RADWAG Departments. Engineering Department in the Eye of the Department Employee
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RADWAG Wagi Elektroniczne employs product managers, constructors, programmers, balance/scale assemblers, quality controllers, and many other employees. They are all equally important and could not function without one another.
Product managers come up with the idea, mechanical and electronic engineers design the mechanics and electronics, and programmers develop the required software. The equipment is assembled by balance/scale assemblers, and the quality of the final product is monitored by quality controllers. All these activities revolve around electronic weighing equipment.
Designing of the balance/scale mechanics (the housing and the mechanism), making a prototype, analysis of test results, and preparation of product documentation is performed in the RADWAG Engineering Department. The head of this department is Paweł, whom we would like to introduce.
– Paweł, what are the main tasks of your department?
– Every year we patent new mechanical solutions and optimise existing mechanical designs in terms of performance and production costs. We participate in processes aiming to optimise production of weighing instruments, and develop production of components and subassemblies technologically. We assemble and test our own prototypes in our prototyping department before putting them into production. Our job is to improve the quality of metrological parameters of weighing devices and increase their resistance to variable external conditions. Our team strives to ensure full robotisation and automation of the weighing process, and carry out customised orders to meet specific requirements.
– What does your ordinary working day look like? What urgent matters do you usually have to respond to immediately?
– On a daily basis, our department deals with projects that involve improving existing products or creating weighing equipment from scratch. As a manager, I create schedules for project development and implementation, assign tasks to designers, and supervise their work. We often design and look for the best solutions together. At the final stage, I check the documentation for each product and authorise its transfer to the production department for implementation.
Sometimes the daily routine of our department has to give way to an emergency, such as an urgent inquiry or order that requires us to customise an existing piece of equipment to specific requirements or even construct a new one. Such needs are reported to us, especially by the sales or marketing departments.
– How do you contribute to improving the quality of RADWAG products?
– As a designer, which I was for many years, I used to participate in the product improvement process. Now, I use the gained experience. I share it with constructors and together we work on the development of RADWAG devices, mainly in terms of increasing their accuracy and weighing ranges.
– What departments do you need to collaborate with in order to fulfil your tasks? What does it involve?
– We work with most departments in the company, including marketing, sales, electronics, technology, and procurement, as well as the laboratory.
As I mentioned, colleagues from marketing and sales departments inform us about the need for a new product or the need to adapt an existing product to the requirements of a particular customer. We work with electronic designers all the time because we design the same device – they do the electronics, and we take care of the mechanics. The technology department carries out the project, while the procurement department supplies materials and searches for suppliers and contractors. In turn, the laboratory examines the prototype and carries out the necessary tests.
– What do you consider to be your greatest success as an engineer and a department manager at RADWAG?
– The devices we have created together. However, I do not think of them as of my personal success – they are the fruit of hard work and cooperation among many people and departments. Thanks to many years of experience, even the largest projects do not take years to complete, but rather months.
Our most successful products are those technologically advanced, including the ultra-microbalance and robotic systems (e.g. the vacuum comparator). In the case of the ultra-microbalance, we are particularly proud of its accuracy, repeatability, weighing speed, and degree of environmental resistance, and in the case of the robotic systems, additionally the level of automation.
– What do you enjoy most about your job?
– The fact that, after 17 years, it continues to challenge me and allows me to grow. The fact that I am working in a profession for which I have already trained since secondary school, and that I am constantly expanding my knowledge in this field. Mechanics have been a passion of mine since I was young, and not everyone is lucky enough to make money from their passion.
