Careers worldwide – China

My task: The future of mobility

My name is Yong Peng and I joined Rheinmetall China in April 2018 as advanced development manager. In this role, I am responsible for creating our future portfolio for the China market. My function here focuses on technology research in order to identify new opportunities and platforms for our company. Our research covers topics related to our current product portfolio and worldwide publications as well as policies and regulations, to foresee their consequences on the automotive industry.

It is important to understand which new products will be applied as well as the according requirements. We can then determine what will become a key component or key system in the future and make investment decisions respectively. My department is still very young but one day it will bring out new products and system modules.
 

Educational Background

My educational background is in mechanical engineering. In the past, I focused on the internal combustion engine. For me, the “electrical world”, such as radar, new sensors, electric components and related programming is quite new. Therefore, I am learning something new every day and grow more professionally.
 

Rheinmetall – Two solid pillars

The strong product portfolio of Rheinmetall attracted me. The company is very well known through their product brands, Kolbenschmidt und Pierburg, among automotive experts. Meanwhile, the advantage of the knowhow of two different sectors – Automotive and Defence- in Rheinmetall Group was also decisive for me to join Rheinmetall. I had read in industry specified press that Rheinmetall is actively conducting research in future technology fields.
 

A company with tradition and future success

My perceptions of Rheinmetall China from the “outside” have all been confirmed after joining the team. The company has a history of over 100 years. People know that companies can only survive that long and foster a successful business if they adapt to evolving challenges and the dynamics in their markets. Obviously, Rheinmetall Group is very versatile and has successfully adapted and is always thinking about investments in future developments. Also, we are an internationally active company group with a good organizational structure, meaning that we do not only rely on the business in one market. Moreover, the unique business model of Rheinmetall Group across two completely different sectors guarantees a certain financial stability for the group and job security for me as employee.

Today Kiki Qiao, Commodity Purchaser, talks about her first month working with Rheinmetall China, her tasks, her team and the work atmosphere.
 

Diversified tasks in an international environment

I am Kiki Qiao and I joined Rheinmetall in November 2018 as Commodity Purchaser. In this function, I am responsible for price inquiries, identifying cost reduction potentials with our suppliers and reaching the optimal price through negotiations. Furthermore, I am developing new suppliers. My work requires sourcing information, both from inside and outside of China. This provides me with a perfect opportunity to improve my English skills.
 

Openness, trust and respect – no empty phrases at Rheinmetall

As I had been working for another foreign company before, working at Rheinmetall gives me the possibility to learn about the culture of a German enterprise, what made the job even more appealing to me. The corporate values of openness, trust and respect are lived by every single employee, which creates a very pleasant work atmosphere. We encourage and support each other. This manner of teamwork helped me very much during my first weeks in the new job. I am still grateful to my team for supporting me like this!
 

I am proud to make my contribution

Today, Bright Yin, Director of Research and Development (R&D), talks about the challenges the R&D team faces, what makes the team different from other teams he has worked with, and why his goal is to come to work with a smile, every day.
 

Research and Development – a daily challenge

My name is Bright Yin and I am the Director of Research and Development at Pierburg in Kunshan. I am responsible for a cross divisional team of project management, design, application as well as simulation and testing. We are confronted with different challenges every day, from new products, projects and applications to new requirements from our customers. However, with our expertise, confidence and passion for our products, we always find a solution. With our latest testing techniques, introduced from Germany, we are able to offer our Chinese customers faster feedback. In the past, it took us about four to six weeks, as we had to return the samples to Germany for testing. Now it will only take us one or two weeks to do the pre-check and give customers initial feedback. That has been a very positive signal, not only for my team and for our employees here in Kunshan, but also for our customers.
 

Rheinmetall – a growing business in China

When I first joined in 2012, Rheinmetall had only started local production at the Kunshan plant. I have very exciting memories of that time because the team grew a lot, in parallel to our site: Now we have equipped over 16 production lines and we successfully established our business.
 

Not only a company, but a family

I am still surprised by our people’s great passion for their work and dedication to our company. Once we had an urgent case for testing with a tight deadline from our customer, which meant that one of our test engineers had to work overtime if we did not want to hire an outside testing agency at extra costs. To my surprise, the test engineer volunteered to do the overtime to save the additional costs. That showed to me that our employees really think of our company as their own and treat it like their family business.
 

Our employees are the heart of the company

Our teamwork is very good. Colleagues share their knowledge and this way the whole team can work more efficiently. Everybody is very open-minded, task-oriented and takes on their responsibilities. At the same time, we are a very humorous bunch. All my employees know our products very well and their communication skills are very good. The most important thing when they face the customer, though, is that they are not alone. The whole team backs them up, not only counting our Chinese colleagues, but also our German colleagues. Outside of work, we also maintain personal contact. My family lives close to some of my colleagues’ families, and we can help each other to take care of our children. I am very proud of this unique team atmosphere and it is my goal that everyone comes to work with a smile. Because we spend the whole day together, a positive work environment is essential to make our employees feel comfortable during working hours.

Today, get to know Xin Liu, Senior Operations Manager, and learn why his duties and his colleagues are the main reasons for him to work at Rheinmetall.

Colleagues at work and teammates on the soccer field

I am Xin Liu and I am the Senior Operations Manager at MS Motorservice Asia Pacific, the aftermarket division of Rheinmetall. I have been working for the company for over 10 years in Germany, before returning to China in 2018. What made me stay with the company for so long are not only interesting and challenging tasks, but foremost the people: From management to employees, colleagues at Rheinmetall are highly committed and enthusiastic about their work, just like me. One of my goals always is to inspire a positive atmosphere and I have achieved this when my colleagues say “Today, I am looking forward to going to the office and work with my colleagues” instead of “I have to go to office and work today.” For example, every week a group of colleagues meets for an after-work soccer practice, which I organize and I am excited to see that we are equally passionate on the soccer field, where all of us become teammates.
 

My career development from product manager in Germany to senior operations manager in China

For about 10 years, I was working as product manager in our different subsidiaries in Germany, BF Germany and MS Motorservice International. When I was still in Germany, I learned a lot about our business in China. Since I am back, I have handled and enjoyed many projects together with my colleagues here. My current role includes the coordination between Germany and China and therefore knowing the German language and culture is definitely one of my strengths that qualify me for the current tasks. My current position includes strategic planning for our business in Asia and requires management skills. During my time in Germany, I attended the „Talent Campus” program at the Rheinmetall Academy where I learned new skills across different areas and I got the chance to develop my professional network, as employees from all over the world participated in the training.
 

Rheinmetall – a Tier-1 supplier of the automotive industry, both in China and worldwide

Rheinmetall is a big international company in the automotive supplier sector with many subsidiaries all over the world. The company has entered the Chinese market over 20 years ago and currently is very successful. As a Tier-1 supplier of automotive components, we both serve famous international as well as local Chinese vehicle manufacturers. Via Motorservice, Rheinmetall supplies components and spare parts to the worldwide aftermarket. With increasing intensity, the company strives to answer the big questions about tomorrow’s mobility by focusing on the development of ever more electrical parts and components, which help to reduce emissions and increase the efficiency of engines. I am very excited to be a part of these interesting developments at Rheinmetall.

Get to know John Zhao, Quality Manager and find out why he thinks of an open and multicultural environment as an advantage and his role as a “firefighter”.

My superior and our senior management – my reasons not only to join, but also to stay!

My name is John Zhao and I am the Quality Manager at Pierburg Mikuni Pump Technology, a joint venture within Rheinmetall. I joined the company in 2015. One of the reasons why I joined Rheinmetall was my future boss. During my interview, I not only gained a deeper understanding of Pierburg Mikuni Pump Technology, but also got to know my superior. I was very pleased with both and that is why I accepted the offer. One of the reasons why I am still with the company is the senior management. By listening to the employees' challenges and showing strong commitment, they enable a work environment in which we can not only trust and respect each other, but everyone is encouraged to speak openly as well which creates a better workplace for all employees.
 

The benefits of working for Rheinmetall 

Our company not only has a great management team, but also very passionate employees. Everyone takes his or her responsibilities very seriously, but at the same time, we manage to be humorous as well. The company also offers a certain flexibility, so that all employees can adjust their work schedule to their personal needs. Furthermore, our HR department will always try to accommodate individual situations, for example my paternity leave: Due to the particularity of my job, I was able to split my paternity leave and therefore did not have to take it all at once, but one day each week. I am very thankful for this, as therewith I was able to stay up to date in my job and be present for my team while enjoying increased family time every week, which is a very sensible and really a win-win situation for both, my family and my work.
 

Quality Management – the challenges of a “firefighter

My responsibilities not only include product quality, but also customer quality, process as well as supplier quality and our internal quality system, ensuring we achieve the related IT certifications and operate under its regulations. Wherever a problem occurs, my team and I handle it. Therefore, I like to describe us as “firefighters”. Rather than extinguishing “fires”, we prefer to prevent them, though. That is why we strive to foresee problems well in advance and strive to eliminate them before they can arise in our operative business processes.
 

Multiculturalism as a chance to grow

I have worked for Italian, German as well as Japanese companies before, which was the perfect preparation to start working at Rheinmetall’s Joint Venture with a Japanese company here in China, led by an Italian Executive as well as a Japanese General Manager. As Rheinmetall's origin is Germany, this adds 4 different cultures into the mix. Of course, that is sometimes a challenge, but it is definitely also one of our biggest strengths! Working in this environment provides an excellent chance to grow personally and gain new experiences that you cannot gain anywhere else. Knowing how to work in such a specific environment gives every employee a unique edge on the job market.

Today Vincent Si, Director Controlling at Rheinmetall, will talk about why he joined Rheinmetall and his experiences with good mentoring and a work culture that enables open communication and collaboration.

My name is Vincent Si and about five years ago, I joined Pierburg China, which is part of Rheinmetall’s Power Systems division, as controlling manager. Since 2021, I work as controlling director, and in this role, have the lead over the daily controlling business and the coordination with other Rheinmetall entities in China. The daily work for my team and me includes business analysis, report preparation, assistance regarding local tax regulations and project budget calculation.

I consider controlling the heart of a company as this department offers insights in all key figures such as cash flow – the heartbeat of a company. Even though the automotive market is in a transition period and facing many uncertainties, I am still confident in our business and various products. I believe that customers are very satisfied with our products and we have a strong team. Therefore, I think that growth will become stable and our business increase over the next years.
 

The importance of mentoring

One reason why I joined Rheinmetall is my former boss who interviewed me for my previous role as controlling manager. He offered me a lot of help especially at the beginning, and with his support and mentoring, I successfully went through my probation period. Particularly for new employees mentoring is very important and I therefore think what my mentor did for the company is very contributive. He also set up a data documentation system, which allowed a smooth onboarding for me and other colleagues.

I have been following his good example and further developing the documentation system. Therewith I can offer the same level of internal training to the people I recruit as my superior did to me during my onboarding. For me, this meant that at the same time I took over more responsibility and a next career development step. As a manager, I pay attention to the career growth of my team members, supporting and developing them, as otherwise they might leave the team in the future. I believe that our investment in employees is one of the reasons, which makes us better than other companies.
 

Work culture, which thrives open communication and collaboration

Another reason why I joined Rheinmetall is that we are an international company, which encourages open communication. This is very important especially for people who work in controlling and often have to say “No”. As a controlling manager or director, it is my responsibility to advise our top management based on the evaluation of our performance and data. This means that I need to be transparent and feel encouraged to speak up. However, it is not easy to receive good data and to get it we have to cooperate with colleagues working in other areas such as sales, quality and operations. Having a cooperative atmosphere across departments is very helpful, as without the support of my colleagues, I could not do a good job.

At Pierburg China we really appreciate everyone’s hard work and respect and trust each other. This shows in being supportive without asking for a reward and offering advice to one another in difficult work situations. I think that our common activities outside of work, such as ping-pong, basketball and team dinners, highly contribute to the good relationship and bring us closer together. While at work I am a “boss” in front of my team members, I talk to them about my family and am a good friend outside of work. With our joint efforts, we believe that what we are doing now is very meaningful and worthy. We want to see the future.