Portrait of an employee: Mr. LIGNA
After a total of 32 years as the manager of the training center, Wolfgang Mutschler began his well-deserved retirement this past year. But what made his career at HOMAG something special? Five questions, five answers.
-
![After a total of 32 years as the manager of the training center, Wolfgang Mutschler began his well-deserved retirement this past year]()
After a total of 32 years as the manager of the training center, Wolfgang Mutschler began his well-deserved retirement this past year
What did you do at HOMAG?
On January 1, 1988, I started at HOMAG as manager of the customer training center and I remained in this position until my retirement. Back then I started with two trainers. I gradually built up the training team with colleagues from production and testing. In 1994, I took over the technical documentation, and in 2000, foreign language management.
What was one of your biggest challenges?
In the early days, it was difficult to get the message across to sales that training courses are important and time-consuming services and therefore also cost money. If sales spends two hours negotiating for a machine, operator training should be addressed for at least two minutes of the discussion. The top priority is always to have satisfied customers who can use our machines optimally for rapid and productive work processes.
Another important challenge automatically generating the machine documentation — especially as this was done on a customer-specific basis. Today, this still allows us to create considerable customer benefits and train our customers specifically on the units and software options that they install in their machine.
When you look back, what was one of the funniest stories from your time at HOMAG?
There were a lot of funny moments, but there's one story I still remember well. On Father's Day, employees were able to visit LIGNA in Hanover. Once the exhibition had closed, there was a "private" machine demonstration on a powerLine single cell with circulation. The demonstrator wanted to incorporate something special. At first, the demonstration ran as normal — the first, second and third edges were glued on. In the last throughfeed, full crates of beer for all employees suddenly came past on the workpieces. Everyone was very surprised — including me! To make sure that the crates of beer didn't pass us by, I quickly ended my moderation with an "EMERGENCY STOP," saying: "HOMAG employees aren't just creative when it comes to developing machines, they can also be creative with 'unusual' workpieces!"
Where does your "title" Mr. LIGNA come from?
Oh yes, this nickname was first given to me by Mr. Hamm when I was awarded the diamond badge of honor of the HOMAG Group. I didn't know myself what I had done to deserve this honor,
because I think the title belongs to Thomas Storz. For me, he is "Mr. LIGNA." He was the one who came up with the brilliant ideas for the technology shows. I was "just" the person who implemented the ideas, who got to stand in the spotlight at the trade fair. I was responsible for making sure we captured the audience's attention and he always provided the perfect "stages" and everything that went with them — really putting his heart and soul into it with infectious passion. That provided me with a lot of motivation for all LIGNA activities and shows, which, by the way, were only so successful thanks to the demonstration teams and their impressive talent for improvisation. This hard work—characterized by reliability—from all parties involved meant many HOMAG shows have been very impressive, with lasting impressions for sales and of course, our customers.
I'm proud of this "nickname," and am very grateful to the "spotlight" that I stood in for it.
What made your work at HOMAG particularly special?
Obviously the great freedom I had thanks to the tolerance of the executive board. That always makes you want to carry on working. And my work colleagues: I was always able to rely on them. And also my managers — even if we didn't always share the same opinion. They never let me down.
I am convinced that the work at and for trade fairs welds the team—well, the entire HOMAG family—together, even if that always means stress. In the future, that should be seen as a whole and rated as fundamentally necessary!