Foreman, MCO-Team, Vlissingen

“Trust, accessibility, quick and effective action - it felt good with Mourik”

“Staying in touch with the shop floor and frequently visiting customers. You won't see me behind a desk very often. This is the perfect way of working for me.” Jan is always on the way. “We do not just deliver cooling capacity to our customers. We also have the capacity to empathise with the wishes and needs of our customers, not just today, but also tomorrow.”

There are different ways to apply for a job. Through the website or through an acquaintance who  already works for the company in question. But also, for example, while you are delivering mail. Eight years ago, Jan was on the National Works Council of the then TNT Post (Dutch Postal Services) and worked as a mailman one day a week to find out more about the issues that were important to his colleagues. The friendly mail-man with a technical background dropped by for a chat at the office of ACC (as MCO-Team was formerly called) in Zierikzee and  as invited for an interview the next week.

Another two weeks later, Jan was working on stacks of drawings, fully occupied with the development of new pump units. “Trust, accessibility, quick and effective action - it felt good with Mourik.” Jan is quite busy. When you work for a smaller company, you must be an allrounder as well as a specialist. You need to have several irons in the fire in order to keep everything under control both in-house and externally. Jan: “I like to have a cup of coffee with the customer, even when I have nothing to sell, so to speak. I get around. That is why I have a pretty good idea of what is going on in the customer's organisation and how we can help them to achieve their goals. I also feel personally involved when someone is sick or not feeling too good. In these times of systems and increasing computerisation, we shouldn't lose sight of human contact.

Visiting projects regularly is part of that. The challenge for the future will be to keep in touch with customers and employees. You can send an email, but often it's better to pick up the phone or get in your car and visit a customer to discuss business. That way, you will build a personal relationship, in which you're not just a ‘trouble shooter’, but a valuable partner and advisor. Just leave the responsibility with us, we say, and the customer can be confident of a good outcome.”