My first role was R&D engineer at Bekaert’s Asian R&D center in Jiangyin, China. I was working on an R&D project to develop next generation products. When the project moved into implementation, I visited different manufacturing plants to optimize the process, and this helped me to build a solid technical foundation across the areas of metal transformation, heat treatment, and advanced coating.
After 5 years on my technical R&D journey, I had the opportunity of joining the commercial team. As a change agent for our commercial excellence project, I supported the China sales team to improve many aspects of their day-to-day way of working. We focused on fine tuning business models, analyzing financial reports to find revenue leakage, optimizing the new price management system, and creating key customer account plans. This systematic excellence approach really helps the sales operation team to achieve strong commercial performance.
In 2018, I transferred from my sales operation support role to become an account manager working directly with our customers. Thanks to the experiences of my technical foundation and the thorough commercial excellence training, the transition went very well. In addition to my key account manager role, I also made my first step into people management, leading a sales team that works with a group of China’s leading tire manufacturers.
It’s a very pleasant journey in Bekaert and we have a very inclusive culture. Throughout my career I am encouraged, guided, and supported by my colleagues, supervisors, and mentors and that all helps me to meet the challenges. I am sure you will enjoy working here as much as I do!