plan, from planning to control and smooth implementation through to the production of our equipment in assembly.

In terms of timing, production planning begins a long time before implementation, she explains. After all, not only do you have to plan your internal capacities for the long term, but you also have to plan the purchase of raw materials and parts at an early stage. Stephanie and her team base their rough planning on the Sales department's rolling forecast and operation planning. However, the closer the construction of the individual equipment gets to the present, the more exciting the challenges become.

First of all, an appliance has to go through a whole series of steps, known as milestones, during the design phase before it can be included in the actual production plan. This starts with checking the capacities in the production facility. A lot revolves around very practical questions: How many appliances can be launched each week? What is the current vacation and sickness rate in the individual departments of the production lines? Is there enough material or could there be a shortage somewhere for various reasons? As soon as Steffi and her team are sure that the construction of the equipment can be reliably started, it is scheduled into the plan before the actual implementation begins: the material is requested from the warehouses, the assembly of the equipment begins and a large number of individual production steps have to mesh seamlessly. This means always keeping an eye on where the equipment is at any given time and which production stage it is currently passing through.

For the head of production control, this means a lot of communication at this point - communication to the SCM team, to management, to assembly. Problems must be identified and discussed at an early stage. For example, when quality fluctuations or problems occur, when parts are missing because they could not be delivered as agreed, when unplannable capacity problems arise at short notice due to waves of illness, for example. Stephanie also has to coordinate closely with the various subsidiaries of the Bauer Group, such as TracMec or Schachtbau Nordhausen. And with the second plant in Schrobenhausen (Edelshausen plant) anyway. "That sometimes degenerates very quickly into tough, tough debates," she says with a laugh. Because she sees it as a matter for the boss to push through things that have been decided in the team. But she doesn't let it get her down. Stephanie, who studied mechanical engineering and production management, is far too firmly in the saddle for that. 

She began her career with a dual degree in mechanical engineering: on the one hand, she gained her Bachelor's degree, and on the other, she was able to put the theory she had learned to the test at the same time at the medium-sized family-owned company Kaeser Kompressoren in Upper Franconia, where she subsequently worked for four years as a design engineer in project management. Stephanie then went back to university, where she completed her Master's degree in Production Management.

She eventually moved to the area around Schrobenhausen from Franconia for family reasons. First to Augsburg, where her partner had taken a new job. While looking for a new professional home of her own, she finally came across Bauer Maschinen, where she took on her first job as a project manager in the Development and Design division in 2016. She then rose to become team leader for diaphragm wall technology. When the predecessor of her current position resigned, a colleague friend drew her attention to it and asked her if it wasn't for her. After briefly thinking about it, she jumped at the chance, which was in mid-2022.

And what are the biggest challenges that Stephanie and her team face in their day-to-day business? "Basically everything to do with assembly," she says. Because despite careful planning, things can sometimes go wrong. For example, when customers make special requests very late in the production process. Of course, it is a key unique selling point of Bauer Maschinen to make everything possible for its customers and to fulfill every possible special request without compromise. A promise that is taken very seriously at Bauer. But when "it feels like a spontaneous special request comes in the day before delivery", which throws the entire production plan into disarray, "that can make your blood pressure rise for a moment," smiles Stephanie. "And it doesn't just happen once a year. It's more the rule than the exception."

Calls directly from the construction site when something has broken that urgently needs to be rebuilt are also challenging. The aim here is to react quickly in order to avoid longer, cost-intensive downtimes. "In most cases, our colleagues from Parts & Service can cover this quickly and easily because they have all common wear parts in stock. But sometimes it really is a matter of new builds, and then of course the assembly team has to get to work at short notice." The big challenge is therefore to keep production running smoothly and ensure that the production plan is as stable as possible, despite the many special requests and other imponderables. This is why the focus will increasingly be on modular equipment design in the future. A larger proportion of versatile standard elements in the machines will also allow more to be prefabricated in stock and ultimately shorten the production time of the equipment. 

In addition - especially this year - there are always exciting projects in the form of prototypes. Stephanie is particularly excited about one in particular. "It's a really big rotary drilling rig for which a new carrier has to be built. It's going to be really exciting this year. Of course, we've already built many Bauer carriers, but in terms of size, we're talking about completely new dimensions." 

And how does Stephanie achieve a well-earned balance alongside the challenges of her job? "I'm an enthusiastic racing cyclist," she says. "When the weather is nice, there's a good chance you'll see me racing through the countryside." But cooking and traveling are also among her passions. And then there's her almost five-year-old daughter, who prevents things from ever getting boring at home anyway. "She already knows exactly what a trench cutter is. And a BG," laughs Stephanie. "Maybe I just work too much at home sometimes."

Working full-time despite having a child is such an issue anyway. Fortunately, the model works for Stephanie and her partner because they can manage their time very well. One of the big plus points at Bauer, as Stephanie says: "The flexibility I have here is great. My superiors have always been very understanding and have accommodated me wherever possible. A really big plus point." But the best thing about Bauer for her is still the family atmosphere. "I came here as a complete stranger, which of course wasn't easy at first. But I was quickly given a great welcome and made friends straight away. Many colleagues have now become really good friends."

We wish Stephanie continued success and a good time at Bauer Maschinen!