Behind the Scenes: "hidden heroes" - Michael Kandler

Behind the Scenes - meet our "hidden heroes":

Our Start-up / Commissioning and Assembly staff is a very important and vital part of the success of GAW technologies. Many times our colleagues from this area spend weeks or months away on their current assignment and do often not get the chance to participate at most of the regular social events in our company. This is why we want to put our “hidden heroes” in the spotlight.

For example one of our Supervisor & Start-Up Engineers, Michael Kandler – often referred to as simply “Michi / Mika”.

He became a member of the GAW team in 2000 and his first projects were Hydrosulfite dissolving units and Malusil (additive) preparation units. What he remembers most from his first assignments on mill sites is that you get to know your colleagues quite well and you get to deal with very different characters and people. After erections and start-ups in Spain and Germany he had his first overseas mill site in China. His highlights were the first travels to the USA and Japan where he was extremely impressed by the organization and discipline in public life and transport systems.

Michi enjoys most about his job that he gets to see how a project evolving from the construction and building phase to the start-up in the end. “You see how everything grows. But very often you also have to make quick decisions which cannot always please people and certainly you have to have an organizational talent. Another big point is navigating yourself within very different cultures.”

Michi is married, has 3 kids and a grandchild. His hobbies include model railway making and playing darts.

A big applause for all our frequent travellers and colleagues in assembly/commissioning/start-up, who do most part of their job away from home! Stay tuned for more profiles from our staff in the near future.

August 2023