Mastering international challenges
Lei Shen | Project Manager Homologation
She has probably never known a dull day at work
Anyone who hears her speak is carried away by her enthusiasm. As a project manager for homologation, she is responsible for calculating the structural integrity of the world’s largest cranes, and their official certification.
My absolute highlight at Liebherr – the acceptance of our biggest crawler crane for China.
Using her technical understanding and cross-cultural skills, she talks to authorities in many different countries, takes on a lot of independent responsibility, and travels frequently. It is particularly important to Lei that her colleagues and managers always give her their full support – and she can rely on that.
Hers is a technical role – she works around the world to secure certification for Liebherr products, and regularly deals with country-specific challenges.
“Whenever friends or acquaintances ask me what I like so much about my job at Liebherr, I say: the variety. It is not just that there are many different lines of business at Liebherr. Most of all, I really appreciate the diversity in my everyday work.
As project manager in the homologation department, I am responsible for legal approvals for the products we sell worldwide. This is why I travel very frequently, and constantly encounter country-specific challenges. At the end of the day, every country is different, and so is the way people do things. Therefore, in addition to technical understanding, I also need a degree of cultural sensitivity when I talk to the authorities. I enjoy a lot of freedom to act, and I get full support from my line manager. That feels good.
Sometimes I just cannot believe how much I achieve each day. Especially when I think that I perform structural calculations and simulations for the world’s largest cranes, and then I personally obtain approval from the authorities. It is simply great! For example, one truly special moment for me, was the acceptance of the largest crawler crane that Liebherr has ever built – the LR 13000, which is being used by a Chinese company. Together with the Chinese inspectors, we verified whether our crane passed the overload test. I felt very proud when we passed the test with flying colors. It meant that I had led a very challenging certification project with a lot of responsibility, the project was successfully completed and the product could be handed over to the Chinese government.”
