Roman Shibanov: “Learning something new every day”
Commitment to professional development encourages the search for new growth vectors. People sincerely devoting themselves to their favorite occupation, investing all their knowledge and experience, are true professionals and guarantors of successful development of the company.
The path to success and professional development of Roman Shibanov, Director of Department for Corrugated Board Production Development, began in 1996. "I joined the company as a master technologist in corrugated cardboard production. At that time there had been no dedicated training literature, no Internet, I had to learn on the job, working day by day under the guidance of experienced mentors. At night I would take notes from the only textbook on specifications and GOSTs and then shared with the others. On the one hand, it was very challenging, but at the same time hugely interesting. And this interest inspired me to work, to keep learning. I had to learn a lot on my own to understand the correlations and interplay between production stages, to understand why things work this way and whether the current process can be improved," notes Mr. Shibanov.
This eagerness to change, to improve, to find a new line of production development for the young expert reached a peak after visiting the exhibition of corrugated production machinery in Paris in 1998. " Discovering the real prospects that could be implemented in our company, I realized where to go next and visualized the real goal. And then began working towards that."
Mr. Shibanov embarked on this path with active involvement in a project of modernization of the current production logistics system. The first step was the purchase of new equipment for the company - printing and die-cutting machines. Next came a project on equipping production with printing and flatbed die-cutting equipment, which later enabled the company to market a number of new products. "One of the project highlights at that time was the production of single wall E microflute board using the inadequate machinery available at the time. However we succeeded! We were the first in Russia! And following that, we took another turn in the process of production tooling.
In 2004, came the time for geographic expansion of Gotek; there was a need for construction of a new plant in the Tula region, the future Gotek-Center. This time, with extensive experience under his belt, Mr. Shibanov was in charge of designing and engineering equipment for the whole production complex, subsequently heading the new enterprise.
During his career path Roman Shibanov has progressed through a number of management positions, including the position of the enterprise director and he always remained in character, bringing certain innovations even to routine operations. But project work and corrugated production development always remained his top priorities. "It's a thrill, a type of adrenaline to look in a different direction every time, to learn something new every day, to improve, develop and upgrade the existing system. It's a feeling of satisfaction from reaching another peak. It is pride for your team and satisfaction of your achievements being recognized by your team. This is what drives the company to new achievements".