What Our Employees Are Saying: Engineering

What is your background with Yanmar?

I started my career in 2000 as Design Engineer in the Wheel Loader department. From 2008 to 2011, I was Product Manager. In 2011, I got back into the Engineering department as Group Leader for excavators, mobile and crawler excavators (1.4t to 12t). In 2016, I started working with the Japan Design Group for a new development project. Since 2019, I have been Engineering Manager for the Mechanical Design department.

What are your main job roles today?

My main mission is to develop new machines with my team and participate in ensuring a sustainable future for Yanmar. I am working every day to develop machines with fresh innovations, especially in terms of drive technology, materials and reduced energy requirements.

What do you like most about your job?

The job is interesting and varied, and I have the possibility to influence our products and future. I´m happy to work in a motivated team which always supports our mission. Moreover, I appreciate the interactions with other departments which are keen to have a successful future with innovative and high-quality products.

What do you like about Yanmar?

My job at Yanmar allows me to work in multicultural teams. Furthermore, I get the chance to work closely with the Engineering team in Japan, and to learn from their experience. I also appreciate the organisation of the overall Yanmar Group: I can work in Crailsheim with a very flat hierarchy, which allows a high degree of interaction between different departments and employees.

What makes you proud to work for Yanmar?

I am proud to work in a company with a real vision for the future, and with all its plans dedicated to following this vision. I´m proud to be part of this big Yanmar family and to have the possibility to develop myself and to grow with each new challenge.

What is your background with Yanmar?

I joined Yanmar Head Office in Japan in 1996. I was assigned to work for the Construction Equipment division. From 1996 to 2009, I worked within the Engineering department as Test Engineer and Design Engineer for excavators, then Design Leader for North American market machines. In 2009, I moved to France and worked as Engineering Manager within the Construction Equipment division. In 2015, I moved back to Japan as Product manager in the same division and, since 2018, I’ve been working in Germany as Director of Yanmar EMEA Compact Equipment Engineering.

What are your main job roles today?

I manage both the German and French Engineering departments in terms of new machine design, serial maintenance, future planning, and reinforcement of the team. I am responsible for the introduction and the promotion of the Yanmar development industrial standard and process in Europe.

My role is also to enhance effective collaboration with our colleagues from the Japanese Compact Equipment division, and to maximise the global Engineering force.

What do you like most about your job?

Engineering is like the mother of product design since we are the starting point of it. The “babies” we produce are those that populate the world’s construction sites. They in turn help give birth to all that makes a city grow and function, from houses and other buildings to infrastructure like water pipes, fibre optic cabling, electricity lines and so on. By enriching the lives and surroundings of others, I feel a sense of pride in being, as it were, one of the original midwives in what our machines have helped create.

What do you like about Yanmar?

Yanmar has the perfect mixture of innovative spirit to always set and meet new challenges and a traditional culture that comes from 100 years of company history. We believe that both are important foundations in the formation of our products. I also always feel of the same mind when I communicate with colleagues in other countries who are part of the Yanmar family.

What makes you proud to work for Yanmar?

When we start to conceptualise a new machine, we first visit our customers to get their opinions. We usually get positive feedback for our products and future plans, but we always listen to any concerns or suggestions. From the smiles we see, we know that our products continue to have a positive impact on our customers’ work and lives. Such moments are our great delight and make me proud to be part of the Yanmar team.

What is your background with Yanmar?

I joined Yanmar as a provider in January 2017 and was in charge of meeting the terms of the EU REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). In June 2018, I was hired as Homologation Engineer within the Engineering Department.

What are your main job roles today?

Working closely with the HSE department, I ensure compliance with the European environmental regulations. My mission is three-fold. First, to review and monitor regulations in order to understand them thoroughly, along with any updates applicable to our machines. Second, studying within a working group made up of different professional organisations the challenges we face in applying certain specific and complex regulations. Last but not least, my job is to ensure that our machines follow all current and future regulations and legal requirements by liaising with the departments involved, mainly the Design department. I also make sure that all the necessary tests are done, and all data is collected and registered.

What do you like most about your job?

I get to meet a great many people both internally and externally. I have the opportunity to visit Yanmar sites in France, Germany and Japan and I have useful exchanges with many different departments, including Engineering, Aftermarket and Purchasing.

Regulations are in constant evolution and there are new projects each year. I have to keep informed, analyse the requirements and work with multidisciplinary teams to implement them.

My job requires a lot of rigour, but I also have a lot of autonomy and freedom in the management of what I do.

What do you like about Yanmar?

I was very well received in a department which was 100% male before my arrival. The whole team trusted me, and I was able to quickly find my place and invest myself fully in my work.

The size of the plant allows for easy interaction with other departments. But Yanmar is also a group that operates on a global scale, which gives us the opportunity to exchange ideas with colleagues from different countries and to learn their culture.

What makes you proud to work for Yanmar?

Yanmar machines are known for their robustness and the company has excellent potential to continue to prosper and improve. I am proud to participate, at my level, in its development.