One of the many realities of living in the upper Midwest is dealing with the cold and icy conditions of its sometimes perilous winter. So you can imagine as an Australian native, where the temperature rarely drops below 32° (or 0°C for the rest of the world), this was quite the adjustment. Then, you may ask, why on earth I would be crazy enough to voluntarily jump into freezing cold water for this year’s Polar Plunge event in the Twin Cities. Well, it was something I may only get one chance in my lifetime to experience, and it was for a great cause (supporting the Special Olympics), so I thought, “Why not take the plunge!?!”
Getting mentally prepared left me thinking about all of the opportunities and challenges we are faced with every day and the decisions we make to either act or let them slip away. Whenever we are lucky enough to notice a genuine opportunity knocking, we all make calculated assessments of the risks versus reward and make a judgement as to whether the pursuit is worthwhile. This is exactly what I faced over 14 months ago when I had the choice to relocate my family from my beloved home of Australia to the USA for a new challenge and opportunities in the component manufacturing world of the United States. This was a very daunting notion, but one that I carefully considered and embraced as the potential opportunity for growth was too good to pass up. I took the plunge!
The same sentiment is applied to the work we do at Vekta and one that respects our core values of Technology and Excellence. We understand the value in opportunities for growth and development especially when it can have a direct and meaningful impact for our customers. At Vekta, we believe that continual improvement and development is paramount to any business to avoid getting left behind. We listen very carefully to all of our stakeholders to identify areas in which we can either improve or add additional value, and, when we see a potential opportunity, we are not afraid to take the plunge and pursue it. Products, such as our high precision component printer, the P3, and the recent release of our new PackFeeder system, are direct results of identifying opportunities and acting on them. At Vekta, we are often surprised and excited when customers find interesting and new ways to apply or adapt our technologies, which we are always willing to investigate to find a potential solution to bring these ideas to fruition—for instance, repurposing our P3 printing technology to work on a linear pickline feeding a component saw!
Opportunities for growth and development can present themselves at any moment, whether we are looking for them or not. When you do find them, the question is, ”Will you take the plunge?”