A stellar personality, Felipe Villarreal Treviño is the CEO of Alian Plastics. In his role as a CEO, he has led the company to achieve many milestones. He is a visionary leader who believes in, everything that one does needs to have a purpose in life, to make them a better person. Over the course of years, Felipe has driven the company, its team, and the customers at every step of the process to reach a successful path.
Early Education and Career Life
Felipe is an Industrial and Systems Engineer with a Global MBA. Since he was studying at the University, besides participating in and leading Students Groups, he started to work part-time at GE. After graduating he was selected to participate in the exclusive Operations Management and Leadership Program, having the opportunity to have assignments in different areas, such as Materials and Logistics, Sourcing, Production, Quality, Engineering, and Six Sigma; in different Plants in Mexico, USA, and Puerto Rico.
After finishing this Program, he was assigned to different leadership positions. In his career, he has been working in different Industries and Cross-Cultures in companies like GE, REGAL, PENTAIR, BROAD-OCEAN MOTOR, and ALIAN PLASTICS.
The greatest of all this had been the ability to develop different skills, strategies, and company organizations and learn something new every single day.
About Alian Smart Plastics
Alian Plastics’ business environment drives the need to Innovate and diversify portfolios. Five years ago, they were 100% serving the Automotive Industry.
Today, after five years since the company started a diversification strategy, it feels very proud to mention that it serves Seven different industries: Automotive, Heavy Duty, HVAC, Toys, Garden, Packing, Agriculture. And have a great expectations of incresing this number in year 2023, the team had been working very hard on this to achieve it.
The current culture of environmental care leads to its customers reengineering lighter products, and this is where plastic injection comes in.
The company offers its ability to produce plastic parts and assemblies for a variety of needs and markets. It seeks to be highly competitive and profitable to offer added value to its customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders.
With an aim to be the benchmark of productivity, quality, and services in the plastic processing industry, Alian Plastics is continuing to grow with leaps and bounds.
Exclusive Service Offerings
Alian Smart Plastics provides solutions for plastic injection molding and secondary operations, using the best available technology to achieve the satisfaction of its customers, staff, and shareholders with responsibility towards the environment.
It offers a perfect mix between injection molding/assembly plus the support of its Engineering Department.
Within its range of injection/assembly services, the company offers alternatives for the design and manufacture of molds in different parts of the world.
A Triangle of Impeccable Achievement
Felipe fondly shares his three greatest accomplishments among many other honors, titles, and recognitions.
- Human Talent development.
- Implement Company Culture and Process Controls and Disciplines in the Manufacturing environment.
- Development and growth of customers.
Overcoming the Speed Breakers
Felipe has learned in the past three years to constantly change strategies and plans from one day to another. He needs to be prepared to recognize what is not working and quickly implement new strategies and systems in place to get back on track.
He recalls that there have been very stressful years. As an entrepreneur, he needs to focus on business growth and profitability, having a safe place for his employees, where their customers and suppliers can breathe and feel their Integrity and Compromise to be better every day.
Dealing with complex issues is a common thing these days, and it is important to remember that besides being an entrepreneur, Felipe is a human and needs balance in life.
Being with family and friends, and performing his hobbies like running, exercise, and music, help him to clear off his mind and control challenging situations.
He is a team-driven person. He always works with his team, companies are made from people, just one couldn’t get done all that the environment and customers require. By coming together, the problems can be resolved and solutions can be utilized.
Felipe’s Core Leadership Principles
Every leader has a style that they adopt to run their systems. With a strong mindset and efficient skillset, leaders perform to the best of their abilities.
Some of the leadership skills that Felipe tries to show every day are Open Communication, Empathy, Creativity, Conflict Resolution, Strategic thinking, and Feedback.
For example, being able to get together for a barbeque at home, with his employees and ex-employees, today, after years of working together, tells that his leadership secret sauce, had been effective.
Learning Valuable Lessons from Failures
Felipe recalls his biggest failure to be the Production Line transfer from one plant to a different country. It was a very messy transfer, not all the key team members were involved, the bill of materials from one MRP into another system was wrong, and engineering samples and tests were not performed before the transfer, so bad.
“It was one of the biggest learns in my career, I learn from all the mistakes we did as a team. Two basic concepts were missed in this transfer and are what I do differently since then: Communication and Planning,” adds Felipe.
True Measure of Success
For Felipe, true success is being happy and enjoying his job and life. He likes to participate in business associations, which he believes is a great learning and networking opportunity. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors as Treasurer in the Maquiladora and Export Industry Association in Nuevo Leon State, and also he is part of the Board of Directors in the Automotive Cluster in Nuevo Leon State, as VicePresident of the Tier2.
He is the CEO of a great company. Member of Board of Directors in different associations. “I am a husband, a father, a son, a friend, a godfather, a runner, this is success for me,” concludes Felipe.
From the Leader’s Desk
As a CEO, it is Felipe’s responsibility to implement new ideas for the growth of the company. So, in the near future, he plans to keep developing Industry 4.0, IA. He reckons that automatization is key to success in today’s environment. Overall, he aims to expand his present and future business to new heights.
As a leader, Felipe’s team thinks that he is Objective, Counselor, Challenging, Fair, and Visionary. “I agree with this. I drive my team to reach goals and challenges they didn’t imagine they could do. It’s all about growth.”
Additionally, one of the best pieces of advice Felipe has ever received came from a question, “What would you do if you were not the CEO but the shareholder/owner of the company?”
Key Pointers behind Alian Plastics Success
Felipe states that it is essential to be open and embrace change. The company must adapt to microeconomic, macroeconomic, and major industry changes. Processes controls and disciplines for its operation are key for Alian Plastics to develop customer trust and keep growing with them and with its suppliers. The company depends on our Shareholders, our employees, our customers, and our suppliers.
Strengthening the Roots
Felipe believes that having a vision for the future is planning and working toward one’s dream. It is a clear view of what one wants to reach and achieve.
The vision of Alian Plastics:
To be the point of reference in productivity, quality, and services, offering solutions in the transformation of plastic through continuous improvement and a human approach.
The mission of Alian Plastics:
Provide comprehensive solutions in plastic injection and value-added processes, using technology with a focus on continuous improvement, to achieve the satisfaction of our staff, customers, suppliers, and shareholders with responsibility towards the environment.
Values of Alian Plastics:
Integrity: We act Honestly.
Teamwork: We want to go far, We walk in a group.
Creativity : We imagine out of the ordinary.
Compromise : We say it, We do it.
Respect: We understand and accept my colleagues and their ideas.
Communication: We express our ideas, finding the right moment with the right person.
A Prosperous Future
The perspective is a bright future, as Felipe explained in the previous question, the reengineering of lighter products leads the company to a new range of products to be manufactured in Alian. “And not only that, the pandemic that we are all experiencing, has generated a nearshoring boom, and more and more prospects and clients want to move manufacturing to Mexico,” concludes Felipe.