Motor of the Month Award July 2020: Tiaan Nel

The Samplers, Solid-Liquid Separation and Magnetics units have undergone vast restructuring over the past decade, and finally amalgamated into a single unit called SSM, with each letter representing the name of each former Division.  The SSM management team reports that the Division has settled into a well-run system, in which resource delegation and work functions are focused towards the Division and less towards the product specific silo teams, as was the case before the amalgamation. 

The combined Division serves a multitude of markets and applications with a diverse range of mineral processing equipment and technologies. However, the product suites developed by each component in the Division have a common thread – highly mechanical equipment that uses electric motors gearboxes and shafts. 

The SSM management team came to realise that the sales team were not always aware of the achievements gained by the production, drawing office or internal sales teams, and vice-versa. In turn, management acknowledged achievements made by individuals and decided that more credit for personal achievements was deserved. Some of these achievements include delivering on tough orders, handling urgent deliveries, completing site audits, and improvements in client service or business process. Subsequently, the Motor of the Month Award was borne. 

Elaborating on the new award, the SSM management team explains: “We decided to award individuals’ driving contributions to the team’s success with a monthly award. The award is recognised by a floating trophy in the form of a motor, which is common to SSM’s products, yet sets us apart in the Multotec product suite. It is appropriately called – the Motor of the Month award.

The Motor of the Month award is for the star SSM individual that drives the Division into new successes during a given month. Line managers in the SSM Management Committee nominate individuals in their team (or any SSM team) for the Motor of the Month award. The winner each month gets to display the award at their workstation for the following month, their name is added to a history board in the SSM building and they receive bragging rights by means of a column in the monthly Grapevine.

Congratulations to Tiaan

Tiaan Nel is the July winner of the Motor of the Month Award! SSM identified him as the winner for his exceptional contribution to the Division over the last three months, during difficult times. 

One of Multotec partners, ZEST WEG motors, gifted the Division with a model motor, which was gold plated and created into trophy.

Tiaan and his team ensured that workshops were COVID-19 ready at the end of April for production to proceed. This was done in record time, implementing several innovations in the process. Due to this dedication, the Division has experienced three months of good invoicing and customer satisfaction.

Tiaan joined the Multotec Sampling team in 2009 as a field service technician where he attended to various sites locally and internationally. One of these included the Black Rock sampling plant, where Tiaan spent several weeks commissioning the plant while on-site. He has been complimented on various occasions for his problem-solving and people skills and, during 2019, he was appointed Production Supervisor overseeing day-to-day assembly in the workshop.

The Multotec SSM Management Style

At Multotec SSM, it is recognised that job satisfaction necessarily features recognition for hard work that an employee has delivered. Additionally, this management team appreciates that pride and motivation in the workplace stems further from showing interest in colleagues’ personal lives. 
The team sums up this management-style in the form of the slogan: “Give a damn and give a star!”