#PartByPart: Generational change at Teknia is being built piece by piece

 

Teknia is a geographically, culturally and generationally diverse company: all of this is part of our identity. The company is currently immersed in a generational handover and our plants are home to people of different ages who fit into a team in which generational diversity is one of our great strengths.

This change is taking place in all areas and levels of the organisation, which is why we have launched the #PartByPart campaign, which aims to put a face and a voice to this great experience.

Generational change in management

‘He steps forward, he dares. Javier is applying for the position, the Board thinks it’s great, his mother and I think it’s even better, and for now, we’re all delighted.’ This is how Javier Quesada Suescun, founder and honorary president of Teknia, defines the generational handover to the leadership of his son Javier Quesada de Luis, who was appointed in 2022 as the Group’s managing director and recently appointed as CEO of our company.

Father and son share the same opinion on the need to successfully combine the knowledge and extensive experience of the older generations, who have grown up in the house and know its history in depth, and the new wisdom brought by the younger generations, with a different vision, different skills and different ambitions. This vision manifests itself in the new management team, for example, which must look to the future with knowledge, tools and the current context, but without forgetting and valuing the legacy built up to now, guaranteeing its durability and the values that have laid the foundations of what Teknia is today.

‘Right now we are combining the most senior profiles with those who want to change and transform the company. The key to generational change is to know how to bring these two worlds together.’ Javier Quesada de Luis, CEO of Teknia

Father and son see the company as a tool to leave a mark and a legacy, where work is not just a job, but an opportunity to make an impact and transcend and this is built through the work of different generations.

 

What do your colleagues think about generational change?

All colleagues who have participated in the #PartByPart campaign share and recognise the value of intergenerational work. They all gave us their views on what it is like to work in a company like Teknia, which has grown thanks to the work of people who are now veterans and benchmarks in knowledge and experience and which, for years now, has been incorporating very young profiles, with other horizons and visions that they apply every day to their work. Each of them, in their roles and responsibilities, has specific, valuable experience that is worth sharing.

‘In companies like ours, where there are different generations, it is important to listen to everyone’s opinions to make better decisions. It is up to the young people to shape Teknia’s future, but the advice they receive from precursor generations is of the utmost importance’.

José María Sánchez, Head of Procurement

 

‘For me, working with people of different ages is a real pleasure (…) I started as a trainee in 2015 and in the end I have been able to have a very interesting professional career here in the company. You take the experience of older people and add the technological know-how that the new generations are bringing to the table’.

Laura Menéndez, sales manager of the Business Unit Plástico Europa

 

‘In these years even I have seen many changes such as digitalisation in production. As an operator, I would say that the camaraderie between all the people who work in the plant is fundamental. Respecting each other and listening to all opinions seems to me to be the most important thing’.

Nagore Fernández, Operator at Teknia Elorrio

 

‘Before, everything was manual, it required a lot of effort from the operator, today almost everything is automated. It’s remarkable to see how older people, who are used to doing work manually, are able to recycle themselves and adapt willingly to new technologies‘.

Juanjo Rodríguez, Head of Operations at Teknia Elorrio

 

‘Today, young people are very focused on the here and now. They come full of desire, wanting everything very quickly, but sometimes you have to stop and look at it as a whole. It is important to have initiative; there is no point in studying and preparing if you don’t put it into practice. The advantage of young people is that they have a lot of desire and will.

Paula Souza, head of human resources at Teknia Brasil

 

‘My generation must learn to have more emotional control. Know how to be observant, be curious and accept new challenges, because challenges create experience. We must also rely on those of you who have more experience, take it step by step, sometimes the younger ones take everything at a hundred miles an hour‘.

Victor Cardoso, Junior Analyst PCP at Teknia Brasil