Meet Elchin Ibrahimov - our Factory Manager at Kjellerup

After having spent time in various countries, Elchin decided to finish his studies in Odense, Denmark where he received his bachelor's degree in management, manufacturing and supply chain. He has not had regretted that decision since. For him, the program at Odense provided a good balance between theoretical knowledge and hands-on, practical experience – something he had been missing in his previous studies so far. Focusing on just one angle or viewpoint did not make sense. This also allowed him to immediately test the taught theoretical concepts in real-life situations. According to the curriculum, the majority of his last year (of his 3,5-year studies) consisted of working as an intern in Ribe at Ribe Jernindustri, all while completing the final thesis. 

 That gave Elchin a head-start in his future career as he already had a year of practical experience by the time he graduated.  

After graduation he ended up staying at the company for another 5 years, working his way up in the supply chain organization until leaving the company in 2017 to join Tvilum, initially as a project manager. Although this was a rather big step backwards for him in his career, Elchin felt it was the right thing to do. He found the position through his network – something he considers to be very important in Denmark. 

Elchin never had a plan to stay and settle down in Denmark. However – life had other plans for him. Feeling secure in his position and enjoying the Danish way of life, Elchin decided to stay indefinitely. 

Moving from Ribe to Aarhus was a major decision for the family. However, it opened new opportunities and has provided Elchin with a world of new possibilities for personal and professional growth within the field of manufacturing – a field he wouldn´t consider leaving at any point anymore. 

Accepting the status quo is not in Elchin´s nature – a little more than a year later, after the bankruptcy, he joined the procurement organization where he, for roughly 3 years, worked in various roles in category management, before landing his current position as Factory Manager at Kjellerup. This period in the procurement organization gave him the opportunity to see first-hand and participate in the process of building the new Tvilum with the new management and strategy.  

Not for a second did he think the company would not make a comeback and prosper once again.  

Sometimes you just need to take a step back, look back at what has worked in the past and do that again. 

Working as Factory Manager has given Elchin, among other things, the possibility to develop his leadership skills. Supporting the development of its employees, according to Elchin, is something that is natural at Tvilum. The company is actively working on making sure its employees are trained and supported when they want to learn new skills or take their careers to new heights by stepping out of their everyday comfort zone. In a fast-growing, forward-looking company, opportunities for personal growth are in abundance. This is also reflected in the fact that Tvilum currently has 12 employees that are out of work and not contributing on an everyday basis but are studying outside of Tvilum to improve their skills and qualifications. All of this while not losing out on their regular compensation or benefits. 

Our culture and values are what drive us at Tvilum. They can be summarized in the term TRIC.

TRIC stands for Trustworthy, Result-oriented, Innovative and Caring, which are the values that the foundation of Tvilum consists of. According to Elchin, our values are not mere words at Tvilum. They comprise the DNA of the organization.  

Trustworthy for Elchin means giving his team leaders the freedom to choose their own path while still working towards a common, shared goal. However, along with freedom always comes responsibility, so the expectations regarding the outcome must be aligned. In the end of the day, for Elchin, it all boils down to mutual trust between the employee and the manager.  

Result-oriented means following a huge set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to make sure the organization is on the right track and any deviations can be addressed immediately. This is the way of a modern production organization. 

Being innovative might not seem the natural path for a business in a traditional industry such as furniture. However, at any point in time, Tvilum is running several projects with the goal of making our furniture more innovative. A prime example here would be our constant efforts to make our products easier to assemble, for example by cutting the assembly time in half. 

The way the organization approaches our 4^th value of Caring can be expressed through the concept of the 3Ps – People, Planet and Profit. For the sake of this discussion, we left profit aside and focused on People and Planet. Everybody in the organization, from the bottom to the very top, understands that this company would not exist without its people. That means we must give our people all the tools they need to develop themselves and grow within the organization.  

For Elchin, this means to avoid pulling people along and force his own beliefs onto them but give them the opportunities to find their own path and place in the organization. Internal movement of employees is supported and even encouraged.  

That is how we achieve employee satisfaction and ensure the right people are in the right place in the organization, unleashing their full potential. This is something Elchin has focused on from Day 1 – walking around, talking with his employees, and trying to find out what they are good at. Only that way can the organization support its employees along their chosen path. That is what sets being a good leader and being a good manager apart for Elchin. 

In terms of organizational structure, Elchin values the fact that Tvilum is a flat organization. The distance between the factory manager and shop floor only consists of 1 intermediate level – everybody knows everybody and that makes day-to-day operations so much faster, efficient, and the communication easier. Any issues will be addressed within a weeks’ time, whereas in larger organization finding solutions and implementing them oftentimes can take weeks if not months. 

What makes Tvilum a great place to work for Elchin, is the fact that this is we are currently in a fast growth period, growing 25% year-on-year for the last 2 years.  

And we hope to keep up this growth pace for a few more years to come. This presents both challenges, but even more so opportunities for the companies' employees. Secondly, Elchin says it is appealing to him that the company has been able to create a clear vision and split in responsibilities. However, this requires good control over the organization processes and procedures, which Tvilum has managed very well. And thirdly – at the end of the day – it all boils down to culture and the way it is cultivated within the organization and among its employees. 

A sense of shared purpose is the reason we all come to work each day for Elchin. Without that, Tvilum would not be the company it is today. 

“We have a purpose when we come into work each day. For different people, the purpose might be different – some people come to work to have fun, some people come to work to learn something new and some people come to work to grow along with the company. If you feel you have a purpose in life, it is a life well lived. Sense of purpose is everything!”