Pablo Baranzini: “Engineering is not only about calculations, structures and steel”

Initially, Pablo was responsible for overseeing the assembly and testing of new gangway systems, but soon he was taking projects of his own. Promoted to Senior Engineer two years later, he worked on the winterised A-type, the composite slideway as well as the first prototypes for the electric A-type.

Since January 2024, he has taken on a new role as Team Lead Line Product Designs. “It’s a new exciting step in my career,” says Pablo, “and I really like it a lot. I was always engineering, working with technical drawings, black and white decisions, but now it is a completely different story. I’m leading a team of engineers, dealing with soft skills, such as empathy, leadership, coaching next to technical work which I also love.”

This is not only Pablo’s first supervisory role, but it is also a relatively new position within the company that formalises critical aspects of Ampelmann’s design loop. As he explains, “we are responsible for line production. We manage all the designs and we deliver specifications, drawings and everything else to production and maintenance engineers so that they can produce, overhaul, test, and redesign our products. We close the design loop between innovations and operations and are the contact point, the source of all the specifications that are required for continuous innovation.”

‍Engineering connections

Pablo and his team link together different departments. With a growing portfolio that includes gangway systems and other products, they have to work closely together, amongst themselves and with other departments, especially as innovations such as the W-type and electric A-type, currently handled by other teams, will become line products in the very near future.

Not without reason, he emphasises that teamwork is not only crucial but that because “our focus is on creating modular building blocks, connective designs and standardisation, this requires a different mindset, fundamentally aligned with our goal to be one team.”

“We need to rely on each other and trust each other in such a way that we can continue to focus on our own projects while also helping each other. It means that we think ahead and look towards the future because what might mean a little more work now will make life easier in the future for ourselves and others. In other words, it means to work smarter, less effort for more results, better quality and thus safety. For me this is what it means to be modular, to be one team.”

For Pablo, ensuring quality, improving processes and efficiencies strikes deep at the heart of what he thinks it is to be an engineer. Reverting to his native Spanish: “Engineering is really a heavy word. Superficially it refers to the work of engineers, it means calculations and structures, but you can engineer everything. It’s also about doing things the smart way, being efficient and effective, in Spanish, ’ingenio’, or ‘ingenuity’ in English, the root of the word ’engineer’.”

“In its most narrow sense, it relates to the quality of the designs, drawings. It means being critical, applying the latest technologies – such as electrification and using composite materials, always looking for ways to improve, always keeping in mind safety and the environment. If the design is good, it’s also easier to manufacture, safer to build, assemble and eventually operate - it’s all connected, it’s all driving engineering excellence.”

“On the other hand, engineering is not only about calculations, structures and steel, but also about processes and efficiency. It is in every aspect of our work, whatever our role or background. We do more than build systems and innovate through our engineering, we also provide services and operate our global fleet. Everybody, every team, from our operators to HR, faces different challenges and are driving engineering excellence in their own way.”

Connecting engineers

Switching easily between his personal and professional identity as an engineer, Pablo is keen to stress that his desire to improve efficiencies, structures and processes relies on more than engineering alone. “We are not machines”, he says, “we work with machines, and they break. People also break. Machines can be fixed very easily, but it takes much more effort to fix a human being.”

“As an expat,” he says, “it is particularly important for me to work in a place where everybody thinks inclusively. I moved to this country over six years ago, separated from my family by thousands of miles. Though I like to be alone, I love to be alone, it’s important to feel that you’re part of a group, a community or a society. You also need a support network at work, where you spend so much time during your adult life. So, for me, thinking inclusively means more than simply including people from different backgrounds and accepting differences in knowledge, gender, race family, shape, ideas or personal values, it also means that you don’t treat your colleagues like machines.”

In turn, Pablo emphasises that feeling included has really helped him to find his place within Ampelmann. As he says, “though I started out in a relatively junior role, I never felt less than others, or too shy to speak up. The culture here really allows everybody to dare to make a difference. Even though the company is growing and growing, it still has the structure of a small company – quite flat. Although we have a CEO, CFO, and other directors, you can always speak to them when you need to.”

“Mutual respect and being able to speak one-on-one with different hierarchies means people listen to you, and you feel listened to. It's nice and creates a safe environment where you can speak and give your opinion. You can be right or wrong, but still, you're listened to. I think that's the first step to being able to make a difference and to daring to do that.”

“It’s also how I grew into my current role. I created my own path, taking on new personal and professional challenges, training and practicing, learning new things I really didn’t think I could do. Then, at some point, I was sharing knowledge and coaching junior colleagues on how to do it. That’s how I grew in the company.”

From the centre to the core

For most, if not all people at Ampelmann, the most important core value is to stay safe. Pablo strongly emphasises the ubiquitousness of its role within the company: “Safety relates to everything from our physical well-being to mental health. Being safe is not only about avoiding accidents. It’s about feeling safe, being able to talk to people without feeling judged, to think inclusively. It’s difficult to put into one sentence, but it’s everything, it’s connected to all the rest.”

“From our products, designs and processes, the suppliers we work with and our logistics and warehousing arrangements to the mechanics assembling things safely, using the correct PPE and being trained properly in order to stop the production line if we see something is wrong, it is all part of our safety culture.”

“Every big meeting starts with a safety moment. This daily reflection always keeps safety top of mind, slowly becoming part of how we interact with our surroundings both during and outside of work. We don't need a policeman here. It's about self-regulation and saying, ‘Hey, don't do it like this,' and thanking each other instead of saying, ‘I'll do it my way’. We listen to each other for safety's sake. That is the culture here.”

The way Pablo thinks about safety is illustrative of how he thinks about Ampelmann’s core values as a whole: “Like the word suggests, it means they must come from the centre - from the core - they should come naturally. Of course, our own values are shaped by different things, but workplace values give you something to follow and generate new personal goals. My own values and beliefs overlap with Ampelmann’s and it’s one of the reasons why I like working here.”

“Words can mean different things and everybody understands them differently, depending on what they do, their background and perspectives. Yet, the values are there, and they always point you in the same direction. I can recognise the core values in all my interactions with colleagues at Ampelmann without thinking about how they are phrased. So, it’s not about the words, it’s about how they fit within ourselves, how they relate to our own values and how they guide us in specific ways. Not because we are obligated, but because we just do as a natural consequence of our environment.”