Energy branch with a lot of space for specialization and training

Nenad Vraneš came to HELB three years ago and immediately started developing a new department. At first look, he is very serious, a bit strict, but behind all that lies large experience, knowledge, meticulousness, and a desire to do a great and praiseworthy job with his colleagues. Vrana is a top master whose work and success are topics even outside of HELB. Colleagues say that he is an honest and correct manager, stands behind his work and colleagues, and is always willing to teach young colleagues so that the final product would have a high quality.

They are happy because of him, they are becoming better masters and this is the best period of their lives. Those who spend time with him, outside of work, say that he is an extremely sociable, very good and honest person and above all, a family man.

What does your job at HELB include and what does your average day look like?

I am the manager of a locksmith workshop and you can say that my job is divided into two basic categories: the job in the workshop and the one on-site. On average, we spend more time in the workshop, but sometimes it happens that we spend most of the time on site. Currently, we are servicing equipment that has been in the field for a long time and has now returned to the company, finishing some projects internally, and spending the whole of last week onsite: Poreč, Hum na Sutli, Senj, and Brinje. My team has prepared the iron structures according to the drawings. All the iron parts of a project HELB does internally. We manufacture, refine, test, dismantle, deliver, and then our guys assemble it onsite. Sometimes it happens that something needs to be finished on the spot, then we go from locksmithing to such sites. My job also includes communication with project managers, site managers, with our production, a locksmith workshop, and the coordination of all the elements and jobs. In our department, we negotiate with the guys who will do what, what are the delivery deadlines, and what it should look like in the end to meet our criteria and the criteria of those onsite. To make it aesthetically beautiful, functional and, if something is wrong, to fix it and to improve the quality of the product. I manage the organization of work and people, from arranging the material usage, the way of cutting, people in charge, job description of everyone in the department, deadlines, etc.

Every day is different and plans change constantly ?. Most of the time we plan to do certain things, but it often happens that the project manager comes and says: “Guys, we have something urgent, this needs to be repaired, finished and it must be done by tomorrow!”, and we get on to it. A fully planned workday, in which we do everything according to schedule, is one in ten. Usually, something urgent and at the top of the priority list comes in. It is similar to going onsite, there are four of us and, for now, we manage to cover everything.

How long have you been at HELB and did you work as a locksmith from the start?

I’ve been here for almost three years. Before I came, neither that job nor the department existed at HELB. There was a desire for this type of work to be done internally, an opportunity opened up and that’s when I came to the position of the locksmith workshop manager. Then the other guys joined. At first, we had a small working space, then part of the work was done outside, but now we have our own specially arranged space for work.

What are your favorite things about HELB and where do you see room for improvement?

For me, the advantage is that the firm deals with completely new and different things from what I have done before. There are new challenges, jobs, directions, and organization. Before this job, I was in the oil and gas industry for 15 years and I experienced only that, I thought no one else was doing anything different. This is a completely different branch of energetics, there is more room for direction, specialization, and training. You see something new, different that you haven’t even thought about before, wind farms, solar power plants, etc. There are a lot of young people in HELB and I consider that a great advantage. They are more open, more flexible in their thinking, eager for new knowledge and experiences, and immediately it is a different atmosphere for work. And it’s great that I don’t have a long commute to work ?.

There is always room for improvement, and how to achieve that ?! Education, education, and only education. There is no progress without it, no matter in which area. With education, you’ll raise everything to a higher level, improve quality, achieve greater competitiveness, and move forward. We have great people and capacity, everything could be easier, faster, and better. I am happy when I learn something new because then I’ll create something better. Also, I’ll be happier when I pass it on to my colleagues and see that they become more successful and satisfied with what they do. Everyone should strive for that and that is how we will make progress. I would like to improve communication between people and thus achieve greater connectivity. There are a lot of us and most of the time we hang out with colleagues we work with daily, so it’s not easy to make contact with someone from other departments. That’s why team building is great, but it should be more often, in smaller groups ?.

What do you do in your free time?

I have four girls at home and I try to spend all my free time with them. Socializing, doing some sports, cycling, playing with our dogs and so on. I also like to make works of art from iron, for interior decoration. Kids grow up and time passes quickly, so I try to make the most of it. Although sometimes it is difficult to reconcile desires and possibilities.