Thailand time
Armin Tanha spent his assignment abroad in the sales unit in Bangkok, Thailand. Read about his impressions of the city, culture and work there.
After my first assignment at the Jungheinrich headquarters in the Rental Fleet Management (RFM) department, I got the chance to go abroad and work in our sales unit in Bangkok, Thailand.
Arriving in Bangkok
I arrived in Bangkok during noon and my first adventure was about to start: Explaining the cab driver where to go. After a little unwanted sightseeing tour through Bangkok, which was caused by me giving wrong directions, we finally reached my new home for the next 3 1/2 months. My apartment was on the 35th and top floor of a very modern condominium (yes there was a lift).
Besides the great view, a swimming pool and a gym there was a Skytrain station right next to the place, which was very convenient for reaching the city center as I was living a little bit outside of town.
One month before I went to Thailand another JIG colleague, who was in the same class as me, started her assignment abroad in Bangkok. She lived in the same condominium, which made my start even easier as she showed me all the essential places nearby.
My experience at Jungheinrich Thailand
As the sales unit was further outside of Bangkok I quickly realized that getting to the office was going to be an adventure in itself as the ride would take about 45 minutes depending on the traffic.
During my time in Bangkok I reported directly to the managing director of Thailand, which made my tasks in the sales unit quite diverse. In this way, I came into contact with different departments within the sales unit. However, I primarily focused on rolling out our Rental Fleet Management solution in Thailand and Singapore for our new customers in APAC. By keeping contact with the central RFM team at HQ, I could update them on the current status and address potential issues directly. In the course of the RFM rollout, a colleague from the central RFM team and I organized a one-week training in Singapore, where we invited colleagues from Malaysia, Thailand, Australia and Singapore to introduce our Rental Fleet Management solution to them . During the time in Singapore, I did not only get the chance to meet a lot of great colleagues from all around APAC, but I also visited one of our customers in Singapore, who showed us their newest and most modern warehouse.
Besides the RFM business, I dealt with the rollout of a new contract management process and the further implementation of a customer relation management tool in the Thai sales unit.
The environment in a sales unit is quite operational and fast-paced. It was very interesting and exciting to work in such an environment with only a few daily business routines but various challenges. This is why every day was different and even though I had my main projects to focus on, I dealt with incoming ad-hoc requests as well.
Working with our Thai colleagues was indeed an unforgettable experience. Not only did they help me out with questions on how things work around there, but they would also introduced me to Thai culture. Thus, I learned a lot about our business and the people in Thailand at the same time.
Freetime & Travelling
The first weekend Mariam and I headed straight out to Chiang Mai to explore the north of Thailand. We did these kind of weekend trips quite a few times. This way, we were able to learn a lot about the country and its culture. It also felt great to sometimes just escape the buzzing city of Bangkok and spend a weekend in nature or at the beach.
I also spent a lot of time exploring Bangkok, as there is so much to do. Since I did not know anyone besides my colleagues from work, I joined events from the German-Thai chamber of commerce. After the first event, I had already met other people that were either working or doing internships in Bangkok. Thanks to that, I made many friends, which I am still in contact with today, and who made my time in Bangkok even more precious!
I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to meet such talented and inspiring people, to gain new impulses and perspectives and finally to learn a lot about myself and what I aspire to contribute to my professional environment.
