Edwin van der Kaa

Hello Edwin. One sentence that describes you well.

“I am someone who likes challenges and enjoys learning new things!”

We know that you are a big fan of Conti – and you have got 20 years to prove it. 😊 Can you tell us why?

Easy! I see myself as a citizen of the planet and I have made many long-time lasting friendships with colleagues who I value a lot when I add fascination for technology on top this, then Conti is for sure the right place to be!

Tell us about your current role and experiences so far.

I started my career as an engineer, as I enjoy the overcoming of technical challenges, then I quickly learned that leading people is even more rewarding.

I see myself as a modern type of leader. I aim for my team to understand why we are doing something. At the time when I started Plant Management, I was the youngest one among all the CEP Plant Managers.

I learned in my early years that continuity of business is not a guarantee, and that continuous readaptation is needed for long term success. This continuous drive for need of improvement on a leading position is what I feel key for success.

I am very proud about the achievements we accomplished over the years so far, for example, like the one in Brazil, where we know the situation is in general challenging for business. I was able to contribute to the future of many of our employees and their families with leading the transformation of the San Paolo location into a modern and healthy one! Due to this, I am very pleased and happy.

We need people that want and are ready to cooperate, with the right mindset to reach our objectives. A project of this size and kind is a project for and of all of us. Fortunately, we have a lot of local highly talented and motivated people with a strong support from our global organization to make this project successful.

The products you will work with are high end, state-of-the-art display solutions for the new generation of mobility and next level user experience. What do you think will be the key to your success?

I am fascinated by the technologies we bring to the market and the ones we will use to produce these new hi-tech products. Over the years I’ve learned that regardless of high similarity between different locations. In fact, sometimes the technologies and/or products are similar or the same. It is the people who achieve significant different results. Hence, it is the people who are our key for success.

How do you create a hi-tec display solution? Where does the process start?

I have spent all of my career manufacturing products working closely together with our R&D organization. The best way but also the most exciting is to have our organization work as one; Design Together; Release Together and Produce Together. Fortunately, we have both the R&D center and the production.

We keep hearing you speak different languages. 😊 How many is it exactly, and did your Conti career have something to do with that?

As I was born and raised in Netherland, I had the opportunity to be in contact with already quite a few languages. Working in Continental gave me so many opportunities to come in contact with so many more. In order to really connect with people, I always tried to learn their native language. During my stay in Spain, I learned Spanish and Catalan. I never came to master Mandarin, but the gratitude of our operators during my speeches in China were rewarding for all the effort I had invested.

I speak and have dreams in quite a few languages, and now I am embracing my next challenge, and that is being able to communicate here in Novi Sad in Serbian. After that, I will only need one more language to get to I know at least basic in 10 languages. 😊

Can you tell us one or two things you love about every country you lived in so far?

The Dutch People and their Tidiness

The Spanish People and the Tapas

The Chinese People and their Speed

The Brazilian People and their Churrasco.

The Serbian People and their Energy

Building and leading a brand-new Continental Megafactory in Novi Sad is a nice way to celebrate 20 years in the company. What is your vision for the next couple of years?

I’m grateful to be able to celebrate my personal milestone while leading the team in Novi Sad and with this unique challenge that came on my path.

The construction of the new Megafactory in Novi Sad is strategically very important for the automotive industry in the region. I'm sure we have what it takes to achieve exceptional results.

On a personal level I have really enjoyed all of my times abroad including China and Brazil very much, today I am happy to be back in Europe and to be in the same time zone as my family and many of my friends.

So is 20 years a lot, or too little? 😊

It’s very little and for sure does not feel like 20 years… I’ve just started!