I was self-employed and came across VTTI while working on a project. I joined the company in 2020 after a new role became available at VTTI’s terminal in Antwerp, known locally as ATPC.
I joined as the engineering manager, responsible for capital expenditure and oversight of our engineers, but my true ambition was to become the technical manager, which is the role I now hold.
“Looking back on my decision to come on board full-time, it has been a great challenge and I’m glad I took it!”
In the morning, I take a walk around the terminal. This gives me the opportunity to be visible, catch up with colleagues and check work from a safety perspective. In our industry, technical managers in other companies have a very detail-oriented, operational remit, but I’m fortunate that the focus of my role is to see what’s directly affecting my team and how I can help them.
Working closely with VTTI colleagues helps me to ‘keep the show on the road’. At the same time, I have the core responsibilities of a traditional technical manager in terms of overseeing operational and capital expenditure. I’m glad that VTTI allows me to do my job in this way, with such a key focus on people.
VTTI has a good spread of business activities, an ambitious growth agenda and a close-knit culture that feels more like a small company. It is a unique environment – and has been the right step for me after many years of self-employment.
I especially appreciate the short lines of communication. People are always ready to collaborate to share information rather than being gatekeepers of their knowledge and business area. Parallel to that, I enjoy meeting my colleagues from all over the world in person. It’s a great way to get to know who you’re working with and to build trust in an international team.
The whole journey to becoming a Technical Manager has been so fulfilling for me, and we are making so much progress in the maintenance team. We have recruited people who have that special mix of technical expertise, communication skills and a can-do attitude. To free them up to do their best work, we have made procedures and ways of working much clearer. It’s like an entirely new organisation; it’s very satisfying to see the results of our hard work coming through.
