„Fortunately, I ended up here when I was looking for a new job.“

Hi Kathrin, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself that come to your mind?

OK, I’ve been with the company since 2022. Before that, I was on parental leave and before that I worked at a major corporation. When I was looking for a new position, I fortunately found Extruder Experts. I work in commercial project management (CPM) and am responsible for the processing of orders, mainly from EU countries and also some several third countries.

That means you deal with clients directly?

Yes, although we mostly cooperate with our field service and partly with representatives. But it also happens that I have a direct contact once and again.

So you also speak foreign languages?

Yes, mainly English, and I can also say that at least I studied French once. However, that was a long time ago and I have to admit that I would need to reactivate my skills first. With English, I feel absolutely comfortable.

And what is your professional background?

I made an apprenticeship as an industrial business manager and at the same time took exams as a foreign language correspondent for English and French.

Why were you looking for a new job back then?

The main reason was that the location where I worked was gradually closed or restructured, so there were not enough jobs for everyone who had worked there before. Also, my personal situation with the birth of my child plus parental leave suggested that I would need to look for a new position sooner or later anyway. The driving time to work and other organizational things simply wouldn’t have worked out anymore.

Where do you live and how far is that from here?

In the town of Simmerath, that’s about 15 minutes by car.

I’m getting the impression you guys all come by car, is that right?

Yes, at least most of us. There are one or two who also use their bikes every now and then. But that’s an exception. When you live in the countryside, it’s essential to be mobile, meaning to have a car. That’s a fact.

So you don’t have to suffer as much from “Deutsche Bahn” problems as we city people do.

That’s right. It wouldn’t even be possible, because we don’t have a railway system over here. If you want to see a train, you would have to drive a long time to find one.

How come you ended up at Extruder Experts exactly?

That was a very lucky coincidence. I’m an active member of a club, you know. Just like someone else, who knows a former colleague of mine vquite well, and they happened to talk about a job vacancy. Then my colleague thought that might be just the right thing for me. Because she knew about my challenging situation back then, she asked me if I could imagine to work here, and so on and so forth. A classic example of word-of-mouth advertising, I would say.

What does a typical workday of yours look like?

As I said, in commercial project management we are dealing with incoming orders. First of all, we register them, when they are sent to us from our field service or directly from the client. Then we clarify any open questions with our technical department. After that we accompany the order all along its way. That includes tasks such as deadline monitoring, talks with suppliers, constant dialogue with our field service and clients in case of delays, and finally also the preparation of the products for shipment. In my case, business with third countries also requires preparations for customs checks and the obtaining of export licenses. And when all that is done, we can create and send the invoice. 

Which third countries are we talking about?

All countries which do not belong to the EU. To give you an example: Israel is a country that falls in my area of responsibility.

How close is cooperation with other employees?

Of course, we in CPM also communicate with each other. A colleague of mine mainly takes care of deadline monitoring concerning our suppliers, and I coordinate with her on a regular basis. For example when, I need to know where in the process my order is and whether there are any delays. Besides, there is also the dialogue with my colleague in accounting, as well as engineering and construction. Also, we often deal with items that were previously not part of our product range and there are change requests by the client. Then we handle the coordination: How long will it take until the drawings are made? When can the order be sent to the suppliers? The answers also determine which delivery date we can confirm to the client. So basically there is contact with all other colleagues as well as the warehouse. Especially when issues regarding packaging need to be solved, or when the client has specific requirements for certain markings on the packaging.

Would you say that your job has many facets?

In a way, yes. Although in essence, the general process is always the same. But thanks to the fact that we have so many different clients in the most diverse countries, and new contexts all the time, you can nonetheless say that each order is different. Not every order turns out the same, and not necessarily the in the way we expected or how it was planned. Then you have to be able to react. There are always some new details, sometimes also on part of the client, which may require changes even while the order is already being processed. Or they suddenly want the items to arrive more quickly. The need for clarification never stops, because new situations arise all the time.

So you never get bored?

No, definitely not.

What is your greatest motivation to go to work every day?

I think it’s exactly what I just mentioned. The fact that in the morning I don’t know yet what my workday will bring and how it will end. That keeps me alert and motivated, because it can be real fun.

What about the balance of team spirit and individuality?

When you consider typical industrial companies and especially the kind of products we offer, you might think: that must be a man’s world. But that’s really not the case here. There is an interesting mixture of different people, and our kind of solidarity and team spirit does not fit the usual stereotypes either. Everybody knows what’s his or her responsibility, position and assignment. And, in my opinion, that shows when it comes to solving problems. If something goes wrong, we will always find a way to work things out together and, in the end, make the client happy.

Is this perhaps the advantage of working with a smaller company rather than a huge corporation like the one you had before?

Precisely. Everyone knows what to do and works accordingly, also because communication and decision processes are more direct. Whenever I have a question or something that needs to be solved, I can get a result much faster, because I don’t have to take into account all the different hierarchies, departments etc. as I had to in my previous job. That’s different here, and I can get the right person and feedback immediately.

Do your bosses share this spirit, too?

Yes. I would say they are as much a part of team as we are. There are no bureaucratic obstacles. Of course we know: they are the employers and we are the employees. But nevertheless, we all meet at eye level whenever something needs to be discussed or solved.

How would you describe internal communication? Does ist work?`

On the whole it does. I should mention that I only work three days per week. That means I need to learn what happened on the other two days. But that usually works quite well and  people show consideration for my presence or absence. For example, when a meeting concerns one of my projects, it is scheduled for one of my presence days. That way, I can get all the information directly and don’t have to collect them afterwards somehow. 

As you mentioned your child: are you able to reconcile job and family?

Yes, I work 3 times 6 hours per week, which makes it possible to manage everything quite well. And if there’s an “emergency” and I have to leave a bit earlier or come a bit later because of my daughter, that’s not a problem. There is also the alternative to work from home or swap a day with someone else. Exactly the kind of flexibility that I need.

How old is your daughter and what childcare do you have?

She will be three soon, and she’s in daycare. I think if everyone at work knows about this, including team and management, respect it and show some flexibility, it all gets so much easier. Then you don’t have the kind of problems like others who I know and who are really scared early in the morning because they have to call their boss and explain why they will be late or whatever. So I’m quite happy about the way it is handled here!