A Day In The Life Of A Deputy Director Of Battery Manufacturing At Gotion High Tech
Mohamad's day as a Deputy Director of Battery Manufacturing begins early, addressing "a hundred emails a day" from various stakeholders before a 9 am board meeting. The remainder of the day involves navigating production floor issues, external relations ("go to the local city hall"), internal team alignment, and addressing project bottlenecks, showcasing the multifaceted nature of a leadership role in large-scale manufacturing.
Executive/Leadership, Project Management, Communication, Problem-Solving, Teamwork
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Mohamad Ali Zeitoun
Deputy Director of Battery Manufacturing
Currently Gotion High Tech. Previously Tesla Battery manufacturing
Arizona State University (ASU) - W. P. Carey
None
Business & Related, International Relations & Affairs
Energy & Utilities
Business Strategy
Immigrant
Video Highlights
1. Mohamad's day starts early with emails and meetings, highlighting the importance of proactive communication and time management in his role.
2. He spends a significant portion of his day on the production floor and in meetings with various stakeholders (board members, city officials, union representatives, department heads), demonstrating the collaborative nature of his work and the need to balance competing priorities.
3. Mohamad emphasizes the role of problem-solving and escalation, showing the importance of identifying and resolving bottlenecks to keep projects moving forward. This highlights the critical thinking and decision-making skills needed in such a position.
Transcript
What does a day in the life of a director of product manufacturing look like?
I usually wake up around five or 5:30 in the morning. I do some exercise, not every day, but I try to.
Then I start looking at my emails, which are sometimes a hundred a day. Because I have so many different responsibilities, some come in from construction, some from the union, some are government relations, and some are from the technology center or manufacturing departments.
A lot of it would have to be waking up early and trying to get those out of the way first and responding to them before my day gets going. Once I get into the office from nine o'clock, it's the daily meeting. I'm on the board, so the main meeting would be with the board members of Goshen, going over what we have to do for the month, today, or the week.
After that, I hit the production floor and see where we're at with construction and the manufacturing side. For example, today I would have to go to the local city hall and speak to people responsible for rezoning and things like that, to make sure we have the permits.
This would be followed by some interviews for positions. If I'm lucky, I'll have some lunch. Then, I have a meeting with some union members and the presidents of the union boards for construction, as that's the main, biggest task we have right now.
Then I meet with different departments, like the head of safety, the head of technology, and somebody from manufacturing, to make sure that everyone aligns. We have either weekly or daily meetings to ensure all projects are moving forward.
Towards the end of the day, it would be escalations. I figure out what needs to be escalated, what bottlenecks we have. I'll get those escalations together, and then that would start my day for the next days, considering what escalations I need to start for tomorrow.