Interview with Willem van Leeuwen

Many of Yokogawa’s staff have worked for the concern for a long time, such as Willem van Leeuwen (53). He was offered a job at Yokogawa in 1990. He accepted, since Yokogawa had already acquired a good reputation. In the years since then he has occupied a variety of positions, and is currently Sales Manager for the Test & Measurement (T&M) products.

Our success is largely due the quality of our products, which are extremely reliable. However, our success is also due to our department’s technical knowledge. As a salesperson you need to be thoroughly at home with the instruments and the technology if you’re going to succeed.

That’s also the reason why it’s so difficult to recruit new staff at present, because electrical engineering has lost its appeal, and more students are drawn to IT. However, once you join our business it certainly gives a great deal of satisfaction!

Willem van Leeuwen continues to enjoy working with Yokogawa after seventeen years.
“My job is extremely varied and diverse. No two days are the same, due both to the concern’s dynamism and the rapid developments in the market.
I find dealing with a large number of different people particularly fascinating. In my position as Sales Manager I have a large number of contacts, and I have continual communications with people inside and outside the concern. It’s never boring.

I also enjoy the great deal of freedom my job offers me. I can operate largely in autonomy, and I like that. However, I also have every opportunity to approach a colleague to serve as a sounding-board. That’s great for someone of my age.
I also enjoy my management duties, namely inspiring people to make full use of their potential. That’s also the reason why I will start a Coaching Management course within the near future; after all, we’re never too old to learn. I also recently completed a course in advanced mathematics and physics.

I find it striking to see how Yokogawa has gradually evolved from a Japanese company into a European company. A lot of the hierarchy has been removed during the past seventeen years, and we now have much more freedom to decide for ourselves. Yokogawa Europe is now more flexible, and we can take more initiatives.

My ambitions? My objective is to achieve a substantial increase in T&M sales in the Benelux, and I am making grateful use of Yokogawa’s image as a global player in industrial automation. I am currently working on a number of organizational changes in my sales region. The new organization is to become operational in November!

I don’t have any clear-cut plans for my future at Yokogawa. Perhaps something will come my way in the new organization that will arise after the merge of the three Dutch offices is completed next year. Who knows!

Willem van Leeuwen