Four stories, four WOWs

It’s who I am. Full throttle, but not like a race car, more like a speedy, adaptable amphibious vehicle. This is how I approached my first ever task at Freudenberg; to establish an engineering team in North America from the ground up. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! Luckily, our German headquarters kept me above water with excellent support and training.

I survived and thrived, but there have been some real challenges since I started here in 2016. Mostly its green lights, but watch out for those yellows and reds, I say to myself. Still, if you have a fair idea of the end destination, then there is no need to be afraid of taking your foot off the gas now and then to get a better perspective of what is ahead. And my driver for all tasks and challenges is customer centricity: I really live it and it helps me ultimately to lead to business growth.

A career at Freudenberg is not really a linear journey anyway, there are always interesting side excursions. One of my best little off-road career trips was Freudenberg’s global leadership & strategy summit, which I attended in 2024. There, in my current role as Director of Global Value Engineering at Freudenberg Filtration Technologies, I interacted with executives from all over the world in an informal setting; learning how future visions are crafted within Freudenberg, what the megatrends are and how the company plans to meet future internal and external demands. Inspiring!

I have also been fortunate enough to be involved with Leadership Training, Freudenberg’s Mentoring Program and with Self-Development Leadership. What have they given me? Tools to move forward. But through all the learning and doing, all the milestones and experiences, what really wows me is how Freudenberg touches lives in so many ways and provides a myriad of solutions. For example, filters for cars. 

And that is what I want to do – have an impact. And my way of doing it is to follow my mantra: Leave the process and systems in a better state than when you inherited them. And I am always working on doing that. Full throttle!

I have spent my 20 year-long career working in either Germany or China. I am currently General Manager of Technology and CTO of Klüber China, one of the biggest countries & production sites of Klüber Lubrication. I would say I began as a scooter and now I am a high-performance German car. Ultimately, in terms of your career at Freudenberg, there’s no right or wrong option or direction. They always try to figure out, in conjunction with you, the direction that fits you individually the best. My philosophy is: “Know yourself and grow yourself.” Get this right, and the rest will take care of itself.

Starting as a trainee in Munich really helped my career. When I arrived in 2007, I had just graduated from university. It was my first time abroad, so scary! I was not sure what to expect, but HR staff and my mentor welcomed me at the airport and eased my worries immediately. Freudenberg helped to arrange my relocation and apartment. During my stay, many colleagues took me out sightseeing or hiking in the surrounds of Munich. So, the city really felt like a second home to me. 

My confidence then grew and that set me up for my return to China, where I remember standing on the roof of a new factory in 2007. I just knew it was going to be a very important site for Klüber Lubrication in China, and for me. My thoughts proved true because after a period, I was promoted in China to Plant Manager, which meant I was now supervising several past co-workers, which could have been a more difficult situation than starting my own new team. Luckily, Freudenberg supported me, as they have for my 20 years here. 

Why am I loyal employee? I’m moved by how Freudenberg takes its social responsibility seriously. Many years ago, I participated in summer camp at Haijin Freudenberg Primary School, where I experienced this myself. That inspired me and is one of the reasons I plan on staying here for a long time. 

As a R&D and Quality Manager my job is to make sure solutions work. By addressing issues related to production flexibility, operational efficiency, R&D, quality control, I’ve contributed to driving improvements and fostering a culture of continuous enhancement within the organization. Being recognized for my contributions has been motivating and affirming.

Freudenberg fosters a culture of innovation and invests heavily in research and development. Employees are encouraged to think creatively and develop new solutions, which makes the work intellectually stimulating and rewarding.

One of the best things I have been involved with is when I led a cross-functional team that had the task of standardizing test methods across global laboratories. At that time, Freudenberg operated several laboratories across different divisional sites in Italy, France, the USA, and other countries. Each site had developed its own test methods, leading to some inconsistencies in data and results. This variability was affecting our ability to ensure uniform quality standards across products and regions. Standardizing these test methods was crucial for improving internal collaboration, reliability and efficiency. Drawing on best practices and input from experts across the company, we developed a set of standardized test methods that are robust, reproducible and adaptable to different regional regulations and needs.

In the near term, I aim to deepen my expertise in my current role by taking on more complex projects and challenges. Over the next few years, I envision progressing to a position where I can have a broader impact on the company. In the long run, I aspire to reach a senior leadership position where I can influence the strategic direction of Freudenberg.

Freudenberg holds so many opportunities, once in, it is not necessary to ever leave again. I am evidence. I was given an opportunity to work in engineering but my profile is anything but an engineering one. My educational background is Psychology and I have a PhD in that field. 

I would say that I worked my way up by digging myself deep down into the company. I connected with colleagues globally across Freudenberg and EagleBurgmann, which is now part of Freudenberg Flow Technologies, and have got to know and collaborated with many different functions all over the world. All this time I have been gaining deep operative knowledge in product management, and also now have a comprehensive overview of the structure and ways of the company, which my HR role helped me greatly with, as it did with enhancing my entrepreneurial thinking. I have been able, in fact, to be the driver of my own career.

Things don’t always work out immediately. They might look and feel right and necessary but, at that moment, they do not work. But sometimes an organization just needs time, especially when many stakeholders are involved. So, don’t give up, keep doing what is right and eventually things work out. 

Freudenberg rewards not only performance but also behavior that is in line with its guiding principles. I draw a lot of inspiration from the many true entrepreneurs here that are also decent humans. I see myself like this, and I am very proud to support the Freudenberg Diversity & Inclusion community, making sure that people from minority groups feel welcome and accepted. 

It is really very simple to move ahead here. Just know what you want and always act the job that you are working towards without being in that formal role yet. Be authentic, think big and work hard. Give yourself some time. Don’t be scared of mistakes, try things out. And very important, make use of the good supportive networks that exist throughout this organization.