“Cooperation and openness: key to future success”

Procurement Controlling is a newly created Group Function in the TRATON GROUP. Can you explain how this area relates to the TRATON Modular System?

To ensure that we successfully implement the TMS, TRATON’s brands and Group Industrial Functions must work well together. This cooperation is made possible by the so-called “enabling functions”. among other things, and I was honored to be asked to take this leadership role for TRATON Procurement Controlling. At the moment, the focus is on how we will position ourselves in the future in order to efficiently exploit the synergy potential. It’s not for nothing that procurement is considered an important lever for economic success in business administration.

What talents, qualifications and skills do you need in the procurement controlling team?

In order to identify how value creation potential can be meaningfully optimized, the employees in the Procurement Controlling team must understand the TRATON GROUP’s business model and appreciate the truck as a product. They should also know that collaboration and openness are the key to future success – because we will only be better than our competitors if we learn and achieve something together. Equally, it’s important that they have a vision for the future and the required patience and tenacity to make this vision a reality. In addition, there is of course the necessary financial knowledge too.

What is the composition of the team?

Each TRATON GROUP brand already has its own procurement controlling team, it’s these colleagues who now also play an important role in Group Procurement Controlling. This function has been newly created to better coordinate the cooperation of the teams and meet the needs of the global procurement organization. We are currently jointly defining the future activities of this newly created unit and each member is supported by their individual teams, which are already actively involved in various working groups.

The big challenge in this work is keeping an eye on the similarities, and at the same time taking the time to learn from the respective differences. For example, what regional peculiarities exist within the supply chains in Sweden or Brazil, for example. For me, it was a personal highlight when the controllers jointly decided that the figures of “their brand” should be presented by other team members in the meetings with the TRATON Procurement management. This shows how well the understanding of the business of the other brands has developed and how much trust has developed among each of us.

Do you see yourself more as a cost-conscious efficiency manager or rather as a designer of the transformation? Or is it a mixture of both?

It’s a mixture of both. However, the focus is currently more on the transformational aspects of my work.

Where exactly does your team’s commitment reflect the Group’s success? And what does it mean to you to be part of something bigger – the TRATON GROUP and its brands?

Procurement Controlling has a clearly defined mission: Together we create value as a trusted and collaborative business partner by delivering financial guidance for decision making with Group Procurement. We actively govern, monitor, and steer performance and results, partnering to shape the future within the Group. Many things we initiate impact other team members and various TRATON GROUP areas, as well as our brands. As a result, we already see ourselves as part of something bigger.

How can a team meet the challenges of the future?

It’s very important to enjoy your work and to approach new tasks with passion and curiosity. And then there is the willingness to recognize diversity as enriching for the team and the Company. Not to be forgotten is mutual respect, which is expressed through intensive listening and open communication. This also includes having no inhibitions in daily interaction and openly sharing one’s own ideas with others without fear of rejection or linguistic inadequacies. For me personally, nothing works without a pinch of humor – because the challenges of the future can sometimes be quite daunting.

You have worked for Navistar in the USA, as well as China and Argentina. Now you work for TRATON in Germany. What are the main professional skills or insights you have gained from these roles in an international context? And how have they influenced your professional development as a whole?

By working in different countries, I’ve learned that I don’t have to reinvent myself every time I take on a new task in a different culture. Rather, I can hold on to my own strengths and values, but each time I must reassess which of my skills I can use, to what extent and on which occasions. In the beginning, I was still looking for an on and off switch for my soft skills.

Over time, however, I realized that it’s much easier and just as effective to play with volume control. Therefore, when I become part of an existing, functioning team, in many cases the most important first words are: “Keep up the good work! You're all here for a reason, and the Company needs you”. Then – after a period of learning and listening – it’s important to communicate clearly: “What is the goal? What is desired? What is the plan?” After all, it’s about convincing the team and being successful together. If people question the intentions or words of their leader, the project is doomed to fail.

In China, I also learned that many paths lead to the goal. There is no silver bullet, but other approaches that are just as successful.

“It’s important to position oneself broadly; by moving sideways a few times in the corporate hierarchy instead of aiming straight for the top, employees expand their knowledge and therefore increase their value to a company in the long term.”
Frédérique Klein, Head of Procurement Controlling at the TRATON GROUP

From all your experience, do you have any tips that you would give colleagues at the beginning of their professional career?

It’s very important to me that colleagues develop in different areas and do not make decisions focused in just one direction too early. It’s important to position oneself broadly; by moving sideways a few times in the corporate hierarchy instead of aiming straight for the top, employees expand their knowledge and therefore increase their value to a company in the long term. It may sound contradictory at first, but in my experience, this is often the fastest way to the next step up. A reliable network is also important. My tip: get to know many people, exchange ideas with them and help them unselfishly. But above all – ask the network itself for help if necessary. And of course, advertising on one’s own behalf is also part of it. In other words, employees should stand up for themselves and be aware of what they are doing for the company. But despite all one’s professional ambitions, it’s important to have colleagues in the team who bring you back down to earth from time to time.

What is your personal motivation for starting a new working day? Or to put it another way: what drives you?

It’s a great job, a great industry and great people I work with every day. I am also driven by the fact that my commitment can help our planet and its climate to be better off in the future.

What are you looking forward to in the coming months?

I am looking forward to the TRATON Procurement Controlling organization taking shape and am confident that we will implement our priorities for the second half of 2024.