In charge of the remote operations center at Siemens in Argentina, Diego Flores is passionate about using technology to release people from the mundane, repetitive or unfulfilling aspects of their work. “We want people to do people’s work — not a machine’s work,” he says. “We’re using technology to free people’s time up so they can work on other activities. It alleviates people from some of the repetitive tasks in their roles.”
Overseeing a team of 10, as well as assisting his colleagues, Diego spends his working day exploring new ways of integrating Siemens technology to the remote operations center. “At the moment, not only do our technologies mean we can remotely operate the plants,” he explains, “but we’ve also been able to automate certain tasks.”
Based in Buenos Aires, Diego’s team manages the remote operations of four different power stations. Technically defined as infrastructure, highly skilled specialists maintain and operate the plants from a centralized hub. “When the national grid calls us to start generating more power, that’s all done remotely,” he explains.
Managing other engineers means having to understand and empathize. In previous roles, Diego often found himself working in isolation, so didn’t always get the chance to develop the skills required to supervise and helps others. He says he learned that from playing the bass guitar. “I moved to a new city for a previous job and didn’t know anyone, so I thought goofing around in bands would help me meet people. Actually, what it ended up doing was teaching me how to be open to new things, how to be flexible and gel with other people.”
Since joining the company Diego has gone from strength to strength. A central theme to his current role is communications — after all, remote operations can only exist if there’s a strong and stable connection between the plant and control room. “When I first started I was a supervisor for two of the plants but as it’s started to grow my background in network infrastructure and communications have played an even bigger part.”
Now, tasked with using innovation to add extra value to the remote operations center, Diego is using the latest technology to help people. Not only how they work together but also in their own learning experience. “Every job we do is about making projects more interesting and more dynamic, and allowing people to be more creative and build up more experience by freeing them of the boring aspects of their job.”
Diego Flores lives in Buenos Aires, where he still plays the bass guitar whenever he can. Find out more about working at Siemens.
Diego is one of the many talented people working with us to make real what matters.
Photography: Franz Grünewald
Video: Mattias Matoq
