“I was imagining men pushing a log into a bandsaw, instead I stepped into a plane cockpit!” Interview with Valentin Pietrariu, shift leader, cutting department (HS Reci)

About ten years ago, a young high school graduate was dreaming of becoming a firefighter. His plans failed and then he started looking for something else. “Something else” was called Schweighofer and, the young man who at 19 decided what his life path would be, today is shift leader in the cutting department at the newest sawmill Holzindustrie Schweighofer opened in Romania in 2015, in Reci. Meet Valentin Pietrariu!

 

Talking to any head of production in a sawmill, one will find out that the department they lead is the “beating heart of the factory”. Without receiving logs from the round wood department, there would be no cutting plans; without the cutting hall producing enough, the planing department would not have what to process; without the planing guys producing in time, the sales department would fail to meet its targets. At the end of a production cycle, the entire process starts over again.

“Cutting sets the pace, almost everywhere,” says Valentin Pietrariu, shift leader in the cutting department at Reci. “Should we talk to other departments I reckon they wouldn’t necessarily agree, but this is what we, the people in the cutting hall say: we are the beating heart of the factory. What we produce here sets the pace. If we cut more we force the planing guys to clear their stock, if we cut more we force the guys in the round wood department to supply more raw material, more logs.”

This seems complicated, but Valentin detests routine. He’s not afraid to try something new every time he believes things can be improved. Challenges don’t scare him.

 

The rebel from Botoșani

Back in 2008, Valentin was a young high school graduate, with a certificate that said he’s a certified electrician I his pocket. He was dreaming of becoming a fireman, but things didn’t work out from the beginning, so he shifted his focus.

“Schweighofer had just opened its sawmill in Rădăuți and when I interviewed for a job, I was offered an electrician position. Which I turned down,” remembers the shift leader. “I was freshly out of school, I knew all about the theoretical part; practice-wise, though, my experience was limited. So, because I wasn’t confident in my abilities, instead of messing things up, I accepted a job as an unskilled worker.”

The 19-year-old started as a sorter, but it only took two weeks for him to be promoted to the cutting line, initially as an operator. “When I stepped foot into the control center I felt like stepping into a plane cockpit!” says Valentin. “There were a bunch of new and super-performing and complicated machines, I had never seen a bandsaw like that. I knew of men pushing a log into a bandsaw, not of all the programs and machinery that the sawmill had!”

After only two months as an operator, Valentin was proposed the position of shift leader. And. Just shortly after he had become used to the cutting line, he had to learn how the entire cutting hall worked, with all its part, which included sorting and packaging as well.

Another challenge, yet another effort to adapt …

“Well, it was fairly easy for me,” smiled Valentin. “I am from Botoșani originally, I left home immediately after high school, I was always a bit of a rebel…. adapting was never too much of a problem for me. And, in the end, it’s best to work in a team, with the people, but at the same time it is also the most difficult. Until now I learned that working with people is the hardest: one is more stubborn, another is more different, you always have to find the middle ground!”

The adventure in Rădăuți, as shift leader in the cutting department, lasted for two and a half years.

“I was younger, I had other ideas, so I left for Italy,” says Valentin. “I don’t regret leaving, because over there I realized that in reality I was missing what I had done at Holzindustrie. I performed maintenance work for an entertainment park, but I understood that actually that was what I loved to do: technology, organization, teamwork…”

 

If you’re not dusty over here, it means you’re not doing your job.

It was March 2015 when Valentin returned home, directly to Reci, at the time Holzindustrie Schweighofer was opening its latest sawmill in Romania.

He had a shock, which now makes him smile.

“I came from Italy directly to Reci, in March, used to wearing short sleeves,” he remembers. “I was wearing a short sleeve shirt with a thin jacket and when I got here it was a blizzard and minus 20 degrees! Not to mention that in these parts the wind blows from all directions!”

He resumed the position he had in Rădăuți: shift leader in the cutting department. He now coordinates 30 people and is always on the run, among them, with advice, observations, even playing the therapist role every once in a while. Along the Botoșani – Rădăuți – Italy – Covasna route, routine never found its place in Valentin’s life. Now, at 29, he’s one of the youngest shift leaders in all five factories that the Schweighofer Group operates in Romania.

There’s a constant humming in the cutting hall. And everything is dusty.

“In cutting, if something is clean it means it’s broken,” says Valentin. “If you’re not dusty over here, it means you’re not doing your job. And you always have to be super attentive! Each product we produce is cut according to a certain sorting program, depending on client requirements, each person has their well-defined spot in the hall, sometimes you’re drained when you get home in the evening after an entire day of running through the hall, but every once in a while one also needs to be restless.”

Valentin is passionate about his job: “I grew up in Schweighofer, I started at 19, I left, I did something else and I came back; I like the system and the fact that you have the possibility of developing, both as a personality and professionally and technically.”

He takes advantage of all development opportunities the company offers. “I recently took part in a leadership course. As I already and a shift leader, as I worked as shift leader for some time now, I found myself in half of what the course was taking about, whereas the other half made me realize what I should have done in a bunch of cases. It opened my eyes a bit and it made me understand that in a certain case I should have acted differently than I acted…”

How does a 29-year-old divide his time between a demanding job and his personal life?

“I love hiking, everywhere, whenever I have the time,” says Valentin. “And I have time about every two weeks. My favorite hike so far has been Piatra Mare, with its 7 Steps Canyon, which is relaxing. A difficult hike, nevertheless, will happen in two weeks’ time, when I want to hike the Omu Peak.”