Priority in the competitive advantage of the various business units at the local level is given by SKF Hellas, which has been operating in Greece since 1925 and according to Rania Patsiopoulou Managing Director of the company, offers immediate maintenance solutions throughout the Greek industry from the food industry up to aeronautics.
– How will the introduction of a decentralized model, which was mentioned last February by Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO of the SKF group, affect the operation of SKF Hellas?
SKF, in the context of the implementation of the decentralized model in terms of its strategy, gives priority to the competitive advantage of the various business units at the local level. For SKF Hellas, this means that competitive advantages such as e.g. the geopolitical position of our country, but also that there is now more flexibility to diversify our products and services, in order for them to meet local needs. Indirectly, SKF Hellas’s role as a local Business unit is strengthened, and this results in an increase in overall efficiency. The introduction of a decentralized model is an excellent tool that will allow us to focus on each branch of the company separately, with a different development strategy since each branch has its own needs which require an individualized approach. Therefore, we can offer immediate maintenance solutions throughout the Greek industry in sectors such as the food industry or energy production through wind turbines. The Shipping department in Greece already has the ability to serve fully worldwide through a huge range of products with bearing fleet agreements & services.
– In which sectors of the industry do you focus your interest? Is there a further field for new industries where you are not currently present with your products and if so who are they?
We currently have a presence in every industry from the food industry to the aeronautics industry. Market trends create the need to develop new solutions that will adapt to new market requirements. A new such challenge is the electrification of passenger and commercial vehicles for which we already offer special bearing solutions. In recent years, fields such as Shipping and new forms of energy production – such as “ocean energy” are now visible from SKF’s point of view. For the first time SKF designed a complete Powertrain – a holistic system consisting of gearboxes, bearings, lubricants. At the upcoming Poseidonia shipping exhibition on June 6, all our new products and solutions will be presented.
– What are the moves that have been implemented in Greece in the field of digitization of your operations and how do they contribute to your more effective activity in the market?
SKF has been very active in digital technologies for several years. As part of its strategy, the company has adopted practices aimed at digitizing and optimizing its operations and services. One of these technologies is artificial intelligence (AI). As an example, artificial intelligence technology is based on the advanced predictive maintenance software implemented by SKF in the context of the digitization of an older system, in industries such as shipping that are particularly demanding. This resulted in the optimization of its operation, the increase of the security level, the better performance of our systems and services as a whole.
– Will there be a balance of power with other areas of activity in which you will soon give more weight, in addition to the industry that currently represents most of your sales?
In recent years, we give a special basis to the expansion of the range of products and services in existing industries, based on the fact that each industry has its own needs and characteristics. These needs are dynamic and even change from year to year. The balance of power, then, has more to do with trying to adapt our technologies to the demands and needs that are constantly changing. A typical example is SKF Recond Oil technology, which is a pure chemical filtration and rejuvenation technology for industrial lubricants and petroleum residues. This technology was developed because we realized that the need for a cleaner and more efficient operation of the industry is increasing, while it is applied in other sectors with a similar principle of operation of mechanical equipment, such as shipping (engine room).
– What is the role of crisis management in the current period in an organization, especially in your industry? How much emphasis have you placed on crisis preparedness and in what ways?
Our priority is to secure a stock of products and to have a continuous flow in the supplies of the main factories, knowing how much the ‘downtime’ (indirect waiting cost) costs. Trust, immediacy and constant communication with our resellers and their end customers in the market is the key in these difficult times. Taking into account the delays in world production and the needs of the Greek market, we constantly strive to make correct forecasts in the stocks of our products. Above all, during the last 2 years with covid crisis, the company acted immediately by setting up local crisis management teams, enabling them to make decisions for the best possible response to the crisis with a remote working model, reorganizing internal procedures for remote completion. Also, the demand forecast was formulated in such a way that there is no interruption in the deliveries of products, always in combination with the coverage of the needs of our production factories.
– In addition to the widespread penetration of digital technology, how much has the pandemic changed culture, but also the role of leadership of an organization?
Undoubtedly, leadership plays a very important role in a time of crisis such as the pandemic. Specific leadership skills are required for the growth & development of a company, but also transformation to adapt to the particular conditions formed by the crisis. It is particularly important that this transformation includes the concepts of support, mobilization and animation to the company’s staff. Of course, this is not easy in a large organization, especially with digitization being part of our daily lives and work, since the tools that a leader has in his hands – communicative and not only – are digital, but empathy remains human. feature.
Source: Capital
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