A career in maintenance and logistics equipped Patrick Hotz ideally to be general manager at Skeyos, an online marketplace that simplifies procurement of aircraft components for purchasers and suppliers
What triggered your interest in aviation?
Aviation has been a huge part of my life since I was a little boy. I used to spend every free minute I had at the airport, listening in fascination to the communication between the pilots and ground control. I was born with the travel bug, which I have carried with me into adulthood, so I feel incredibly lucky to be working in an industry that has allowed me to work all over the world.
How has your career progressed?
I started my career at Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services, where I spent 10 years before moving on to become an aircraft on ground (AOG) and desk and maintenance support office (MSO) representative at Lufthansa Technik. There, I had the opportunity to work abroad for several years at various aircraft overhaul layovers in China, South Africa and France. In the late 90s, I became the first manager of Lufthansa Technik´s sales and loan business, developing the material sourcing product, which is now a frontrunner in material trading.
In 2004, I was appointed head of Lufthansa Technik Global AOG-Desk, managing the worldwide critical material supplies for customers including German flag carrier Lufthansa. We later became the Spairliners AOG-desk, as part of a joint venture between Air France and Lufthansa Technik, serving Airbus A380 customers with component support.
In 2011, I moved to California to start an exciting new chapter working as a director of the on-site customer service unit for Virgin America at San Francisco airport, working hand-in-hand with Virgin’s technical operations team. Five years later, I moved back to Germany to become head of consumables and expendables account and supply chain management.
In January this year, I took on the position of general manager and director of sales, marketing and customer success at Skeyos.
Skeyos
What are the highlights?
The point I am at now in my career is a major highlight for me. It is so exciting to build a product from scratch, and I am grateful to play a part in the creation of Skeyos. We have a young team of highly skilled and motivated individuals and we have a great vision to ease processes and make procurement more efficient. At Skeyos, our aim is to significantly improve supply chains and facilitate business growth in the MRO industry.
What is Skeyos?
Skeyos is an online marketplace for worldwide suppliers and purchasers of aircraft components.The platform enables an efficient and convenient procurement process for parts and repairs. It provides search, offer comparison, ordering and payment functionalities, as well as allowing transaction analysis and instant messaging between suppliers and purchasers. It is our mission to foster a reliable and transparent business network within the MRO industry that leverages the technology available to us today.
What are your responsibilities?
In my current role I am responsible for overseeing the sales and marketing operations. Since launching last year, we have built a strong team and have recently been focusing more attention on our marketing strategies.
As a company, we see it as our responsibility to listen to and take note of the needs of the MRO industry. MRO procurement is constantly changing and digitalisation is the key for lasting success. We develop solutions that create a more streamlined procurement process while focusing on transparency and efficiency.
What are your challenges?
The main challenge we face is ensuring we are ahead of the constantly-changing trends in the industry. It is important for us to embrace the dynamic nature of the MRO industry and be able to adapt our digital solutions to meet the requirements of our customers. I am convinced that in the future the great advantages of digitalisation, data collection and machine learning will become even more prevalent, and at Skeyos we are making sure we stay on top of these developments.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Despite having more than 30 years’ experience in the industry, I am still learning new things every day, and this is something I really enjoy about my job. It is also amazing to see the rapid development of Skeyos Marketplace and the positive impact it is having on the MRO industry. I am really proud to be part of that journey.
If you would like to feature in Working Week, or you know someone who would, email your pitch to kate.sarsfield@flightglobal.com
Source: Flight International
