People in Lighting: Gonzalo Cuello Pujado
Companies are defined by the people who work for them: for over a century, Schréder has been at the forefront of lighting thanks to its employees worldwide. Life@Schréder is where we tell the stories of the people who make Schréder what it is, taking in the 70 countries where we do business, diverse career trajectories and our collective dedication to excellence in lighting.
Schréder has been a presence in Latin America for decades. Our extensive range of luminaires bring safe, attractive lighting to locations from a sport complex in Peru to innovative neighbourhoods in Chile. LED lighting, and state-of-the-art control systems that enhance it, are now suitable for everything from illumination of monuments and bridges, to the world’s most ambitious tunnelling projects.
Gonzalo Cuello Pujado is Tunnel Project Manager for Latin America, and Regional Technical Training Manager for the region, as well as being responsible for marketing and communications. Based in Santiago, Chile, he works on lighting solutions across this continent of marvels and contrasts, with current projects including Brazil’s longest road tunnel, Tamoios, in the state of São Paulo. He joined the company in 2012, and we spoke to him about his diverse roles and responsibilities at Schréder.
I didn’t start off in lighting…
I originally studied architecture and after university, I worked in construction, managing various building projects, before joining a company that supplied plasterboard. Then I worked at Idiem, a centre for structural research, development and innovation with strong links to the Universidad de Chile. Schréder was keen to have me on board and made me a very attractive offer.
I started at Schréder as a Technical Manager…
It was a steep learning curve. As an architect, you think you know about lighting, but it was only once I was working here that I really understood it. Then, I became business development manager, and in 2016, Nicolas Keutgen who was the regional director at the time, asked me to deliver some training for our colleagues in Latin America, so I started to do training internally, then externally – I really enjoy that side of my role. When YouTube was new, we’d make videos for customers explaining the latest technology. Now we have webinars that do the same thing, and it all helps to build strong relationships with our customers.
Then in 2018 I took on another role...
I’ve seen a lot of different changes in this company over the last 12 years. First, there was the transition to LED technology, which made a huge difference in terms of what we could do for customers. Then, following some internal changes, I became Tunnel Project Manager and we have some incredible projects: Tamoios Tunnel in Brazil, is more than five kilometres long and has more than 1,900 luminaires controlled by the ATS 4 control system.
Commissioning of Tamoios Tunnel in Brazil
Lighting road tunnels is fascinating…
It’s a very active sector for us – especially in Colombia where they’re investing a lot of money in new motorways, and it’s a very mountainous country so tunnels are a good solution. We lit Parques del Rio tunnel in Medellin, which created vital recreational space for residents. Then we supplied nearly 2,000 luminaires for the La Paz and La Sorda tunnels in Bucaramanga, the country’s fifth-largest city. Further south, we lit the Tesalia tunnel, which speeds up highway connections between central regions and the Pacific Ocean. For that, over 500 luminaires were installed with the ATS 4 control system for a smart lighting solution. We have an amazing team working on tunnel lighting worldwide and I’m proud to be a part of that.
I travel a lot...
Before the pandemic I was travelling every other week. Now it's slowed down a bit. People are more used to virtual and remote meetings, and it is good to spend more time with my family as I have very young children. Still, late last year, I was in Colombia for the FISE 2023 trade fair, then Brazil for the commissioning of the second phase of the Tamoios project. It’s a huge project, and I did several site visits. Then we had a Schréder Hyperion roadshow in December, which took in four countries in two weeks: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. We were showcasing the capabilities of Schréder EXEDRA, our smart lighting platform. All the customers are really different from country to country, and I really appreciate the variety.
There’s no such thing as a typical day…
And that’s what I love about this job! I’m not just sitting in front of a computer checking my emails. It’s really dynamic – some days I’m delivering training, some days I’m creating a webinar, some days I work on new tunnel projects. Delivering tunnels takes top priority, because it’s the actual business, and the customer comes first. Every month when we launch new products and technologies, we have internal training, so I translate and deliver that as well. So I really have to know everything, across all our product ranges.
Parques del Rio Medellin tunnel was another great project
It’s a big organisation, but also a family company…
We are constantly evolving. I go to Liège most years for training, to meet colleagues, and to get an update on our R&D situation. I was lucky enough to meet Jean Schréder – he was a really special person, really close to the people who worked for him.
We are expanding, as well…
We are opening a new office with a sales team in Brazil later this year, with technical support from the colleagues in Chile. I am practising my Portuguese… and hopefully we’ll get by with Portuñol.
And every region is unique…
The market is very different between Europe and South America. Things are on a very big scale here; we recently had a project where we delivered 33,000 luminaires to the Peruvian Ministry of Economy and Finance (FONAFE) and we also fitted 46,000 IZYLUM luminaires as part of a plan to improve safety in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
46,000 energy-efficient IZYLUM luminaires light the roads of Quito
My favourite project…
It’s difficult to choose! But I really liked the first part of Tamoios. After all the time and effort put into the lighting calculations, it’s a really good feeling to go on-site and see your work come to life.
What I’m most proud of…
The people in this company. They’re willing to share; I love to have a beer with my colleagues from Belgium, Hungary, wherever - I like to build those relationships, and I always learn something. I like to share our knowledge and our training, and I‘m always looking for new ways to do that.
Outside of work…
I love to play sports. I play padel, which is very popular here. In Chile, in Peru, whenever I travel for work, I take my racquet so I can play in another country. I’ve been sporty since I was a kid – volleyball, tennis, snowboarding. And I love my motorcycle - I take it on business trips, which in Chile can be far away. I recently did 2,600km in three days. The contrasts here are incredible - stunning landscapes, the Andes, the lakes, the difference between north and south.
Connect With Gonzalo on LinkedIn.