Listen to the interview in French only (mp3, 3.6 MB)
Before joining Vallourec, I had mainly held technical positions since gaining my diploma in process engineering from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg: three years’ process research at Imperial College, London followed by essentially technical positions with an international industrial group in Germany.
As I was interested in moving to a less technical role, I joined Vallourec's Controlling team, which - by offering the opportunity to work on a great number and wide variety of topics - provided an excellent and relatively speedy preparation (in around two years) for general management responsibilities.
After two years in this position, I was keen to take on more operational responsibilities and accepted a position based in Germany, as Head of Purchasing for the "Energy & Industry" division. This represented a tremendous challenge in terms of international cooperation (an area in which I believe my career path has given me a certain amount of expertise) and change management. The Energy & Industry division was created as a result of the joint venture between Vallourec and Mannesmann in 1997 followed by the purchase by Vallourec of this entire activity. Post-merger integration work is necessary in order to harmonize purchasing procedures among our suppliers and facilitate working on an international rather than national level.
I work with a team of thirty people who report to me directly, assisted by thirty support staff, based in France, Germany and China. Setting up this international organization (which features employees of eight different nationalities) and developing it into an efficient, highly motivated team has been a significant achievement.
In my day-to-day work, I try to maintain close relationships with my internal customers so that we remain in step with their expectations. I frequently travel to manufacturing plants, spending only half of my time in my office in Düsseldorf.
I am also regularly in contact with my counterparts in the other Vallourec divisions and in other metalworking companies, sharing best practices and discussing market trends.
However, because the purchasing department's staff are its most precious asset, my primary task is to ensure that my colleagues have clearly identified our objectives, verify that they have the corresponding skills and help them to achieve those goals.
In the two positions that I have held since joining the Group in 2003, I have been able to devise and propose approaches and organizational structures that I consider to be effective. I have been able to combine a high level of responsibility with the freedom to create organizational structures and processes.
Our Group is growing strongly and evolving into an increasingly internationalized enterprise. I am therefore confident that there will be opportunities for me to take on broader responsibilities in the future.