I studied Business Engineering at the KU Leuven in Belgium. From my third year on I specialised in Production and Logistics and this developed my interest in supply chain. After graduating, I joined Air Products as a supply chain graduate in September 2017. I was very attracted to the company and the graduate programme they offer. This 3 year rotational programme gives the opportunity to discover different areas of the company, meet a lot of people and learn at a very fast pace.
S&OP analyst for Air Products’ packaged gases business. In my current position, I am responsible for the Sales & Operations Planning for two European sub-regions. Through demand forecasting and regular meetings with both commercial, marketing and asset managers, the utilisation of existing cylinders is optimised and long-term investment plans are developed.
Besides my S&OP tasks, I am also involved in other inventory optimisation projects and the development of a new short term planning tool. By capturing and documenting the problems and solutions of our planning team, I am forming the internal bridge between the end users of the tool and the development team.
This assignment has many great aspects. First of all the job offers a lot of variety which means that it never gets boring and at the same time provides the opportunity to learn a lot of different things very quickly. As well as this you receive a lot of responsibility from day one, which is challenging but most of all very motivating because you really feel that they believe in you. Organising meetings, being exposed to senior management early on and taking care of your own projects are just a few examples of the chances you are offered. Moreover you get the opportunity to travel in Europe and live abroad. What I however value most about this job, is the large number of people you work with. You get to know people in different countries and areas of the business, who are always very kind, supportive and happy to help. This all results in a job that makes me grow both on a professional and personal level every day.
