Thursday, 1 November 2007

MBA Jakarta student and Division Head (Factory Operation) for PT Eastern Pearl Flour Mills - Interflour, Martin Krebs is a truly dedicated student. Flying every weekend for more than four hours to attend weekend classes is now a typical weekend occurrence for him.

"I'm working and living in Makassar, which is on the island Sulawesi. It's about a two-hour flight from the capital Jakarta. I fly nearly every Friday evening to Jakarta to attend classes and tutorials and return Saturday evening or Sunday," Martin said.

Unfortunately for Martin, Indonesian flight schedules are not very accurate. On many occasions he experiences delays of up to three hours for one flight. "On the good side, the delays do give me time to catch up on some readings," he admits.

With a technical and processing background in flour milling, Martin currently leads a team of 370 working in production, maintenance, quality assurance, logistics with vessel fleet, port operation and silo facilities.

Having previously worked in Europe, Africa and Central America in the flour milling industry, Martin decided to complete an MBA to take his career to the next level. "In all of these places, I have filled the role of technical manager but I have wanted to contribute to the business even further. The MBA also helps build my confidence and knowledge," he said.

Martin said the most beneficial element of his study was being able to communicate to the CEO and President Director on operation issues and opportunities.

"It has helped me to present new technical ideas to people without technical backgrounds which I have always found challenging. It has also helped me improve the financial standing of the mill operations through the implementation of new controlling tools/methods, Martin said.

"Importantly, I have also found I have improved my communication to my team which has in turn improved effectiveness and team spirit," he said.

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