With a combined five decades of experience producing lenses for Intuitive, Andreas Froese (supervisor, Manufacturing) and Wolfgang Riedl (manager, Manufacturing) have seen plenty of changes at their factory in Biebertal, Germany. But their commitment to quality—and to their team—remains the same.
Andreas and Wolfgang are excited to train the next generation of technicians for our newest plant in Bulgaria. Below they explain what it’s like to create the lenses that help surgeons see beyond the limits of the human eye, and share what’s most important to them—and what makes them most proud—as leaders at Intuitive.
Tell us about the work you and your team do.
Andreas: We make the lenses that go in the robotic system’s camera, or what you might think of as the “eye” of the da Vinci. The lenses are very small, about two or three millimeters, and have to be very high-quality. We start with blanks, and work under a microscope to adjust each one to the exact specifications we need.
My team is 15 technicians split across two lines; one grinds and centers the lenses, and the other polishes them and applies protective coatings. Lenses also have to be inspected and cleaned very carefully in a special Particulate Control Room, to make sure there are no imperfections that could interfere with what doctors see. Then they go into sub-assemblies, which go into the camera modules.
Wolfgang: Each camera module is a combination of optical and electronic parts, with five or six different lenses—a typical sub-assembly will have three lenses glued together. We produce about 1,500 lenses per week, and there are many types, each with their own special characteristics—plus, no two pieces of glass are exactly the same. So, this is work that takes a lot of concentration, every day. And as Andreas said, every part is tiny; even the camera itself is only 8 millimeters long.
Andreas: That’s right—the lenses are so small, I lost one on my workplace a few years ago and couldn’t find it. Finally, when I got home that day, I realized it had been in my shoe the whole time!
What is the training process like for new team members?
Andreas: People join the team with many different levels of experience—they may have worked in a similar job before, or just finished an apprenticeship, or, like some of our teammates from Intuitive’s Bulgaria location, who have come here to train, they may not have a background in this work at all. But no matter how much experience you have, a lot of what we do is specific to Intuitive. So we all have to train in order to build the expertise and deliver the quality we need.
A new team member will start with easier tasks. Then as we gather feedback from them and the technicians they’re working with, we decide how quickly to move them to the next step. On average, it takes a year and a half to two years before someone is ready to be completely on their own.
Wolfgang: We have team members who are deputized to train with new employees and work with them side-by-side, and they’re careful to really look at each person as an individual when they’re assessing progress. No two people are the same, and we want to make sure new hires have a good experience and build on their successes day by day. When you’re moving at the right pace and can see your progress, that helps you love your work.
Even two years is faster than it used to be—back when Andreas was learning, for example, a new employee usually needed about three and a half years to be fully trained. Adding some machines to our process has sped that up, but with such tiny lenses, most of the work we do is still by hand. Our quality doesn’t come from the tweezers, the microscope, or any other machines. It comes from our people. 
What are the most important parts of your jobs as leaders?
Wolfgang: One of the most important things to me is empathy. Even though it was a long time ago, I try to remember what my own experience as a technician was like. I hope I can be a role model for our team members, but I never want them to feel like I’m above them.
I talk with them every day, and I make sure my door is always open if they want to talk to me—if they’re facing a problem, that’s my problem, too. And I watch their faces. If someone seems to be having a hard time, I will reach out and ask if anything’s wrong, and what I can do to help.
Andreas: Yes, it’s so important to make time when someone comes to you to talk. I try to make it a priority. Each team also meets twice every week to discuss issues and share information, and Wolfgang does that with our team of supervisors, as well. It’s important to me that my team members are happy—and when they’re happy, they’re able to do their best work. It’s a virtuous cycle.
Wolfgang: We also make it a point to celebrate our successes—not just the big things, but the small, everyday things, too. Our best asset is our people. I’m proud of them, and I want them to know that. And as Andreas said, taking care of our people is also how we optimize our processes and keep improving our quality.
What are the opportunities for growth like on your team?
Wolfgang: Andreas is a good example, with his promotion last year. We asked a lot of him, and it was a challenge. I kicked him in the cold water, as we say in Germany! But we knew he had the potential to be a very, very good supervisor—and he has been.
Andreas: I was excited about the chance to do something new. This role came up because we started on a new project, with a different type of lens, and we needed someone to supervise that.
Wolfgang: There are also opportunities to grow if you don’t want to be a manager. We have five different levels of optical technicians, depending on your experience, and higher levels are able to specialize in certain work and roles. Our prototyping team, for example, begins at level three. Prototyping technicians work with our engineers to develop processes for new products—we build on a smaller version of our larger lines, and fine-tune the manufacturing before the products are used with patients. Then the workflows we develop are used here and in other Intuitive facilities.
What does Intuitive’s mission mean to you?
Wolfgang: I think it’s one of the best missions in the world, because we are helping people around the world. Day to day, we may be thinking about the lenses in terms of this radius and that thickness, but in the end, that’s our goal. And as we work toward it together, we grow. I always make sure to talk with new employees about Intuitive’s mission, so they understand why our work needs to be so high-quality and how we’re helping patients. Producing something that benefits people makes me, and I think the rest of the team, very proud.
Andreas: It does. I remember at our last all-hands meeting, we invited a surgeon to join us, and it was really nice to get that feedback and hear how he uses the da Vinci every day. When I open my eyes every morning, I’m happy to come to work—I don’t even have to think about it. We have a good atmosphere, a good team, and good products. I’m loving my job.
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We’re hiring in Bulgaria for jobs that will help shape the future of healthcare. Check out open roles.
