Meet Katarzyna – CyanoGuards’ Head of Production

To kick off things, could you tell us a bit about your career background and current role?

I finished my bachelor’s degree as a Chemical Process Engineer and my master’s degree in Quality and Management Processes. I have the most experience as a process engineer in various industries (automotive, package, and foil extrusion).

Here at CyanoGuard, I started working as a Process Engineer and currently I overtook a role as a Head of Production of our amazing team. My job is to make sure that we produce cartridges of the best quality, organize our team, and plan for our production.

What excites you most about CyanoGuard's technology?

What excites me is that our solution minimizes the hazardous effect for our clients. Our solution is user-friendly; users need to follow a one-hour training course and they are pretty much ready to use it.

What’s a great way to handle troubleshooting a given procedure in production?

When you have an issue in production it is always best to analyze everything step by step. There are so many tools out there that you can use to solve an issue. My favourite is the Ishikawa method or the 8D method.

We are using these methods whenever we detect any anomalies in production. We then check everything from the start to make sure we detect the issue and react to it accordingly.

When you have a standardized method, it is very easy to go back and check everything. Another way we approach troubleshooting is by organizing brainstorming sessions. In that way, everyone can share their ideas and we can discuss what to test, what to improve, and how to approach an issue.

What skills do you believe are needed to be a great head of production?

To be a good leader you should be a good human being, and treat your co-workers with respect, or better said, as you would wish to be treated. As a Head of Production, I have to be focused on the quality and efficiency of production. However, even more important is to be focused on team and team building. If you have a good team with a can-do attitude, you will always achieve good results.

What motivates you?

Our team spirit and the people that are working with me!

The people here at CyanoGuard are skilled professionals and they are creating great value, and I feel motivated and lucky to be surrounded by my amazing teammates.

What values do you like to live by?

Always give your best!

Do a proper job and do your best at work, so that you feel fulfilled and satisfied at the end of your day. Additionally, do not forget to focus on your family and friends, you should have a healthy and balanced life.

Once you are at home with your friends and family make sure to cherish these relationships and don’t forget to dedicate some time to yourself. A healthy balance between work, social life, and “me time” is important. 

It's no secret that there aren't many women in engineering; how can we get more women to join the field?

Perhaps in mining specifically there are not that many women, however, in engineering, I noticed there are more and more women. I was surprised to see that here at CyanoGuard, we have so many awesome women in production.  

But to conclude, in my experience, it is always great to have a mixed, balanced, and inclusive environment.

What’s one thing that surprised you about working at CyanoGuard?

The most surprising is that here we have real power in our decision-making on what the product will look like and how our production will be organized. While in big companies you have to follow many procedures and it is often hard to improve certain things.

What’s your go-to productivity trick?

For us in production, productivity is essential!

Every day in the morning I create a task list and I write it on a whiteboard. Then we all gather in front of the board and assign the tasks to each person or discuss the tasks if needed.

This has worked very well for me as everyone is aware of what has to be done, even when I am not there. At the end of the day, we update the board and write what has been done and what hasn’t in case something has to be delayed for specific reasons.

What is your favorite book?

There is a specific book that I really like written by a Polish writer. I am not sure if you can find an English version of it, but I have used it as my guide. The book is about how to motivate people and how to create great relationships with people at work and privately.

The book is about the right way of communication and motivation. Sometimes we can express ourselves in a certain way and be completely misunderstood and negatively affect people around us, without being aware of it. It talks about how to communicate effectively. In case you can find it in your language I would highly recommend reading it (Głaskologia by Miłosz Brzeziński).