People at Krones – Michaela Walter

Biros, hole punchers, notepads – even in the drinktec year of 2013, the time-honoured office helpmeets are still indispensable. Project Manager Michaela Walter has for quite a few weeks now been making sure there are plenty of full cartons, so that writing utensils & co. don’t run out during the five days of the fair.

Michaela, you’ve been with Krones AG for 20 years now. There’s been lots of changes during these two decades. In your planning work, what’s the most obvious indicator that we’re now living in the year 2013?

Quite definitely, it’s the number of printers. This year, there are 27 A4 printers installed. My remit includes supplying them with paper. This means planning, ordering and making them available well in advance. But over the years, with all the different fairs, you get a pretty good feeling for what’s going to be needed.

What else belongs to your remit in the run-up to the drinktec?

There are lots of desks at the fair. This starts with the regional areas and goes up to the Executive Board’s own offices. My remit includes making sure that enough office supplies are on hand at the fair. And that adds up to quite a lot of stuff, from a biro to the printer paper. I also plan the provision of give-aways, in daily rations, by the way, so that there’s enough material in stock right down to the very last hour.  Not forgetting that the cloakroom tags and the exhibitor badges have to be organised as well.

You’re responsible for lots of trade fairs. What’s the special attraction of the drinktec for you?

More material – more work, you know, that’s how it is, and it also means a bigger challenge. It’s a whole lot of fun, though. The entire firm is pulling together here, to make sure the fair goes off perfectly. That’s important too: everyone in the sector knows the drinktec, and as a vendor you’re inevitably under very close scrutiny.