For anyone who’s ever wanted to take a trip Down Under, I have the perfect reason for you to go – visiting Vekta! December brought an exciting opportunity for me to make my first trip to visit the Vekta headquarters and factory in Perth, Australia. I started as the General Manager of Vekta USA back in January of 2020 but with the pandemic, closed borders, and a backlog of customer activities, I didn’t have the opportunity to travel halfway around the world until now. [For all photos, See PDF or View in Full Issue.]
Although “working virtually” has become “normal” for so many of us, even when working in the same city or state, it’s still no substitute for in-person. I’ve had nearly two years of onboarding virtually, working with my management peers, engineering, and technical staff remotely, building business relations and social connections, but this was my chance for a true face-to-face. My excitement for the trip to Perth though was met with some hesitancy. I consider myself a fairly seasoned traveler, having been to Europe several times in my career, but something about this was very different…. Oh yeah, it is twice as far and requires a 16-hr flight!
But it was worth it! Quickly after my arrival, I was greeted at the airport by Ed Serrano, Managing Director of Vekta, and shuttled off to my hotel to get caught up on some of the events for the weeks ahead. Thank goodness, because someone installed the steering wheel on the wrong side of his vehicle and I’m not sure how I would have handled that straight out of the airplane! (BTW, has anyone ever wondered why there isn’t an exam of some type before driving in another country? But I digress.)
The timing of my trip worked out for several occasions. One of them was to mark the first anniversary of the new office and factory site in Perth. The new site is a testament to the growth of the company over the past years. This site is 4x larger than the previous site and the staffing levels have grown exponentially to keep up to the demands of the business. There are now dedicated areas to manufacture and assemble each of the product lines for Vekta that previously needed to be shared – which means they’ve removed our internal bottlenecks in the delivery of the larger systems that are becoming almost the standard for Vekta Automation systems.
It was also very special to have the opportunity to attend the company Holiday party with all the local staff. Since the whole Vekta team has gotten so much larger, a venue outside of the office was needed and this year the party was held at Scitech, a local children’s science center. The culture at Vekta is very family-oriented and this proved to be a fantastic site to match this part of the culture. There were kids running around everywhere enjoying all of the learning exhibits while the adults were given some opportunity to share stories and tales from the busy year behind us. Two newly hired employees who hadn’t even started their first days yet were included too, showing again what a great team culture we have.
After several days in Perth and armed with a new suitcase filled with parts for customers back in the US, I headed off with Ed to Melbourne next. Two very large installations were going on there and all the Field Service Technicians were called into action to help push to the end of the year. This also provided an opportunity to have this group and their partners all together for yet another Holiday celebration. These team members are the ones who are on the phones, email and sites to offer technical support to our customers on a daily basis.
The work consumed me for the two weeks I was in Australia, with late nights and early mornings to communicate back with my staff and customers in the US. It was nearly the last day when I realized there was one very important tourist thing I needed to do – see a kangaroo! So without delay Rob Bellian, the Sales and Marketing Manager, whisked me off to help check that box. Luckily, he had a spare Akubra hat for me to wear to make the occasion even more authentic!
I am grateful that I finally had the opportunity to travel to Vekta headquarters and factory after nearly two years working with the company. I made several connections and learned many valuable processes that I will bring back with me to Vekta USA. The time spent collaborating with my fellow managers and teammates on the other side of the world could never be replicated in the virtual world, and I’m proud to work with such a great team. If you’re considering a trip Down Under, be sure to include a stop at Vekta!