One team, one task
At FIB Industries, we are always very involved with the customer. This is important to us because it enables us to find the optimum solution for the customer together, while ensuring the quality and reliability of the product. Although the customer always comes first, involvement within the organisation is just as essential to us. Everyone behind the company has to contribute together. Someone who knows exactly how to create this team spirit – and who also gets energy from it – is our newest recruit, Paul Talsma.
Paul has over twenty years of professional experience as a manager in the technical sector, having completed several educational programmes for this. He started in the Architecture & Civil Engineering programme at HTS, but found out after a year of studying that his interests were broader, namely in sales and production. So he transferred into an International Business Administration programme and obtained a master’s degree in Engineering Management. He then held various positions, including international ones. “I was Fleet Manager in Dubai and Hong Kong for a number of years. Here, I was mainly concerned with the logistical aspect, hiring people, and conducting performance reviews. This is where I gained a lot of knowledge about people. I had to make sure I had the right people in the right place, and sometimes really be a coach to them,” explains Paul. Although he liked it there, he missed home and decided to return to the Netherlands after a while. Paul continues, “Back in the Netherlands, I took up a management position as the person ultimately responsible for national policy, such as collective labour agreements, pensions, and enforcement, in a construction and infrastructure company. However, I started to miss the process of creating a tangible product here. I started thinking about what exactly I wanted and that was to work in a production environment for a leading product, a product with specialist expertise behind it, and where people make a product with pride. I was looking for an international company that does exactly this, but with its headquarters in northern Europe. And that’s how I found FIB Industries.”
Since May of this year, Paul has been working at FIB Industries as the Supply Chain & Engineering Manager. The interpersonal interactions and the culture within FIB Industries particularly appeal to him. “I’m a natural born connector and like to empower people. Even though we work in technology, the people behind it are the most important. For example, I think it’s important to really get to know all the professionals within FIB Industries because you have to put energy into building a team. This is the only way to create an optimal team spirit, which in turn ensures an optimal end result: a satisfied customer and a reliable, high-quality product. I try to achieve all this in an innovative, enterprising, and result-oriented way, while respecting individual needs.”
Besides his work, Paul’s greatest hobby is acting in a Frisian theatre company. Although the link with his position within FIB Industries and acting is not easily made, Paul is able to implement aspects of his hobby into his job. “You create something from nothing and that’s how it is in my job. When acting, everyone has their own role, but in the end, you do it together. You can also feel it when that solidarity spills over to the audience. You really start to rely on your co-stars, and I love that! This has also helped me in my dealings with others. I feel emotions in people quite quickly and I can use this in my job.”
For 75 years, FIB Industries has been a household name in the manufacturing of stainless steel products for the apparatus construction industry. Sales are worldwide, while production takes place in Leeuwarden. This is partly due to the professionalism with which Supply Chain Manager Paul Talsma works. Commitment is one of the core values that FIB Industries has been building on for years because it’s exactly this which makes us a reliable party that can deliver those quality products.