Who is Berry? How did your career in maintenance begin?

“I have over twenty years of experience in maintenance. I started at a small installation company. For eleven years, I did everything there: optimizing the warehouse, purchasing, digitizing, improving processes. Later, I moved more towards work preparation and service. During that period, I already thought: is this the maintenance we do, or are we mainly reacting to what breaks down? I felt there had to be more than just replacing things. At one point, I became acquainted with real asset management: optimizing, thinking ahead. I recognized that immediately.”

Where does your interest in IT come from?

“Already at technical school, I bought a basic/Pascal computer with a tape recorder for 75 guilders. Every day after school, I was programming. For example, I made my own digital phone book. At home, they didn’t understand why. We just had a phone book, didn’t we? But I thought it was fantastic to make things smarter, so you didn’t have to search in a paper book anymore. After that, I started building macros everywhere: if I had to do something three times, I already thought it could be done differently.”

How did Gemba and IBM Maximo come your way?

“I worked with IBM Maximo at Sodexo, where I was deployment leader for the Netherlands. At one point, I ended up at Schiphol on a secondment basis. There I got to know IBM Maximo from a user role. Via via my resume ended up at Gemba. They called to see if I wanted to come and talk, that was eight years ago. I started as a medior consultant and grew into a senior.”

You like to find out what is technically possible. How does that work in practice?

“I have four servers running at home with my own Maximo environments, including IBM MAS now. I try things out there and look for the limits: what is possible as standard, and what if you go a step further? Making processes easier for customers, I like that. For example, when creating work orders, a customer had to fill in a complex risk matrix. Together with the team, I solved that in a simple pop-up flow. I came up with it and figured it out, and the team made it. And in Scheduler, I found a way for planners to move work to a next period all at once.”

Colleagues say that you get things moving with customers. What do you do then?

“I listen carefully first. I see how things are going and use my antennae, technically and organizationally. I can talk just as easily with mechanics as with managers, because I come from practice myself. You soon notice that people think: okay, he understands how we work. Then there is immediately a different kind of conversation, much more open and substantive.

If I see that Maximo is not fully utilized, I start a conversation about what the system can do and how to use it smartly. By explaining things in a strategic, understandable way, movement often occurs automatically.”

You also supervise many colleagues. How do you approach that?

“What I like is helping colleagues grow. Especially young consultants. You may know where the buttons are, but if you don’t understand what a customer wants with them… then you’re missing something. I always ask: where do you want to be in a few years? What do you want to learn? And I explain how a customer thinks or works. That is knowledge that I take with me from practice.”

You mentioned that you lost your wife this year. How do you look back on that period?

“My wife passed away in April, after being ill for nine and a half years. That was very intense. For a long time, I thought I just had to keep going. But at one point your body says: stop.

During that period, I noticed how important my antennae are. I use them in my work, but also privately: sensing what is going on, what I need and when I need to adjust. A Buddhist coach taught me why I do things the way I do. Where my strength lies. Where I need to slow down. That still helps me. It was tough, but I am grateful that I can now take steps forward again.”

What gave you support within Gemba during that period?

“Colleagues and customers sympathized and gave me the space to switch back for a while. That gave peace. Step by step I was able to look ahead again.”

Do you also have warm or funny memories of your time at Gemba?

“Albufeira, the Gemba outing. It was the year I was getting married, I had only just joined Gemba. As a joke, I had bought a bright yellow Speedo, a bit Dries Roelvink-style. The first day we all walked to the pool and I showed up in that thing. They have never forgotten that moment. It suits me too.”

What are you looking forward to in the coming years?

“I just want to build again, with customers and within Gemba. Take new colleagues along, make sure we continue to take steps with IBM Maximo. And help customers determine their route: where do we want to go, what steps are needed? That’s what I like to do most.”