Working as One: Peter Tan

When it comes to leadership styles, Peter Tan has what you would call an ‘open door’ policy. While he may be the General Manager of WIK Group’s Batam arm and Function Head of Operations for WIK Group, which designs and manufactures electronic products and components, he enjoys feeling like one of the team.

Tan prides himself on being accessible and consciously breaks down hierarchical barriers, such as sharing meals with his staff in the canteen and insisting on being on a first-name basis.

"When I came to Indonesia I said, ‘Can you please call me Peter?’ They don’t need to call me anything else otherwise I’ve got to call them something. So the first thing we do is break down the barriers and we call one another by our first names," he says.

It is a tough balancing act as he is also the leader of a team, but it’s a dual role Tan seems comfortable with.

"Normally for my management style, I’m more looking at myself as a mentor. My job is to guide them, to lead them. I’ll explain to them why I think that if you look at something with this angle it would be much better," he reflects.

Staff are critical to Tan and his operation. He refers to his employees often, and details the strengths they bring to the business.

"A lot of people always say it, but for me it’s true: employees are our key asset. A lot of other people say that, but today very few actually believe it. So I always tell the people that it is the factory operators who are creating value for us," he adds.

WIK is a German-founded company that has spread its wings internationally over the years. WIK Shenzhen, based in China, was founded in 1988 and now has the biggest production capacity within the Group.

The company ventured into the beverage industry by introducing and manufacturing portafilter espresso machines, achieving remarkable growth in the sector over a number of years. In 2013, it entered the Indonesian market and opened its second manufacturing site on the island of Batam. This is Tan’s domain and one he is proud to see grow.

Sustainability Focus

Under the leadership of WIK’s Group CEO Christoph Dörn, the company has taken on an ambitious journey of increasing its sustainable manufacturing profile. In 2019, he founded a subsidiary of WIK called Free The Sea, which focuses on the elimination of the source of ocean plastics.

"Circularity is our main theme. Basically, what we are doing is cradle to cradle. In short, we want to use whatever is already dug up and produce a product that doesn’t need to take anything else out of the Earth," Tan explains.

Tan has taken the sustainability project to heart and rolled it out in his local market.

"In Indonesia we have very strong activities where we encourage the villages to bring all the plastic in the water to us," he reveals. "For every kilogram they send to us, we give them money. At the same time, we help them socially by gifting books to and organizing activities for the children."

Supply Chain Responsibility

The COVID-19 pandemic put supply chain frailty under the spotlight. Like other companies, WIK used this as an opportunity to strengthen relationships with its suppliers and third-party contacts.

"We have strategic partnerships with some of our key suppliers because we need to know who our core suppliers are," Tan points out. "We do not have the capability to do everything, so we need to rely on them."

The current spotlight is on the sustainability of its suppliers, with WIK supporting their green efforts.

"We just conducted a sustainability workshop with all our key suppliers in China, Indonesia and also in Macedonia. We are also encouraging them to look into their processes, their production and really look into key elements like languages and material usage so that every one of us is going in the same direction," he says.

Tan acknowledges the drive to become more sustainable and slow climate change is a joint effort.

"It’s not only us. We are also pushing our suppliers and supporting them to be more socially responsible."