'5+1' with Alejandra Cruz – Logistics Manager Europe at Aiways

_ BRAND STORY

Today we are coming along with the second interview of our series with Aiways. In December, we paid them a visit at their European headquarters in Munich and talked to three inspiring, strong women. Our first interview partner was Nicole Chen, Head of Marketing Europe. If you missed it, make sure to check it out here.

In this '5+1‘ interview, we would like to introduce you to Alejandra Cruz – Logistics Manager Europe at Aiways. Learn more about a typical day of Alejandra in this position, what drew her to the automotive industry, about the biggest challenges these days in regards to sustainability and logistics and how Aiways is dealing with it. Moreover Alejandra tells us what Aiways is doing to push gender equality and diversity forward and last but not least, she gives us and the next generation of women who are interested in working in automotive and logistics some advices.

1. You are Logistics Manager at Aiways Europe. Can you walk us through a typical day in your life in this position? 

Well, a typical day consists of planning my whole week. I have some regular meetings with China in the morning to do the planning for the follow up of production, to check if there are some materials missing, doing the planning for the shipments to Europe, which volumes, to which harbors and so on. That’s normally what I do in the mornings. Next to it, I am often in contact with the harbors to see how everything is going, if there are some restrictions regarding on-loading cars, processing the cars or delivering them. Every day you have to be informed about what’s going on everywhere as there are always some problems in logistics. In the afternoon, I am in touch with various departments from the company, and work on different projects. There are always a lot of meetings and I am also taking care of China and the harbors.

2. What drew you to the automotive industry? Did you always have a passion for cars? 

From a very young age I was interested in the automotive industry because my father worked in the field. Besides, his hobby was to repair old cars and when I was a child, he showed me a lot about cars, what an engine is and how everything works. So I got to know a lot about cars and brands and I started to share his passion. When I was at university, I had the opportunity to do an internship at Mercedes-Benz in Colombia. It was a great way to start my career in the automotive industry. My internship was in technical training, so coordinating and supporting of the logistic processes. Back then, I had a really good boss who supported me. From logistics I went to being a product manager and analyst. So now, I have been in the automotive industry for 12 years. I worked for Daimler in Colombia for a while and then in Stuttgart. Afterwards I worked for the Volvo Group in logistics before starting my position here at Aiways. It was a great opportunity to further develop my career, but also to push forward the industry, because of the change with the all-electric car, which is the future. And I want to part of it. Being in a startup, you can really do something and have a lot of impact. That’s great at Aiways. 

3. One of the biggest challenges these days is the combination of sustainability and logistics. How do you deal with that at Aiways? What are the requirements and how do you handle the supply chain law? 

Everyone working in logistics, will probably tell you the same. We have been facing crisis after crisis since 2020. So it's very hard to be sustainable, when you cannot really predict the volumes you are going to handle. All the companies are having exactly the same problem. The industry has not been very effective, you are not using the capability that you have. So it's very hard to be sustainable. At the moment, what we are doing is that we are shipping cars to different harbors. We could do it like other companies do and just go to one harbor and from there distribute everything. But we are not doing that. We are using more than one harbor in order to be closer to the distributors and therefore not use so much transportation via trucks. That’s one way to be even more effective regarding our logistics chain. And other than that: networking. We are doing a lot of networking with other people in the industry, with ECG, for example, to talk about the problems that we are having, and how can we become better, how can we be more effective and how can we work together with other OEMs.

As we still have volumes that we can handle, we are in very close contact with all the logistics operators and are very transparent. We communicate our forecast and what we need.  

4. What is Aiways doing to push gender equality and diversity forward? 

Here at Aiways, we are hiring who has the best profile for the position. Nationality and gender do not matter – the one with the best skills gets the job. Our team at Aiways is very international. In the technical area, we have many people from India, in logistics from Colombia, for example. My team consists of three people, me from Colombia, one man from India and a woman from Germany. 

5. What advice can you offer the next generation of women interested in working in automotive and logistics? 

Well, I think in general: the next generation of women but also men have to find something that you really like and you are passionate about. For me that is the most important. We as women, in a still male-dominated industry have to be more confident about our skills and what we can do. 

Often you see men promoting themselves, networking. Women are more cautious and we often think we might be not good enough for the position we are aiming for. But just do it and speak up. A man will do it without any doubts. We have to get to this point that we as women are able to be competitive with men. 

I come from a country, which is even more male oriented. I remember when I started in product management in the truck industry that men didn’t taken me seriously. Back then I was a very young woman, age 22. I had to convince them that I am capable of the tasks. During the previous years in the industry, I have gained a lot of confidence and I am no longer afraid to speak up. Also living and working in Germany has helped me a lot to be where I am now because the communication here is very direct. So I can just say anything and no one will say: oh, you are a woman? 

My advice: don’t be afraid, raise your hand, speak up, ask for help if needed, follow your passion and try to get yourself a mentor. 

And the +1 question from Alejandra to you:

"What is the best career advice you have been given?“

Thank you Alejandra for this inspiring and insightful interview.
So stay tuned for our last ‘5+1’ interview with Aiways to be published very soon.

Pictures: Aiways for ellectric