Sabine, could you tell us a little bit about what you do at Outokumpu?
I belong to the Business Unit Hot Rolled Plate, Degerfors, working as Marketing and Sales Manager Special Plate, but I am located in Germany. We produce around 50 different steel grades – mainly special grades like Heat Resistant, Ferritic, Amagnetic Duplex and Super Austenitic grades – and special dimensions for a lot of different application areas. This is a small niche within Outokumpu. We are not selling big tonnages, around 6,000 metric tonnes per year, but this business is very valuable and important for Outokumpu. I am responsible for the worldwide marketing and sales of these products.

Although I work for Hot Rolled Plate Degerfors, my office is located in Willich, Germany, as we produce Quarto plates in special grades and dimensions also in Germany. We are a group of 7 people in Special Plate having different nationalities and being very open, honest and tolerant. In our group, we all have different roles and skills.

What was your motivation for applying?
I was formerly working for ThyssenKrupp in Germany. In 2003, Outokumpu took over the Hot Rolled Plate business from ThyssenKrupp and I had the opportunity to work for Outokumpu in Degerfors, Sweden, which I did. When the “new” business was fully integrated, I became responsible for the marketing and sales of the goods that we produce in Germany. I grew with the role because it is not simply selling. Special Plate is also a connecting and coordinating piece between the main mill and Degerfors and the different mills in Germany where we a hire-producing.

Could you tell us something about your responsibilities?
My main responsibility is of course the marketing and sales of the products we produce in Germany, which includes tasks like making offers, order negotiations, pricing strategies, and frame agreements with certain customers. I am responsible for the supply chain of the material. This means that I have to make sure that the right material is at the right place at the right time. This is sometimes not that easy, as we are restricted in capacity but at the same time we have a wide variety of grades and products. And, of course, I am also responsible for the result being profitable.

I regularly visit Outokumpu´s sales offices to meet our local sales people. We visit customers, agree on actions and strategies. My main contacts are the sales people in our sales companies. I try to support them in the best way I can by reacting promptly and in detail. This is possible because we are such a small group. I am – as a sales woman – for example sharing an office with my colleague who is responsible for quality issues, technical marketing and process development. It is also very important that I work closely with our main mill in Degerfors. Regular visits there, phone conferences and mail correspondence is inevitable. Furthermore, I am a member of the Outokumpu network group for Heat Resistant Grades. This includes a Group-wide exchange of sales and customer data, market situation and development, the development of new grades, improvement of existing grades and the cooperation of the different units within Outokumpu.

What are your formal and personal qualifications for this job?
I undertook three years practical, commercial training at ThyssenKrupp and studied Economics with a focus on Marketing and Sales. My native language is German, and I speak English and I also have some knowledge of French, Italian and Swedish. Languages are very important. Also, my job requires a high degree of flexibility and enthusiasm. As a person, I am optimistic, open and honest, which are all very helpful skills.

I would also like to point out that my private situation is quite special, or perhaps modern. I have a wonderful little daughter. My maternity break was only 4.5 months and I am working full time. My husband takes care of our daughter, which means we have changed the "traditional" roles around. My husband likes his new role and he keeps me grounded all the time. They give me a lot of power and motivation. This would not be possible without the full support from my bosses to stay in my role and my job. I find it very special for a company like Outokumpu to be so flexible concerning this and I can see that both the company and I benefit from the solution we worked out.

Are there any special possibilities and advantages with your job?
I have no real daily routines. Every day is a new challenge for me, which is the reason why I like my job. I have to be very flexible in order to offer tailor made solutions to our customers. I talk a lot to many different people with different roles (sales people, technical people, purchasing managers, logistics people, to name only a few), different cultures and interests. This makes my workday very diversified and challenging. Normally, a sales manager is responsible for a certain product group or region/country – I sell all products within our production capability to the whole world. This is great fun for me. I also find Outokumpu to be a very "active" company. It gives me a good feeling to be part of the strategy "becoming the undisputed No.1 in Stainless". I feel involved in this development and I believe that everyone’s opinion is valuable to the company. I have nice colleagues and I like to go to work every day.

And, finally, what would you tell a possible future colleague about Outokumpu and this job?
If you just consider what I said above, it should clearly express how I think and feel about my job and Outokumpu. In other words – if you want both a career with diverse work tasks and challenge within an inspiring organization AND a family, Outokumpu will make it possible for you to combine it.