A spotless career: international challenge in stainless steel purchasing
Maciej Kowalski loves challenging jobs, so when the Pole was offered a high-level post in Germany, he didn’t think twice: In 2017 Maciej moved with his family across the border. Since 2019 he has been Head of Category Stainless Steel at thyssenkrupp Schulte, responsible for stainless steel procurement.
Maciej still keenly remembers that one particular meeting of thyssenkrupp’s steel buyers in Europe: After the meeting was over, Patrick Marous, then head of Global Product Management and now CEO of the Aerospace operating unit at thyssenkrupp Aerospace, surprised Maciej with a very direct question – a question that was to change his life. “Patrick Marous asked me if I’d like to become Cluster Manager for Stainless Steel at Global Product Management in Essen.” At the time, Maciej already had a responsible job as head of product, stainless steel long at thyssenkrupp Energostal in Poland, now tkM Poland. But the challenge of moving abroad appealed to him.
“I hesitated at first, mainly because of my family, of course,” Maciej reveals. "But after talking about it a lot, we decided to give it a try, at least for a few years.” It worked. Maciej started his new job in February 2017, so 2021 marks the Kowalski family’s fifth year in Germany.
“Of course it was hard to leave relatives and friends behind,” Maciej says. “But the German and Polish cultures are very similar. We love living in Germany.” For the first few months Maciej communicated mostly in English. But his German got better and better. Today, Maciej speaks the language fluently.
In the meantime the Kowalskis have settled in Germany and built up a large circle of friends. Maciej was also immediately taken by his new colleagues: “We received a lot of support right from the start, whether it was with finding an apartment, choosing a school for our daughter, or mundane things like car insurance.”
A challenging job
As cluster manager for Eastern and Western Europe, Maciej’s job in Essen since 2017 involves coordinating the activities of thyssenkrupp’s stainless steel buyers in the region. But the next challenge wasn’t long in coming. In 2019 Maciej joined thyssenkrupp Schulte in Dortmund as Head of Category Stainless Steel. As lead buyer for stainless steel products he is responsible for various suppliers, while also continuing to manage the regional buyers in Eastern and Western Europe.
“It's sometimes hard to combine both tasks, but I like challenging jobs.” He particularly likes the stainless steel industry: “Stainless steel is a shiny material with super properties,” says Maciej, “but above all it’s the business aspect that fascinates me so much. I've always wanted to work in an international field – and now I’m doing it at the highest level.”
Procurement is key to success
For a trading company like thyssenkrupp Schulte, the key to success lies above all in procurement. “As a trading company, we naturally don’t have as much value added, so our margins are mainly determined by procurement,” Maciej says. But other criteria are also highly important. “People often underestimate the complexity of purchasing. Margins aren’t everything. Above all, product quality is important, but so are factors like payment terms, delivery times and storage costs. We have to bear all this and much more in mind in our strategy.”
Maciej and his teams also have to keep a close eye on raw material and market trends around the world. “What happens in Indonesia or China has an impact on developments in Europe. Understanding the international supply chains is very important, but also extremely interesting.”
Another challenge is the intense competition in the industry. Relationships with suppliers are key. “To stay competitive, we not only need the right strategy and a clear vision, we need to position ourselves as an attractive partner to our suppliers at all times. Only then will we retain our edge.”
All this makes for an exciting job: “I really like meeting people and chatting about the market with them. And I enjoy negotiating with suppliers. For example, today we are already discussing delivery times far into the future. The stainless market is highly volatile and we have to be versatile and adapt our strategy accordingly. It’s really fascinating. And at the risk of repeating myself, I need a challenging job. A dull job is not for me.”