Meet the team at Linde Material Handling Australia

At Linde Material Handling Australia, the heart of the business is of course the people, that's why over the next few months we're going to get to know some of the Linde MH team members a little bit more.

You can tune in here each week to meet someone new, or keep up through our social channels to meet even more of the team!

Meet Troy Willoughby - Product Manager

From servicing forklifts to selling them and now looking after the Australian product portfolio, Troy’s Linde journey has been full of growth and development, and he says it’s also been a very rewarding one so far.

Before joining Linde, Troy was a trained and qualified motor mechanic looking for a way to push himself further. With a trade under his belt and an ambition to grow and learn more, Troy’s future father-in-law (who had worked at Linde for 40 years before retiring), suggested a career with Linde.

His first opportunity was as a Linde Service Technician, a role where he would get to learn a lot while applying the transferrable skills he had from his life as a mechanic.

During his 3 years as a technician, Troy set a goal to move into a management position. To help him reach this goal, Linde supported him in getting his frontline management certification, which readied him for a move off the tools and into the office.

Starting his office life as a National Equipment Coordinator let him bridge his mechanical skills to his management aspirations and this paid off when he was later successful in becoming the Service Area Manager, a role he’d had his eyes on whilst he was a technician.

Troy attributes part of his successful transition into office life to the great team of people that he was surrounded by.

"What I love about working for Linde is the culture. Everyone is willing to help you out no matter what. Moving from the field to the office I had to navigate what to them were probably the basics of working on a computer all day and the support I received from my colleagues was amazing."

Now considered an “excel whiz”, Troy earned his next role as the National Rental Manager, a demanding position that offered him a lot of new experiences to throw into his already overflowing tool belt!

Troy’s career progression continued to go from strength to strength at Linde when he was appointed a newly created role leading the implementation of a new internal service and sales software (or CRM for those in the know). This was the perfect role to put his existing tools to use while he added a few more for good measure. That experience, plus an enthusiasm to try his hand at selling saw Troy become a Key Account Manager for NSW Linde customers in March 2021.

Some may say a role in sales couldn’t be further from starting in a career in service (particularly technical service) but who better to talk to you about your potential material handling needs than the man who literally knows the Linde range inside and out?

And two years later that incomparable knowledge of the entire Linde product range has aided Troy in yet another career milestone. As of February 2023, he stepped into the role of Product Manager.

“This is a role that will give me the opportunity to learn much more about our excellent KION products and develop and optimise our Australian product offering.”

In his new role, Troy’s responsibilities include maintaining the Linde product portfolio, collaborating on go-to-market strategies and materials, as well as being the communication link between internal teams.

“After starting with Linde 10 years ago repairing and maintaining our products to then selling them, now looking after the full Australian product portfolio is a great feeling of accomplishment,” he said.

Interested in a role with Linde? View our most recent career opportunities now. 

Meet Stuart Morgan - State Service Manager - QLD

Stuart Morgan says what’s kept him with Linde for the last 14 years (and counting) is his passion for the brand, the products and the people he gets to work with every day.

Before he moved to Australia and joined Linde, Stuart had spent 6 years as a mechanic in the British Military followed by a civilian role working on scissor lifts and tray pickers across the UK and Europe.

Both roles had transferrable skills and importantly both had exposed Stuart to the Linde brand and its reputation.

“I knew the Linde brand well and I knew it was the best in the marketplace. And when it comes to my work I like to be pushed and I thought the best way to challenge myself would be to work on the most technically complex product in the market, and that was the Linde truck.”

Stuart's Linde Journey

Starting with Linde as a Service Technician, it didn’t take Stuart long to decide that this was a business he wanted to grow his career in, so within two years of joining, he set a long-term career goal – to become a State Service Manager.

“I had a clear objective and Linde supported me in achieving my career progression in many ways, including putting me through the necessary courses and training to build my skills as a manager.”

In 2010 Stuart got his first promotion to Service Team Leader. This allowed him to stay on the tools while managing a small group of technicians. A great next step because it meant he could continue to use his technical and interpersonal skills to solve problems for his customers, while building up his skills as a manager.

Reflecting on this time Stuart tells the story of an after-hours callout he attended 2 and a half hours away from his QLD home, in the middle of a storm.

When he arrived the truck, which he thought would be waiting for him under cover was unfortunately out in the rain. The customer fashioned a temporary shelter for Stuart to work under and within 15 minutes he had the forklift up and running again.

He explains why it’s so important to be able to service customers no matter where they are in Australia, “For some customers, if the forklift stops, their work stops with it and the cost to some of these businesses can be as much as $100,000 an hour.”

Stuart’s passion for service to his customers is clear and he says that one of the most satisfying parts of all the roles he’s had at Linde is when you start to feel like part of a customer’s business.

A few years (and courses) after becoming a Team Leader Stuart moved into his next role as a Service Area Manager. This job had him put down the tools to focus more on applying his training and experience to help improve the business and develop the wider service team in his area.

After almost 10 years of growth, studying and well-earned promotions, in 2019 Stuart achieved what he’d set out to do. The Queensland Service Manager role became available, and he successfully secured the position. Today he continues to enjoy this role finding a new passion along the way.   

Being able to make a difference is important to me and as a State Service Manager I’m able to identify talent in the business and help them to achieve their goals the way I did.

If you’re looking for a role in a business that supports your career goals, take a look at the Linde Careers Opportunities available now.

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