Spotlight on…
Meet Steffen, Audiovector's Production Manager for nine years
On his last visit to Audiovector's HQ outside Copenhagen last month, our MD John Carroll was keen to spend more time on the factory floor where the magic happens with Steffen. John rather enjoyed playing the role of Renaissance's anchorman and put a few questions to Steffen, quizzing him about his job, the best bit, the hardest, the most fun, the most challenging...
Scroll down for the transcript of John's informal interview with Steffen.
John: And what is the most difficult part of your job then?
Steffen: Can I say "working with Mads"? [laughs all around]. What I mean is how tough he can be in terms of pushing everyone to always better themselves. When we are developing a new product, we always want to make it as perfect as the last one... and always a little bit better! Achieving consistency at such a high level can be demanding and challenging but so rewarding...
John: What is the best part of your job?
Steffen: I love being part of the events we have regularly in-house, meeting customers and hearing about their experience and excitement about our products. It is so rewarding (and important) to get that feedback for the finished products!
John: How about the most time consuming task you do?
Steffen: Right now, it's building a pair of R 8 Arreté speakers. It takes about a day and a half from collecting the parts to the (almost) finished product. Then it's ready to go in the demo room for testing and tweaking as necessary until everyone is 200% happy with it.
John: Is there something else that you find particularly challenging in your job?
Steffen: It's definitely to predict what's going to sell the most and therefore always have enough stock. It's the challenges of planning the procurement of all the parts we need, to make sure there is never anything missing - basically to make sure there is always enough in stock to fulfill demand.
John: Is there something you find particularly fun to do?
Steffen: For sure - It's listening to a new product in the demo room with my colleagues, having a glass of wine and agreeing that we've nailed it!
John: Do you only work by yourself or do you sometimes team up?
Steffen: In the past, the R 11s would have been a two-person job. The first two pairs of R 8s ever built were also with a colleague. Same for the Trapeze Ri, we were two to start off with.
John: Any final words for our customers back home in the UK listening to Audiovector speakers?
Steffen: Thanks so much for entrusting us with your speakers! Building Audiovector speakers is a real pleasure and honour and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Feel the music!
John: What do you make here personally that goes to our customers in the UK?
Steffen: I now take care of all the R 8s and only another colleague and I build the R 6s. And I also look after the Trapeze Ri orders in custom colours.