Today's episode is about how not to get lost in the turbulence and how to use every change to yourself. My guest, Tomáš Pavlík, founder and owner of the QPAG, group of companies, will show you that even in times of crisis you can find a way to keep your vision alive, transform your company and move a few steps forward.
Tomáš is active in the world of technology and automation, and his company today includes several successful projects, from machine manufacturing and robotics to the use of neural networks and X-ray technology. All this without losing focus on quality, human approach and innovation.
What we talked about
Who is Tomáš Havlík
QPAG: The journey from inspection company to technology leader
Transformation of a company into a technology company
Strategic management and vision for the future
The future of Czech industry
Building a successful team in a technology company
Supporting the young generation in entrepreneurship
There can be times in any business when it seems that everything we have built is under threat. Changes in the market, new challenges or technological shifts can all create pressures that lead to rethinking direction, strategy and goals. But what if it's in these moments that we find the opportunity that moves us ? What if right now, in moments of uncertainty, we have the opportunity to forge ahead and become stronger?
"Don't roll like a hamster in a wheel. Don't be afraid to stop and think about the next steps“
Tomáš Pavlík | CEO @ QPAG s.r.o.
In this interview, Tomáš will share with you the valuable experience he has gained over the years and how to think about the future - not just the present:
🔸 How to build a company that is not dependent on one product
🔸 How to identify opportunities in times of change and stay flexible
🔸 How to avoid mistakes that can be fatal to your company's growth
🔸 Why not only technology, but also and trust in people are key in today's fast-changing world
This interview will show you how you can not only survive but also succeed on your journey. If you want to know how to think years ahead or how to properly manage change in your , feel free to listen to the entire episode. I'm confident it will provide you with inspiration as well as practical tips for your own business.
5 YEARS AHEAD OF THE COMPANY: SECRETS OF A SUCCESSFUL LEADER (INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT)
Who is Tomáš Pavlík
Martin Hurych
Hello. I'm Martin Hurych and this is another Ignition. Before I introduce today's guest and we get to today's topic, I have one request for you. If you're following what I'm creating for you, whether it's Ignition or My Notebook, and you don't want to miss anything, you can join the list of over 1,300 owners and CEOs of engineering, technology and manufacturing companies.
I send out the newsletter every Tuesday, so every Tuesday you will get a new batch of acceleration information right in your email.
For today's show I invited a guest who for me is the epitome of a person who not only founded the company and still owns it as the sole owner, but is also a true leader and CEO who runs 3-5 years ahead of the company and is constantly figuring out what could be improved. I have Tomas Pavlik here today, hi.
Tomas Pavlik
Hi, Martin.
What technology has caught his attention outside of business?
Martin Hurych
Tomas is the owner, founder and CEO of a group of companies called QPAG. Just to illustrate, it is a group of several companies, which at the moment reaches a turnover of somewhere around 350 million CZK per year and employs around 350 people. Thomas, before I get to today's topic, you're a technology fan. What technology has surprised you the most lately that is not related to your business?
Tomas Pavlik
I'm interested in ChatGPT and various other artificial intelligences that you can work with, you can talk to, you use for various things. It's very interesting and I'll be honest, searching the internet is one thing, but working with ChatGPT is another. It can help to sort out your thoughts and piece some things together.
What does QPAG do?
Martin Hurych
You are the owner and head of the QPAG group of companies. Come tell us what you do, what you provide for your clients and how you got into it.
Tomas Pavlik
From manual inspections to automated post-production inspections, development of single-purpose machines to robotics, automation and the use of neural networks in inspections as well as the measurement and use of X-rays, the QPAG Group provides. I got into measurement systems when I 15 years old, as I went on a part- time job working on a scanning machine. There I scanned moulds for pressing egg cartons. I remember it very well, because the mould has loads of holes and I was scanning it with a probe into the Cad data. This can then be further worked with in the machine tools and the manufacturer can make any optimization or adjustments they need.
Then there were trade fairs, communication with people, English, which I take as a big milestone in my life when my parents decided to put me and my sister in English classes to learn the language. That helped me a lot and then it went on from there, there was high school, then I wanted to go to college, then there was some dropping out and then starting a job. I started as a service technician for coordinate measuring machines and possibly upgrading the digitizing of older measuring machines. That was the beginning, and then sometime during that then there were other such entrepreneurial exams, websites, programming, that was in the 90s, so I got caught up in that part too, but I didn't stay there. I just enjoyed the technology and I still do, it's a nice toy and I enjoyed playing with the machines, I enjoyed finding that solution to work with it and then I saw that it was helping those customers as well.
Then I understood it within the measuring machines, where I had a great example with my employer, where I saw the decent behavior towards customers, the fulfillment of agreements, the functioning and the human approach. I liked that and I liked the machines, so the combination was ideal. That's where I started, I enjoyed the work, but then an opportunity came up in my life, I left the company for my own and my partner at the time and I started a new service, a new business.
Is enthusiasm and restlessness enough to build a company?
Martin Hurych
You say that with such modesty, today the English or the Americans would say you are a serial multi- entrepreneur. There are six, seven companies under QPAG today. Is a love of technology and some dedication or desire to do a good job for the customer enough to build a multi-hundred million dollar empire of 7 companies, or does there have to be something else, some bit of fidgeting?
Tomas Pavlik
You said the fidgeting thing right. For me, it goes back to my elementary school days, where I was really fidgety. I will say that it takes a good team of people and a willingness to work, because those beginnings were not easy. We started in 2001, 2002 and the automotive industry here was really in its infancy, it was in its early days. In a way, you could say that maybe it was easier, but the demands were high from those customers as well, so we had to deliver what was needed and find that solution.
We needed to find good people and work with good people so that we could deliver the services that were required of us. Since the idea was that I wasn't in the industry, but I was within the gauges, I wanted to get that quality in there and have those gauges in there. I knew that if we get the trust from the customer to check their products so that they were third party inspected and they delivered a flawless product to their customer, then we had to do it with quality. It's not just a matter of coming in and inspecting and leaving, but having some background behind it. I can see the potential there today, but at the time I did the work to make the customer happy and more or less the customer gave us more work and we were able to keep going.
How to pivot a company from selling man-hours to a technology company?
Martin Hurych
So QPAG is all about the quality of its customers' products, from manual inspection to highly sophisticated neural networks, artificial intelligence and automated quality control. That's actually the topic I invited you to talk about. What fascinates me about this is how you started to pivot the company from a sales professional with sophisticated measurement technology to what can now be boldly called a technology company. How did that happen?
Tomas Pavlik
A technology company, that's where we're headed, that's where we want to be, and that's where we're trying to head . I'll say what I've said before, without a good team around you that you can trust, it wouldn't work. Plus, I'm not a loner, so I want to have good people around me that I want to work with, I want to trust them because I see that's where the power is. I've definitely gotten burned in my life, but today I know I have a very good team next to me that I can trust, and I can trust, and we can keep pushing those changes. We're trying to get to that technology company, whether it's training, whether it's sophisticated technology that we use ourselves, but of course we can also show it to customers on their cases that they're solving. We want to be that partner, not just a supplier, and work with them to find a solution to what that might look like so that at the end of the day that customer is delivering that product to their customer with impeccable quality.
How does he run his company strategically?
Martin Hurych
You do a lot of automotive work, so I'll take the liberty of using a metaphor from that industry. People are without a doubt the most important part of any business and in that automotive business they would be the car that gets you where you want to go. But every car stands still if it doesn't have a driver and navigation. How do you navigate your business and determine your destination? It really seems to me that you're a few years ahead of your team in your thinking.
Tomas Pavlik
I would say that we have moved on a lot today, because even what you are saying, I may not see it that way and I may not see it that way. I've gotten some feedback as well, so I have to put the brakes on a little bit and put some thoughts aside. It's not easy, I'll be honest, anyway, it's great to be able to have a conversation with the team like that and have people next to you that you be honest with. That's what I'm seeing , what a huge strength that is, because at that point it doesn't end up somewhere that I just said something because the owner wants it. The school I started at sometime in 2017 helped me a lot in stopping myself. In the beginning, I didn't understand the transformation, the way a person can think.
I took it to mean that I founded the company, I to run the company, but it didn't occur to me that someone else could actually run it and that it didn't have to be me. That study helped me to stop and think and today I perceive that this skill is easy to say but hard to do. When there is also some talking and pausing with someone, even maybe alone to reflect, with friends or somewhere at a networking event to listen and talk about some things, it is good for settling thoughts. It's good to take the time to do that because stopping and getting out of that daily bubble and what we do over and over again will help get that head straight. More or less, then I've also heard from people that my role is really in the strategy of what's next, not really in the operational stuff. Then you put different tasks in there and then you don't really understand how you can manage it all and not even do it.
How much time is spent working at the company and how much time is spent working on the company?
Martin Hurych
We're both members of Scaleupboard and there's a lot of talk that the boss should work on the company, not in the company. Can you give a rough estimate of how much of your time is really on the company and how much is spent in operations?
Tomas Pavlik
It's hard for me to give an estimate right now, anyway the operative is really less there. Scaleupboard has also contributed a lot to this, because the discussions with colleagues in the group are straightforward, open and it's according to the values that are set in Scaleupboard. It's great that you can open up there, you can say those thoughts and even if you don't say them and the issue you're addressing isn't there, you can listen to the others. You then find that it doesn't matter the size or type of company because those owners are basically dealing with similar concerns and things that need to be done in that company. For me, it helps because I also think about someone else's situation and compare it to how it is here, what we do, how we operate and how we do or don't address the issue. So now I'm spending a lot more time on the work at the company than I am on the work in the company, but I'm still learning.
How does he figure out where the market is going and what to prepare the company for?
Martin Hurych
I, having with you, agree that a lot of people have said that you really do fly forward like an arrow. I even wish you wouldn't brake, because I like people like that and I think every good entrepreneur is permanently restless like that. But to know where to go with the business, you have to have some antennae somewhere in the marketplace or in the communities. What do you use to get some sense of the future and how can you be in the mindset of those 3, 5 years ahead of the company?
Tomas Pavlik
I'm trying to listen and watch the market because after all these years, this company can't just be about me. It could have been in the beginning when we started the company where there was an idea and there were some steps to take to make it happen. In the 23 years, there are a lot of people who have been with the company for 20 years, and there are people who have some impressions, some feelings, and perceive something from that market, and we need to share that information.
I'm interested in that market, I'm still interested in that market because it's technology, even cars today are very different than they were in 2021 and it's interesting what cars can do today, what they might do and what they should do. I'm curious, I'm that kind of guy and I enjoy it. When the X-ray is there, when it does things that you haven't seen before and suddenly you see it, you see the potential of what it could actually do. I do believe that we try to listen to what's going on around us in the company and we try to share that and I internally want new things as well and I want to push myself further. The strategy can be for 5 years, we have a longer one, anyway we have to review it in short moments and say are we heading in that direction to a technology company, what steps are we taking to do that, review and change.
Why is the main driver to toy and help partners?
Martin Hurych
Do I understand correctly that your primary driver of company growth is not so much business, but your toy- owning and your love of technology?
Tomas Pavlik
I may not be able to say it, but I enjoy technology and if I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it. I find it most fulfilling when someone says thank you for working with us and that it really helped them. They feel added value of helping there, that it helped them solve a problem. I believe that the technologies that we use today and that we have and we represent reputable brands, that they are quality products and they can really help those companies and those people. They are successful because of that and we are their partner in development.
Martin Hurych
I'm not condemning it at all, everyone has it set up differently, but you often hear that a company is successful someone has built a money engine and is deliberately looking for those pockets that will fly forward. A lot is made of the example of Nokia, which went from boots to mobiles and is now back to boots again. For my bubble, it may be interesting that in your case, being interested in the customer and playing with that technology and building a business through that love of what I do can lead a person to a really big group of companies.
Tomas Pavlik
The way I see it, I enjoyed it, I liked doing it, I enjoyed the machines, I enjoyed measuring on 3D when I got big parts and I had to set up a program in a while. I didn't know how to do it, I was learning on the job, I was playing with the technology where you have a big multi-million dollar machine in front of you and you think you wouldn't have the money if you broke it. Then when it was up and running and measuring and giving results, it was great and it really made me happy. Now that we have those machines and we can work with them here, it makes my eyes shine see what the guys in the lab are working on.
What does he do when he can't stick to the strategy?
Martin Hurych
You're shining even now, you're clearly enjoying it. You've made the point yourself here that it may be that the car you're driving wants to go somewhere else than you want to go and that you need to check that you're delivering on that strategy and that path to that technology company. What do you do then as you go back to the original course you set?
Tomas Pavlik
I see two things, the course is one thing and the journey is another. I ask myself whether my way is really the only right way and whether the other way that the team has proposed is better than mine. So I look at it that way and I'm glad I have that team because I wouldn't want to be alone.
What is the Czech industry preparing for?
Martin Hurych
You, by virtue of doing quality in the automotive, mechanical, electrical industry, I dare say you can see well ahead of where the local industry is or will be. Hows the local industry? What is the industry that you supply to, for example, preparing for? What is the mood among captains of industry at the ?
Tomas Pavlik
That's a tough question. I will say that we are all trying to look forward and look for those ways to make it work, to make the industry go forward. We're all very aware of the fact that the engineering and manufacturing here has a . I don't know what's going to happen in 5 years, 10 years, I don't think anybody knows, but I believe that if we do a good job and the people are behind it.
then we can be successful and we can move the rudder. The direction is clear, we want to be a technology company, that's where we're headed, we're taking steps to do that. Of course, we will need to fine-tune and refine some of the steps as we go along, I don't think that can be avoided. I firmly hope that the industry will continue to be here and I want to do my best to make that happen. When I went to high school, my parents told me that there will always be manufacturing, no matter what it is.
How does it diversify its business?
Martin Hurych
One other occurred to me. Are you diversifying more into individual types of quality work, or are you also tempted to go out to another market, abroad?
Tomas Pavlik
It's tempting. The idea was kind of going there. I'm looking for collaborations, partners, I'm working with that and we've managed to join forces with a colleague and we're able to produce technologies, whether it's automation, robotics, we're using robots or cobots. We are able to design, develop, design fixtures, machines, automation for lines, for testing, assembly and the industry is not limited there. The Czech Republic is not limited either, so we can go out, we can connect things together, we can go further. We are able today to use those neural networks, those cameras, those software that we have at our disposal, and to connect it with those technologies and to develop it further. I am glad that we have been able to take that step over the last few years and move it to that current state. Of course, we have a lot of tasks and a lot of work ahead of us now to apply these things more, to show the potentials, the possibilities that help our people, because they are also helpers for them. There are trainings going on so that they know how to work with those systems and there is also the topic of developing further in the training, our internal academy for our people, but of course also for people outside.
What qualities must a person have in QPAG?
Martin Hurych
I'll keep my fingers crossed that in addition to being a successful businessman and technician, you succeed as an industrialist. Now I'm going to turn the page a little. You've been successfully turning my questions here from the beginning about how small you are and what you wouldn't do without people, you can hear in every first sentence how much of a dedicated supporter you are of your own team and everyone in the company. Even in the long lead up to this podcast, you always mentioned that you wouldn't be where you are without people. Where does a person need to fit in culturally for you to feel like they're the right fit and you feel like they're the right partner for you in your journey as a technology company?
Tomas Pavlik
They have to be people who can listen, who can admit mistakes, they have to be teammates, they have to want to look for thesolutions and they are open to change and to moving , not looking for a problem but for a solution.
Martin Hurych
This is the holy grail of every employer. Do you have a farm somewhere for these people or how do you attract them? Because there aren't a of people like that on staff. How do do it? how do you pick them or what's the process? You mentioned here that you have an internal academy. How do you groom these people or how do you prepare them to take on the responsibility?
Tomas Pavlik
Straight up, out in the open. I'm of the opinion that one either has it in them or one doesn't. But it's okay if someone doesn't want to do a leadership position and have that responsibility, that's not a bad decision. We need to have that mix of the team. I got comments in elementary school that I was restless, that I was playing with cars, and in retrospect I can assess that I should have listened better, somehow I think I liked looking out the window and playing with the cars better.
Martin Hurych
So if I bring you an old school report card with a note that says I'm restless, I'm qualified for a job with you? Is that the qualification to get a management job with you?
Tomas Pavlik
I would say a lot of people in our management team have worked their way up within the company and I perceive that we don't need to know everything, I don't know everything either. We are only as strong as our weakest link. In the final analysis, it may as well be me, and that's why you need to have better people who have more in that particular part, can bring something to the table and can push it. CV is one thing, but the other thing is the will and the desire. We don't have everything written down exactly how it should be, but that cooperation, that communication, that openness, not being afraid to speak your mind, to listen to each other and to want to go on looking for that way, that's the important thing. We try to look for wherever we can be helpful to our customer.
Martin Hurych
A lot of people hire people for management because of their knowledge, contacts, the profession , not because they look at personality. If you had to choose between fidgeting and knowledge, am I right in understanding that fidgeting is far more important to you than knowledge?
Tomas Pavlik
You need both. The team is then diverse and well , so I think it's definitely needed.
Why does he enjoy YOU CAN DO BUSINESS?
Martin Hurych
You have been very active, at least recently, in something to develop entrepreneurship and business among young people. What is it?
Tomas Pavlik
It's about sharing the story with young people in high school, or it could be elementary school or college, depending on which schools want us to come. There are 200 plus of us in total across the country and it's about sharing the story and listening to young people's questions. For example, some of them are already running a business or have a website or have an e-shop or are thinking about something and asking how it could be. Others have it differently and are more likely to look for a job. I myself didn't know what I wanted to do in high school. I was into the machinery, the measuring, I knew I was going to go to my dad, that was my goal, it ended up being different, anyway I stayed in the field.
But these kids today don't know and they ask questions about things like what is business, what is it like with free time, what is it like with my family, and they ask all kinds of questions because they are interested. Because some people think that entrepreneurship means going early, having no worries, working with your time as you please. The way I see it, I didn't have that opportunity when I was in school and those people need to ask questions and need to share those things. We need to share what went well, what went wrong, how we dealt with it, how we moved on, what drove us forward, that kind of thing.
My perception is that we need to go to those students, share those ideas so they can ask questions and it works. It does take time, it's a lot about some presentation at the beginning and there are less questions, but anyway we have started to implement modern technology and I would say that works well. We will definitely continue to develop it because we want to tap into those feelings, we want to tap into those questions and we want to talk.
Is Gen Z doomed, we're told?
Martin Hurych
It should probably be noted that this is an activity YOU CAN ENTERPRISE for the development of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic. You have recently made 4 visits to such schools. What is your first impression? Is the generation lost, as many people try to tell us, or are they entrepreneurial, like we were? Do we have something to build on if maybe we're looking at the industry in a few years?
Tomas Pavlik
I'm sure it is. Let's work together on this and let's help, because we have had some opportunities and we have got somewhere with mistakes, without mistakes, with different experiences. The way I see it is that we need to help this because even the education system has changed and it's kind of current right now and we need to definitely not write anybody off but really go help. There are a lot of us business people and entrepreneurs here, so we can definitely each give a little something. If we help just a few people, it can be a big success and then those students can pass it on because it can be contagious. They get a contact, they can contact us if they want to, so I think it's the right thing to do. I'm glad that in 2012 this project was established and now it's up to us how we work with it. I enjoy it, it gives me such a higher purpose, it's something I don't have to do but I want to do because I didn't have that opportunity when I was their age.
What question derailed him?
Martin Hurych
To wrap things up with a story arc, two final came to mind. Which student question derailed you the most?
Tomas Pavlik
I don't have that kind of memory, I use those networks, so I have it typed in somewhere, but I don't think any question has come up yet that has completely derailed me. I've always tried to find the answer and not make it up, tell it truthfully as I might perceive it and be honest.
What question helped him the most in business?
Martin Hurych
I've got one more tricky one. Which of the student questions, on the other hand, helped you the most in your own business?
Tomas Pavlik
I would say that the questions that resonate with me the most are about family. I didn't spend that much time on it at the beginning, but you have to make time for your family and yourself. That brings me to a question I got yesterday that really threw me off when I was sitting with a young gentleman. We were dealing with his start-up business and he asked me a question that I told him myself normally derailed me, that I didn't know what to answer. The question was what would I have told myself, if I had looked at myself all those years ago, what I should and shouldn't have done. I didn't even know what to answer.
Martin Hurych
What went through your head that night?
Tomas Pavlik
I've already said it today and I see it as a great value to be able to stop. Because sometimes we go around like hamsters in a wheel. I had a hamster once and he was really rolling in that wheelbarrow and he couldn't even reflect the fact that there was a cat outside the window looking at him. So I'd say, be able to stop, not be afraid of it, try to hear those around you, listen to them, take a step back, think about the steps, look back and figure out how to proceed.
Martin Hurych
I couldn't think of a better conclusion, so I wish you not only get you want to go with your company and your team, but that you stop and think often enough along the way. Thank you so much for visiting us here in the studio.
Tomas Pavlik
I thank you very much for inviting me, thank you very much for your lovely questions to think about and I have a lot to think about, so thank you very much and have a good day everyone.
Martin Hurych
You saw it. If Tomáš and I have made you today, think about your own company, how you see your company and how you have a short-term and long-term strategy in your company, then we have done our job well. If that's the case and you don't want to miss out on, say, the next Ignition or whatever, then reconsider my plea from the beginning. Consider signing up for my newsletter subscriber list, which at this point is already over 1,300 owners, directors and executives of technical, technological and manufacturing companies. I can only keep my fingers crossed and wish you success in your strategies, thanks.