The base of a damaged treadmill and the tubes and brake lever of a bicycle were enough for Hector to build an antibacterial gel dispenser. Each time one of his colleagues presses the lever (of the bicycle brake) with his foot, a wire rope is tensioned at the top and this, in turn, lowers a plate, which is what operates the valve of the gel bottle.
“The initial idea was to build an electronic device. But with the trade closing, I could not get the materials. So, I decided to make it mechanical,” says this 40-year-old man who was born in Girardot. It only took him a weekend and searching through the scrap metal, which he buys from time to time, to build his invention. He estimates that he spent 22,000 pesos creating his dispenser.
You just cannot stop wanting to know more about Héctor Iván Quintero Sánchez. He came to TGI first as a security guard, through the company Visé Ltda., where he worked for more than 10 years, three at the service of TGI's headquarters in Gualanday. Then, he was engaged through the firm StockGi (his present position), which oversees the warehouse in the same offices, where he works as a warehouseman since October 2018.
But that change in activity took time. From being a security guard at the main entrance of TGI, he went on to carry out the same work in the warehouse area. "The boss at that time gave me the opportunity to learn, he taught me welding and gave me the internet so that I would not end up doing nothing, because after cleaning, I was waiting for people to come to ask for materials and tools," affirmed Hector.
His job ended at TGI and for three years he was in other companies, also as a security guard, with the company Visé Ltda., but always expecting to go back. Therefore, when he saw a vacancy in the company for a warehouseman in Flandes, Tolima, online, he did not think it twice: he applied, won and returned in 2018.
"Soon after, I also began to study as a Systems Technician at the Politécnico Americano in Ibagué, in order to learn how to handle the SAP program, which allows me to keep track of warehouse materials," he explained.
Héctor's ingenuity manifested itself when, due to the pandemic, he had to devise a solution to leave the bottle of antibacterial gel in one place: “First I thought about screwing it to the wall. Then I saw videos on YouTube, but they were PVC dispensers, and they did not work for us because there are technicians that whose shoe size is 42 and 43, and the PVC tube would not withstand the force; then it had to be welded”, he added.
With his welding equipment, and the parts of a bicycle and a treadmill, he managed to assemble the dispenser and placed it at the entrance of the site, "so that all technicians can use it to avoid the Covid outbreak in the warehouse."
When the engineer Fabián Arias, director of Maintenance in the South-West Zone, saw his creation, he told him to make a video to El reportero soy yo (I’m the reporter) at TGI. "More than the dispenser, there is a life story, of a person who believes in opportunities, if duly trained," says Arias. And that was when, thanks to Héctor's initiative, they began to develop the whole idea for various technicians to build their own dispensers.
“We proposed that they join this project as part of their development process, and to strengthen their skills as a mobilizer of change and innovation, and collaborative work,” explains Jenny Vega, TGI's Deputy Director of Selection and Development. "In addition, we wanted to bet on the pillar of efficiency, since the dispensers had to be created with the materials that employees found in their workplaces, without generating additional costs for the company."
The dispenser is not Héctor's first invention, but it is the first creation known to all the collaborators. Now he has plans to create a lamp, which, as he explains, from the top of the posts, moving 360 degrees and up and down, will illuminate the blind spots on the road. "This way I will be able to contribute to the security and surveillance of the TGI station", he affirms convinced.