Swapping jobs – between Bavaria and Bangkok - Krones

What would it be like to swap your own job for that of another colleague in a different country or even on a different continent? That’s exactly what Benedikt Ott from Krones headquarters in Neutraubling and Benjamin Böck from our subsidiary in Bangkok did.

As an enterprise with facilities all round the world, we at Krones always want to be prepared for any future assignments in a fast-changing work environment. That applies both to our technologies and our employees. “Our aim is to forge stronger connections between our individual facilities, help people to better understand the various working methods and above all to offer our talented staff opportunities to enhance their professional skills and develop their careers, thus supporting the upcoming generation,” to quote Pawinee Ariyamongkolchai, Head of Finance, Administration Asia Pacific and one of the initiators of the “job swap” programme. Fitting in perfectly with our new Solutions beyond tomorrow claim, a very special kind of project for human resources development took place this year: Benedikt Ott, normally in charge of the Business Unit Controlling Bottling and Packaging Equipment Department, and Benjamin Böck, head of Regional Controlling Asia Pacific at Krones Thailand in Bangkok, swapped their positions for two months.

Win-win situation for companies and employees alike

The initiative was pioneered by Norbert Broger, CFO at Krones, Uta Anders, Head of Controlling, Accounting and Taxes, and Pawinee Ariyamongkolchai, who explains why this job swap was so valuable for Controlling at Krones: “It enabled us to forge a stronger relationship between the international finance departments. Doing their counterpart’s job gave Benedikt and Benjamin insights into the activities of the other’s department, proactively involved them in day-to-day business, allowed them to experience the best practices of the new team they had joined, and enabled them to share all of that with their colleagues back home.”

Swapping jobs offers a great opportunity to strengthen links within the Krones family. Erwin Hächl Benjamin BöckHead of Regional Controlling Asia Pacific, Krones Thailand

Benjamin Böck, whose normal everyday work in Bangkok includes regular contacts with the Controlling Department at company headquarters in Neutraubling, tells us about the experience he gained there: “Benedikt’s team gave me a warm welcome, which made it easy for me to settle in. I gained some deeper insights into a wide variety of tasks, like the BPE Forecast, IOS, new-machine installation, digitalisation and HR Controlling. What’s more, swapping jobs offers a great opportunity to strengthen links within the Krones family.” Benjamin Böck enjoyed his time in beautiful Bavaria, not only in the office but also at the company party, over dinner with colleagues or during sightseeing tours in Munich and Regensburg.

*Benjamin Böck used his time in Germany not least for exploring Regensburg.*

Benedikt Ott, too, can look back on a highly gratifying experience in Thailand. “Swapping my job for Benjamin’s was a truly rewarding experience. Asia Pacific is a region of vital importance for Krones. I’d already known some of my colleagues there from Teams meetings, but getting to know them in person was something else again,” he says. And he has nothing but praise for Bangkok, too: “It’s a fantastic city, and no matter where I went, I always met friendly people.”

While he was working in Thailand, the ProPak Asia was finally held again in Bangkok following a pandemic-related break.
Benedikt Ott with the Bangkok-based team.

For an even wider range of options and new ideas

Pawinee Ariyamongkolchai emphasises that this kind of job swap obviously entails some additional work. That is because gaining new insights into the projects and day-to-day business of a counterpart’s department can and must not be at the expense of the participants’ own projects. But the job swap turned out a big success, and she is very satisfied with how this experiment went: “Fostering our talented people results in an even wider range of options and new ideas. We intend to carry on with the 'job swap' programme in future.”

Fostering our talented people results in an even wider range of options and new ideas. Erwin Hächl Pawinee AriyamongkolchaiHead of Finance, Administration Asia Pacific