Dr. Ames Kulprathipanja started working at Johns Manville (JM) as a product engineer in 2007 and quickly seized the opportunity to familiarize himself with the insulation market. Today, Dr. Kulprathipanja is the innovation leader for JM’s Insulation Systems business. BIC Magazine recently sat down with Dr. Kulprathipanja to find out how customer feedback has fueled JM’s success.
Q: What led to your position at JM?
A: After JM acquired Industrial Insulation Group (IIG) in 2012, I became IIG’s product development and technical service leader. During the next 2.5 years, the IIG team developed a strategy to provide a technical baseline for JM’s industrial products in order to position our industrial products for the right applications. Since 2015, my role in innovation and new product development has expanded into the entire Insulation Systems business unit. This role allows me to develop innovative products for new applications across product portfolios. With my engineering background, on-the-job training and experience in problem-solving directly with our customers, leading the JM insulation innovation process is a great fit for me.
Q: What is the most important part of your position?
A: There are many important parts to what I do. Chief among them is listening to our customers’ needs and providing the right solution for their varying applications. Our customers span the entire value chain from contractors to end users, and every customer has different requirements and product needs. At JM, we strive to be the one-stop shop for all of our customers’ insulation needs. As part of providing our customers the best JM experience possible, we listen carefully to our customers to better understand if we need to develop new products or modify existing ones.
Q: Are you looking to grow in new markets?
A: Always. As a Berkshire Hathaway company, JM has the confidence to enter a new market when it makes sense for both JM and our customers. For example, we partnered recently with Cabot Corp. to produce thin, high-performance insulation for the subsea market. This is our first commercial product using Cabot’s proprietary aerogel technology. Even though the subsea market is new to JM, it’s a natural expansion of our ability to provide quality insulation solutions to industrial customers worldwide.
Q: What is your biggest lesson learned?
A: Customer feedback is critical to getting a product accepted and, over time, championed. They are key to our innovation process. We value and seek customer feedback throughout the lifespan of our products and especially request their input during the development stage.
Everyone knows the best salesperson for any product is the customer. When our customers are delighted with one of our products because it provides an advantage or a solution, they will be our biggest advocates.
Q: How do you maintain a good work/ life balance?
A: I’m glad you asked this question; work/ life balance is very important to me and something JM emphasizes heavily. I try to spend all of my vacation and weekend time with my family. It’s priority one for me. I have two very active children, and I want to be there as they grow up. The key to a successful work/ life balance is frequent communication with both my family and my work.
For more information, visit www.jm.com or call (303) 978-2000.
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