CHETO through the eyes of…. João Pedro Ricca
Meet CHETO through the eyes of its COO, who explains the success of this company, reveals the biggest challenges faced and gives us a perspective on the future of this organization. Father of a large family, the engineer in charge of the operations has many years of experience in different areas. |
1.Who is João Pedro Ricca and when does his professional path meet CHETO?
Firstly, I am married and the father of 4 children. The balance between professional responsibilities and personal life was always a concern of mine, long before it was on the top of everyone´s mind. I have always believed that it is not possible to be, in the long run, a professional of excellence without being a complete and fulfilled person.
Almost my entire professional career has been focused on Operations, with experience in different areas and industries. I have also had some experience and training in the Commercial area because I understood that I needed this step to have a broader view of the business. I arrived at CHETO 2 years ago, during one of those experiences in the Commercial area, when I wanted to take on another type of responsibility again. I found in CHETO, its Administration and its team the ideal combination for that.
2.What are your main responsibilities?
As COO at CHETO, Operations in general. From the industrial unit to the service, we provide to our machines in the 16 countries where we currently operate. But as I always liked to see the problems in a global way, I also collaborate with other areas of CHETO, putting my experience in other fields at the service of the organization.
I have also been constantly concerned with people management and their continuous development, both in technical and behavioral aspects.
3.What challenges do you face on a daily basis?
The challenges are closely linked to the type of organization we want for CHETO. As a result of its rapid development and growth in the first 10 years of its existence, the business was forced to develop faster than what its organization was prepared to assimilate. The biggest challenge we are overcoming on a daily basis is precisely the creation of an organization that is capable of overcoming all the needs that the market brings us, plus all those that CHETO itself is also bringing to the market, minimizing the usual pains of growth. Another very different (and more recent) challenge is the lack of qualified labor to face the growth strategy.
4.What strategies do you use to overcome these challenges?
Training has played a fundamental role. Even though it is a young company, there are people in key places with highly developed technical skills, brought from their experiences prior to CHETO. As a result of rapid growth and not having reference companies in this area where to recruit from, CHETO has focused on young people in the beginning of their career, often through agreements with training entities. There are several examples of young people who had their first professional experience at CHETO and who have high level skills today. Internal communication, the way we interact (formally and informally) and the existence of an environment in which everyone is invited to contribute daily to improve, either in processes or techniques, are also essential aspects.
5.What is CHETO's success due to?
To its People. Shareholders, Executive Board Members and the whole team. The permanent desire to go further, to want to take large steps towards what has not yet been done. Of course, it doesn't always go well. There are risks that bring the intended result. Others don't. But we must always look beyond what is expected of us.
6.What are the differentiating features of CHETO machines?
The ability to combine 5 functions in a single machine: milling, drilling, tapping, boring and deep drilling, perhaps the most relevant. At the same level, the customization ability, which has allowed us to enter new and different markets from the first big market, which was the mold industry. But there are other markets that are beginning to discover us and for which we have developed specific solutions, solutions that may later become part of CHETO´s catalog and even (with cases already implemented) with the registration of patents.
7.What perspectives do you foresee for the future of CHETO?
Expectations can only be positive. It is clear that the last two years have brought us enormous challenges from the uncertainties of the automotive industry (which heavily conditioned the mold industry) to the Covid-19 pandemic. But the strength we had from before allowed us to face this phase with confidence in the future, despite the necessary caution. There are signs for some optimism, with business growth forecasts on a global level in order to allow CHETO to continue to expand its presence in the 4 corners of the world.
