For his engineering degree, some 20 years ago, Mike chose a partner company with which he could solve a really exciting task. He chose voestalpine Sadef nv in Hooglede-Gits (Belgium), which commissioned him to simulate the cold rolling production of variable longitudinal beams for trucks.
To do this, he immersed himself in the world of roll forming for steel products, a niche market in which personal experience and human expertise are still crucial today, despite artificial intelligence and supporting technology. After the study was completed, we brought him into our team to test the production theory in practice on a test system. With the positive result, a prototype was then created for interested customers. Today, 18 years later, he has evolved from part of the management team as Operations Manager, responsible for 25 roll forming lines, to Managing Director of our site in Belgium. With voestalpine Sadef nv, we are specialists in open and closed steel sections according to customer requirements and today process cold-rolled steel profiles into ready-to-assemble components with around 600 employees. The equipment required for this is developed in our in-house engineering office – a decisive advantage for customers from the automotive and solar industries, for example.
In roll forming, a wide variety of profiles are custom-made for different applications in several processing steps using different rolles and finished with a variety of post-processing operations. Mike and his team are responsible for 1,500 different profile products. Every few hours, a complete rolling line is set up for a new product.
When customers order new shapes or a product is developed in-house, many people stick their heads together and work out which sequences, rolling shapes and reworking make sense. If, at the end of the day, a product is created that the customer is pleased with, that makes him “happy”.
He also enjoys seeing his team grow mentally and competently and always realizing exciting projects together. The fact that he can make a significant contribution to the growth of the company with decisive investment projects is another thing that connects him to his job. He likes to laugh, because that also contributes to the next big or small decision and encourages him to take the next step. That helps people move forward.
Today’s successful mounting systems for photovoltaic systems such as Fastslide® and Flexroof® are successful examples of this. From the UK to Jordan, they ensure that the PV modules are safely oriented towards the sun as free-standing or roof-mounted systems. With his input, Mike helped the team to find out how the mounting profiles can be processed on the roll forming line to create the best solution for the customer. The teams also shared their experiences and ideas on floating PV systems, carport solutions and vertical solar. Today, some of these are patented.
Mike obviously enjoys contributing to the creation of products on one of the largest production lines for cold-rolled special profiles in the world. Here, it is even possible to process very large profile diameters with the tightest tolerances, for example for gas pipelines. What used to be welded from two halves can now be produced in one piece. Such challenges can only be solved by working together. Mike learned teamwork at a young age playing soccer:
He enjoys being out and about with his three young daughters and his wife and spending time together – traveling or enjoying the three ladies’ hobbies: Soccer, basketball and dancing. Just as the parents cheer on the girls at their “jobs”, the little ones motivate “Papa Mike” at home. In the evening or when Mike inspects the steel profiles in the current environment on family trips, they ask what he does and achieves at work. “Sitting in meetings and talking” is certainly not a satisfactory answer. “Making a good steel profile for a new customer” is better. At the Family Days at our Belgian site, everyone can experience the processes and end products and sit on huge tractors, for example. Successfully driving projects forward or managing a family together is only possible with fair team play and communication – something he also learned from soccer. Nowadays, he also enjoys spending time with friends cycling, mountain biking or playing darts in small competitions. That’s what he stands for: To always give his best, wherever he is!
In our new brand and image campaign #FavoriteMoments, we show our contribution to a modern, sustainable life from the perspective of people. We focus on their individual favorite moments and the commitment of our employees that makes such moments possible. The specially composed song “All these moments” accompanies the campaign and musically conveys our values, courage, community and our joy for the future and is authentically accompanied by pictures of our employees.
Die voestalpine ist ein weltweit führender Stahl- und Technologiekonzern mit kombinierter Werkstoff- und Verarbeitungskompetenz. Die global tätige Unternehmensgruppe verfügt über rund 500 Konzerngesellschaften und -standorte in mehr als 50 Ländern auf allen fünf Kontinenten. Sie notiert seit 1995 an der Wiener Börse. Mit ihren Premium-Produkt- und Systemlösungen zählt sie zu den führenden Partnern der Automobil- und Hausgeräteindustrie sowie der Luftfahrt- und Öl- & Gasindustrie und ist darüber hinaus Weltmarktführer bei Bahninfrastruktursystemen, bei Werkzeugstahl und Spezialprofilen. Die voestalpine bekennt sich zu den globalen Klimazielen und verfolgt mit greentec steel einen klaren Plan zur Dekarbonisierung der Stahlproduktion.
