Updating Results

Daimler Truck and Bus

4.5
  • 100 - 500 employees

Adam Wood

I get to work on the largest piece of work I produce each month, a presentation on all the statistics and key performance indicators for the parts operations department.

7.00 AM

I am rudely awoken by my alarm. After hitting ‘snooze’ a few times, I roll out of bed, shower, get the waffle out of the toaster and make the commute to work. I’m lucky to live close to the office, so I can leave a little bit later.

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8.45 AM

I walk into the office, say my good mornings to the best team in the world, and sit down at my desk. I grab a cup of tea and have a joke with my co-workers to start my day. My first action of the day is to check my emails for requests for reports from colleagues and to set out a day plan.

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9.00 AM

I start my morning activities, which consist of updating the main parts database, reviewing and maintaining data created in the system the previous day, and receive some directions from our Regional Logistics Centre in Singapore regarding new part supersessions that must be created in our local system. A dealer’s main contact point for us is through our Integrated Customer Care website (ICC), throughout the day I will check ICC for Special Procurement Order Forms that I will process. These are either highly sensitive parts, or parts we have to directly liaise with Germany about.

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10.30 AM

Our Spare Parts Inventory & Control System (SPICS) suggests parts orders daily with different suppliers every day based on a wide array of parameters. I must review these suggestions and order based on various factors, such as a monthly forecast, previous demand, how much safety stock we should be carrying, lead times, and many more. I am currently responsible for Mercedes-Benz bus parts from Germany and Brazil, as well as parts that suit the Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner trucks from local vendors.

11.30 AM

I receive an email from the Brand Development Manager for Mercedes-Benz Bus and Truck, requesting a price change on a part. He wants to adjust the price to ensure we have the edge in this highly competitive market. I suggest I run a report for him that shows the history of demand for the part from our dealers over the past 12 months so we can make an informed business decision.

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12.30 PM

Lunch! All the IBLs sit together on a table in our on-site cafe and eat. It’s a good chance to catch up with people in different departments, or even different companies within the Daimler group and discuss what’s going on in our day. We are all going through the same process as an IBL and it’s good to have people who understand the confusion I can sometimes feel in the business world, after all, it’s new to all of us. After a quick lunch we go for a walk around the block to stretch our legs and get some fresh air.

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1.30 PM

After arriving back at my desk I get to work on the largest piece of work I produce each month, a presentation on all the statistics and key performance indicators for the parts operations department. This includes how well we are supplying our orders to our nationwide network of dealers, our inventory values, backorders in our system, and many other statistics and charts that help to steer the departments activities.

3.00 PM

We have a fortnightly department meeting to discuss what’s going on in our team and what’s coming up. It’s good to set time aside to communicate with the team, as we can all get caught up in our own worlds from time to time. As it’s the first meeting of the month, I’ll be presenting the report I was working on earlier to the team. This sparks discussion in the forum about what we can do better, set goals, and most importantly, how we can help each other achieve those goals. The meeting goes well and I come out with some feedback on what other team members would like to track throughout the year on the report. It’s good to know that the work I am producing is taken seriously and is taken on board by other members of the team.

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4.00 PM

I receive an email from our customs and shipping team, notifying me that an airfreight has left the United States and will arrive here in three days. This information was previously manually entered into SPICS which would take a number of hours and was prone to data entry errors. I now create a file using Excel and Access (takes about 10 minutes) which avoids all manual data entry. I will notify the warehouse of the incoming shipment tomorrow morning.

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5.00 PM

A meeting invite pops up on my computer screen, letting me know that I will have a Great Place to Work meeting on Friday. As a member of the committee, our mission is to make Daimler Truck and Bus the #1 place to work by organizing activities and social events, listening to feedback, and developing initiatives. This time it’s a meeting about our celebratory after-work drinks on the last Friday on every month. I’ll have to start thinking about ideas for what food we will supply.

5.30 PM

After a chat with my colleague about the day we’ve had, and see if we need each other’s help with any work, most of the traffic has died down and it’s time to go home.

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