People at Krones – Jarek Pawlikowski

Jarek Pawlikowski, Junior Project Manager at Krones South Africa, is in Germany for the second time this year, to exchange news and views with his colleagues in Neutraubling. Back in February and March, Jarek spent six weeks  at company HQ. Now he’s on a four-week visit to the facility in Neutraubling – a good opportunity for us to get to know our colleague from Africa better. Jarek Pawlikowski was born in Poland, and moved to South Africa with his parents when he was ten.

Mr Pawlikowski, what made you pick Krones?

When I was studying production engineering in Denmark, I had to do a mandatory six-month internship. Through an agency in South Africa, I could choose between three companies – and finally I opted for Krones in Cape Town. Since my internship, my colleagues from Krones had been keeping in touch with me  – so after I graduated I could start straight away as an Assistant Project Manager.

What do you see as the special corporate ethos at Krones?

At Krones, I simply always feel that I’m part of something big. What’s more, I rather like saying: “Do you know that the drink you’re holding in your hand is pretty certain to have come into contact with a machine from Krones?” That’s what I wanted even when I was a kid: to be part of something bigger, something good. And I recalled this feeling again during my visits here in Neutraubling, where I’ve realised once more how big the company actually is, and that makes me proud.

What does your job entail?

I have to do a lot of travelling – some customers are just 50 kilometres away, but some of them are in neighbouring countries. In South Africa, we’re already managing plenty of projects ourselves. For me, this means that first of all I get acquainted with new clients, and endeavour to meet their expectations with Krones’ corporate capabilities. But I also provide support for regular clients and long-term projects. What I really like is tracking the entire progress of a project. It’s like watching a child grow up. The best part of it for me, though, is when we run the final performance tests and realise we’ve completed a project successfully. That always fills me with pride.