Interview with Wimpie van Tonder

“Proud to be part of a company with excellent products, solutions and leaders”


Wimpie van Tonder is Systems Sales Manager for Yokogawa in Johannesburg, South Africa. He joined the company about 13 years ago. This after he experienced the products and services of Yokogawa in practice and was introduced to the department Field Instruments and Control Systems by a related employee of Yokogawa. Now, at the age of 53, he is representing Yokogawa in South Africa and the other English speaking countries in Africa.

Together with his team of 3 Sales Engineers and a Proposals Engineer Wimpie takes care of the efficiency and the profitability of his department reaching the companies sales targets. Attention for new prospects and taking care of durable relationships with their clients are the focus of Wimpie and his colleagues. He considers the relation within the department as close and warm. “As a team we communicate and deal with each other every day. When necessary our workloads are shared, in order to meet with the deadlines of our clients. We discuss our problems and try to solve them. If we can find a solution we sometimes contact our colleagues abroad. Those contacts are equally warm and correct. It looks like one community, with people eager to assist the other colleague”.

“It is not difficult to be proud of being part of Yokogawa. Its products are excellent, the solutions we offer are optimal as well and the management is great too!”, Wimpie explains. “I fully support the company’s mission statement, its vision and the business ethics.”

“Before joining Yokogawa I completed my bachelor level on Industrial Electronics and Instrumentation. Through my working career with former employers I gained a lot of experience in the field. However at Yokogawa I took the opportunity to specialize myself more by following specific training courses.”

Wimpies hobbies are camping and hiking, but with the rich nature of South Africa he enjoys any kind of outdoor activity. Losing himself in the weekend and in his spare time in the wonderful African nature make it possible that he is ready for his tasks during the week. These tasks consist of a variety of projects and responsibilities. “Apart from the tasks I already mentioned, I am in charge of the budgets of the department, our sales plans, forecasts, monitoring trends, preparing and approving proposals, internal communication, external presentations and internal quality audits”, Wimpie says.

The bottom-line is that Wimpie feels he is part of the company, proud to be working for it and recommending Yokogawa as an employer. Wimpie feels “Baie goed” at Yokogawa.