ReINVENTing Iowa, College of Business & Innovation

Megan McMahon

Though each day at Leadership Iowa University has been amazing so far, today’s time spent at Sauer-Danfoss was especially exciting for me. Because I’m a very visual person, manufacturing businesses make a lot of sense to me as I can see each step leading to a finished project. Matt Bendler gave us a great overview of the businesses, both its corporate culture and its products and customers. Sauer-Danfoss presented a new marketing challenge because they are only well-known within their own industry. We learned through this challenge, the value of word-of-mouth advertising; Sauer-Danfoss must rely on the goodwill of their customers to spread their name and ensure that no bad things could be said about the company. This is an important lesson for everyone; each day should be considered an interview and you should present yourself as a personal billboard, you never know what will be said about you when you’re not around. After the company overview, we were given a tour of the plant floor. It was amazing to me the in depth measures taken to ensure everyone’s safety, especially the designated pedestrian areas and traffic control. Also exciting for me was their inventory control system; suppliers retain control of inventory through a video monitoring system and Sauer-Danfoss takes on liability only when an item is used.