Part 1, Interviewing Dr. Donatus Weber: “The child inside needs creative space“
Dr. Donatus Weber has been with Kampf Schneid- und Wickeltechnik GmbH & Co KG since 2016. Prior to becoming Director Digital Services, he held the position of Head of Innovation & Industry 4.0. In October 2020, the 42-year-old also took over the management of Jagenberg Digital Solutions GmbH. In Part 1 of the interview with him, he talks about his functions and the enthusiasm with which he approaches them.
Dr. Weber, you are at home in the digital world. How do you describe the functions and topics you are responsible for within Jagenberg Group?
I deal with all things digital. It is my job to take Industry 4.0 to a new level. To do this, I create access to digital topics and keep the IT infrastructure up to date with a team of experts. Continuously developing it is the key here. It’s important that everyone on the team can do exactly what he or she is most passionate about, I think. Life is just too short to do something that’s not fun. Particularly being a manager, I feel obliged to let my employees live up to their full potential. From my experience, the best results are garnered by applying the so-called “principle of servant leadership”: No one is anything without a team – lone wolves simply don’t stand a chance in this industry! Imagine the work process as a mixed bag of "Haribo Color-Rado": figuratively speaking, it contains all kinds of individual pieces of candy, and you will never like all of them. But if you share them with family and friends, everyone will find something they like – and the bag will be empty in no time. If you transfer this to the workplace, a diverse, motivated team can cover all areas of responsibility, making sure that every task is solved.
"From my experience, the best results are garnered by applying the so-called “principle of servant leadership”: No one is anything without a team – lone wolves simply don’t stand a chance in this industry!"
Dr. Donatus Weber,
Director Digital Services at Kampf
What do you like best about your job?
At Jagenberg Group, I get to shape the future. Moreover, I have the chance to deal with things that I personally enjoy and I'm always learning new things. You see, when I was a child, I kept questioning everything: "How does that work?" was always on my mind. And that hasn't changed until today – I even take my 3D printer with me on vacation. Fortunately, my son is a lot like me in that regard. We work on many construction projects together, such as a castle made of pallets. It means the world to me to complete these projects with him. I'm still a bit of a child myself inside and I always need some creative freedom. Often, the exchanges in my family even give me new ideas jobwise. You could say that my family is the battery that drives me, I guess.
In Part 2 of the interview with Dr. Donatus Weber, you will find out what outlook he has for Kampf and Jagenberg Digital Solutions and what role digital data will play in this.
