FLOW4YOU - Sven Horter – Service Product Manager
“GEA Hilge stands for pioneering work”
Sven Horter – Service Product Manager
A GEA employee since: 2020
His three most pronounced character traits: ambitious, sociable, and open
His advice for going with the flow: “Remain curious, remain open – and keep going! You snooze, you lose.”
Sven, what do you enjoy the most about your job?
“I like the fact that my job is very diverse. On the one hand, I sit at a desk and do a lot of mental work. I like to delve into things and make sense of them. And on the other hand, I do a lot of practical work because I also pick up the pumps to check and install them. Which is where the second aspect comes into play – I also have a lot of customer contact. And this is very important to me as a very communicative person who likes to collaborate with others. In times of COVID-19, this often took place remotely and was mostly theory, but I am now often in the field again and can directly engage with the customers and really take a hands-on approach. I also get a great deal of enjoyment out of being able to help others. This is the case in particular during the workshops and training sessions that I organize, in which I teach the customers about our pumps. And this exchange, frequently with professionals who are experts in this field, is just great. You could say that not only do I help them optimize their processes – they also help me further improve my work with their feedback.”
Someone with a skill set like yours has all kinds of options when it comes to choosing an employer. Why did you opt for GEA?
“That has something to do with childhood conditioning (laughs). I work at the site in Bodenheim. And I am from the region – I’m from a family-run vineyard in the Rhenish Hesse region. In fact, my parents’ home is only 15 minutes away. So I was aware of GEA Hilge pumps from an early age. Hilge is a big player. Working with pumps but not being familiar with GEA Hilge would be like working in the automotive industry but not having heard of Mercedes. Peter Hilge developed the centrifugal pump and in so doing performed pioneering work. And to this day, GEA Hilge is the product name when it comes to pumps. So as you can imagine, it’s a well-known name in our region. There were a lot of touchpoints with GEA while I was studying beverage technology at Geisenheim University, too, which further reinforced my positive impression of the company. But what really prompted me to join the company was some personal discussions and an interesting coincidence. And GEA and I simply proved to be a great match.”
In your opinion, what aspect singles out the work you do at your site?
“There are all kinds of aspects. The first thing that comes to mind is that tradition is very strong at my site. And this is practiced by the business, too. Many of the employees come from the direct vicinity and have very strong ties with the company. Wine growing is characteristic of the region and we help to preserve this culture with our pumps. And this obviously means that innovation is always a part of what we do and that we are continuously improving our components. And I think this interplay of tradition and progress, this regionality that goes out into the world together with the products, is just great.”
