Coen and Thijs’ American Experience

Like mentioned in a previous post Coen and Thijs recently went to Memphis International Airport for the commissioning of 12 de-icing bays. Because this month is linked to embracing customers, we were very curious about their experience and how they embraced the customers. Therefore, an interview was held about their trip to the USA.

The main reason for visiting Memphis International Airport was to commission CEDD-systems at their nearly finished de-icing bays. Like the name is stating a de-icing bay is a small apron area on which planes are guided with AGL (CEDD) and EMB (Electronic Message Boards [JCAII]) to be de-iced before take-off.

Coen and Thijs definitely noticed differences with the American and Dutch culture whilst collaborating with the employees of Memphis. They were flexible in their support as they changed their work method to embrace the customer’s culture. It is common in the USA to work more and longer days in comparison to Europe, all work was being conducted at a more relaxed pace. Lunch on the other hand was something which was taken extra time for. Coen and Thijs both embraced this working rhythm and special lunch of the customer to make collaboration more personal.

From the start until the end of their trip, Americans were all open and very friendly. It did not matter if they were working with them, or if they were in a restaurant ordering food. Everybody respected Coen and Thijs and they never felt not welcome. This made working together with the collaborators easy and fun.

When reflecting upon the experience of helping with the commissioning of the de-icing bays, both Coen and Thijs said that it was an amazing trip worth repeating!

For more information about the de-icing bay at Memphis, take a look at the following press release: De-icing system built with CEDD® airfield light technology – TKH Airport Solutions (tkh-airportsolutions.com)