I work in Engineering Process Development as a Project Manager/Engineer. It is a relatively new department that was created in the summer of 2008. Our focus is: competence, concept and process development. In other words »which competences should our engineers and technicians possess, now and in the future?« In practice this means that we work on getting our Engineering Academy up and running, as well as working on developing and disseminating knowledge of our PLM system Teamcenter. Teamcenter is a database system that handles everything from technical models and drawings to various design specifications and other information that is needed to be able to build an engine. It is to be the organisational tool for all of our designers in Denmark and abroad.

I have worked for MAN Diesel & Turbo on two separate occasions. The first time I began in 1992 and then spent ten years in our department of Research & Development. I found other work for a few years outside of MAN Diesel & Turbo to be able to experience some other things, but I ended up returning in the summer of 2008, partly due to the very open management culture that I experience at MAN Diesel. What I mean by an open management culture is that the company provides opportunities for self-expression and it is only desire and will that limit your opportunities. You can certainly try out your ideas and put them into operation, if you are ready to fight for them. In other words, if you want to you can influence things, and that really appeals to me. In addition it is great fun working with huge (the largest in the world!) 2-stroke engines and the knowledge that we are the best in the world at what we do is clearly motivating me. It is a really exciting technical product to work on – particularly for some-one like me who was originally trained as a mechanical engineer.

Seen in a social perspective, there is a wide-spread ethos of teamwork in the company, which I think is a strong point for work in general. There is great focus on raising the level of cooperation in the departments. For example, in my department we have recently been on a two-day workshop, where we worked on defining and underpinning the department’s identity, competencies and goals. This has high priority for the company and resources are allocated to this kind of initiative.