Vasco News
New era for Vasco Global as Falco Meuser takes charge
Falco Meuser, the new chief executive of wholesale trading company Vasco Global, spoke to ABHR about his plans to take the company forward.
The saying goes that a successful company is a reflection of its leadership.
Leaders can have a significant impact on companies and their results, which is often why their time in charge can be referred to as ‘chapters’ or ‘eras’ for a company.
Wholesale trading company Vasco Global recently embarked on such an era with the appointment of new chief executive officer Falco Meuser.
ABHR sat down with the new chief executive officer to discuss his role and plans for the Hong Kong-based company under his leadership.
FM: Thanks for having me.
ABHR: Looking at your background, you are rather new to the conveyor belt industry. Tell our readers a bit more about yourself.
FM: Yes, that is right. My background is quite a journey.
I am German and started my career as traditional German carpenter. After making enough money for my high school degree, I studied civil engineering, a subject I still love and had the opportunity to work in world-class engineering firms for a few years before I had my first project in China in 2008.
In 2010 I decided to do the next step and did my MBA in Hong Kong and at UCLA, followed by around eight years as a consultant at McKinsey and BASF, a large German chemical company. In my last position prior to Vasco, I was responsible for a medium-size business for BASF in the Asia Pacific Region and China. So it has been quite a ride, and it certainly is not the standard career.
ABHR: That is very interesting, thanks for sharing that with us. So how you come to be the chief executive officer of Vasco Global?
FM: To understand this, we need to understand the history of Vasco Global so far.
Vasco is part of a German-Swiss Group, which has a total of four businesses in the conveyor belt industry. Besides Vasco, there is a sourcing and quality assurance company in China, and two companies are in Germany and cover stock-and-sell of conveyor belts and conveyor belt servicing.
The founder of that group is a dear friend of mine, and he asked me to join as a shareholder. For me, Vasco has a clear and unique value proposition, is financially healthy, and I have a very close relationship with the founder. This made the decision to take on the position an easy one for me.
ABHR: Can you explain a bit more about how this works with Vasco belonging to a group of two companies in Germany?
FM: The servicing arm of the business was the start in around 1990, so there is a lot of experience and expertise in the group. The business is small and only focuses on parts of Germany, but in terms of expertise and knowledge, this business is invaluable.
ABHR: So, earlier you mentioned the unique value proposition of Vasco Global. Can you tell our readers more about that?
FM: I’m happy to. While Vasco is a global wholesale trader of conveyor belts and conveyor belt components, we have the more than 30 years of technical and industry experience via our German service company. At the same time, we have our quality assurance company in China, where we source 80 per cent of our products.
Our German service business is very similar to what most of our customers do. But the focus is only on a small part in Germany; therefore, there is no conflict or competition at all with customers and we even connect our team with customers to discuss and solve technical problems.
We use the products for our own business and end-customers in Germany. This is fact-based insurance for our customers that we understand their needs in quality and price. I believe that makes us truly unique.
ABHR: That sounds interesting. So as the new chief executive officer of this company, what is your plan and vision for the coming months?
FM: Coming from a large chemical company and being a former consultant, I have naturally put three things on my agenda. My first focus area is process speed and efficiency.
This includes handling orders faster, allowing our customers faster decision-making and receiving the goods as quickly as possible.
Honestly, this is a never-ending journey, but we made very good progress over the past six months. In the next 12 months, we will further optimise, automate and digitalise those administrative processes. We aim to send a quotation in less than 24 hours after the request.
The second is to develop a greater customer focus and offer customers a choice and transparency on their orders.
Do they want their goods shipped fast or cheap? Do they like us to optimise the container and add something in, so the container is really full? With sky-high freight rates now, this is really a cost saver and helps make our customers more competitive.
By focusing on these small details for our customers, we can help them optimise and improve their businesses.
We work with our customers, making their operations more cost efficient and helping them to grow. My goal is to be seen as a partner, not as “just another supplier”.
My third main priority is being closer to our customers. While technology is of course allowing a lot of flexibility for businesses, I believe, being there in person and having someone at the same time zone with proximity, makes a real difference.
With this in mind, we plan to expand our company beyond Hong Kong and Shanghai, with more Vasco sales representative offices to be established early next year.
ABHR: It sounds like Vasco Global has an exciting journey ahead of it. Is there anything else you want to share?
FM: Yes, indeed. I plan to visit Australia in November for one to two weeks and I am happy to visit interested customers. Just reach out to me directly.
Link to original article: New era for Vasco Global as Falco Meuser takes charge – Australian Bulk Handling Review