-6,68%Employee Testimonial Francisco
In 1997, at the age of 17, Francisco joined Aperam’s Timoteo plant in Brazil as a trainee (SENAI) in the Cold Rolling Mill. He was then hired as an electromechanic-greaser, and later moved into several technician roles. After graduating as Mechanical Engineer (which he did by taking night courses over the course of four years), in 2009 he became Process Engineer at the Hot Rolling Mill and, later, Head of the Finishing Workshop. By 2016, Francisco was Head of Timoteo Hot Rolling Production and, when he graduated with a Master’s in Business, Aperam granted him a 12 month specialisation course in Metallurgy.
With the aim of continuing to learn even after 20 years at Timoteo, in 2017 Francisco seized an opportunity to take part in a six month STA (Short-Term Assignment) and moved to Aperam Châtelet, in Belgium, with his wife and two kids.
“When I was invited to stay in Châtelet at the end of the STA, we accepted with joy, glad to continue to live our dream, discover another culture and enrich our vision of the world,” says Francisco. “Even if starting a ‘new life’ in another country can be complicated at first, I have been very well attended to by attentive and benevolent people.”
According to Francisco, one of Aperam’s main strengths is that it gives people the opportunity to grow and to exchange with different cultures and experiences, extracting the best from its diversity.
“I am very proud to operate as Châtelet Head of Hot Rolling Production (which is two times bigger than Timoteo’s), sharing day-to-day challenges and successes with a super positive team,” he adds. “Having started from operational functions enables me to better understand the context and level of difficulty of an operational problem – which sure helps when looking for solutions!”