HS Baco Panels and the magic of 10

They say a team is as strong as its weakest member and that a company is nothing if not a collection of stories of people who have helped make it successful. As we celebrate ten years since world’s largest blockboard factory has joined the HS Timber Group family, we also celebrate the people who have built their careers with the company.

One such person is Florin Botezatu.

The head of the Baco 3 sector – which produces blockboard core – has been a member of the HS Baco Panels family since 2012. With a degree which not many would say qualifies him for the job, Florin has beaten the odds and has proven that, if passion and determination are in play, results do not fail to appear.

“I got a degree in computer science and mathematics, and for a while I worked in advertising,” Florin starts his story. “Although I had zero experience in the field of wood processing, I joined the team here, at Baco. For the first two years I gathered experience in the quality control department and I learned everything I needed to know here, in the factory.”

While working in the quality control department, Florin was directly responsible for the product that was sent to the client, and feels one major advantage in his professional evolution was exactly what he thought might be a hurdle to jump – his mathematical thinking!

“Logics, this way of thinking, matters a lot in the automation activity, because technology influences and facilitates the way we work,” he says. “I think there is a clear connection between wood and mathematics."

After a period of two years in quality control in various sectors of the core and blockboard production sections, Florin was promoted to shift leader at the core production section in Baco 3. "That was another type of job and I started from zero yet again," he smiles.

A good section manager - a personal recipe

The year 2018 was about to start with another challenge.

The then manager of the section moved to another town. Consequently, he left the company and Florin took over the management of the entire Baco 3 section. “I was a bit reluctant, as in the case of any change, because that was a new position for me, which meant the coordination of three shifts."

For Florin, being a good manager means having your colleagues’ trust and offering your support.

"You rely very much on them, because they have a direct control over the final product," he says. Equally important is "to do everything in your power to make the employees happy - whether you provide them with the equipment and training they need to perform their duties safely, or provide your support and ongoing communication, showing them your genuine interest in their person, their problems and their joys.”

The recipe seems to have worked, as over 70 colleagues now look up to him. The section leader noticed that gratification is a difficult goal to achieve, as everyone reacts differently. "Contentment, after all, depends very much on one's attitude and personality, not on external stimuli, and here I refer to the motivational techniques that one would use or whatever one could receive as a reward."

Alexandru Agache, administrative mill manager of HS Baco Panels said: ”The passion for wood and for people, combined with discipline and flexibility, have led to Florin's gradual evolution in our team. The dynamics of the Baco 3 team is one successful ingredient to creating our blockboard, which is much appreciated by demanding customers from all over the world.”