Östberg’s new quality and customer support manager has clear ambitions to sharpen the company’s quality culture. How? By listening to our customers. “They make us better,” she says.
– It is a privilege to work with a brand that has been associated with quality for forty years, says Maria Stenborg. She has a background from the Swedish steel industry where she has worked with customer-oriented business development. At Östberg, she looks forward to working in a slightly smaller company and not least getting to know the customers better.
We need to listen to our customers
It is no coincidence that her position is “Quality and Customer Support Manager”. Originally two different areas that Stenborg thinks naturally belong together. She believes that only customers can give Östberg its stamp of quality.
– Without our customers, we have no company, she says pragmatically. Therefore, she wants to tie the customer’s voice closer to the business. With structured working methods, she will look after the customer’s interests and needs, and use this knowledge for product and process development. This is how Östberg will be able to position itself for the future.
– We must dare to look at our discrepancies and our potential for improvement. Then we have to take into account the whole value chain that starts with the suppliers and ends with the customers. But it is first and foremost our customers who have the feedback we need to get better, she says.
Östberg’s DNA
After two weeks at her new job, Stenborg says that the HR department has given her a fantastic start, and that she already feels at home. She has also had time to get acquainted with Östberg’s DNA, which in short is about a healthy indoor climate and energy-efficient air purification. This has made her think back to her own childhood and schooling.
– I am completely new in the ventilation industry, but I remember well how the indoor climate affected me negatively in primary school. Needs-adapted and energy-saving indoor climate is a must for everyone, she says.
Quality at all levels
Östberg’s new quality and customer support manager says that she applied for the assignment because she is passionate about quality and business development.
– Quality does not cost money. Lack of quality, on the other hand, costs enormous sums, she says.
Her ambition is to continue the quality culture that already exists in the company. Her motto is “right from me” and “what can I improve from yesterday and take with me today?”
Putting this philosophy into practice requires insight and analytical ability. And specially; that the culture within the company is also characterized by quality.
– We must take responsibility for the quality culture at all levels. Only when all employees feel a sense of belonging to what we deliver do you understand that you are part of the whole. Everything we do during the working day is an important part of the delivery quality, she concludes.
Then she looks at the clock, and disappears into a customer meeting. To become a little wiser about how Östberg can continue to deliver on the top end at a time when good customer relations can not be taken for granted.