St. Paul feels like a family business where everyone contributes to the common goal.
Since May 2020, I have been working as Deputy Production Leader at St. Paul. After almost 17 years as an operational manager in the security industry and nearly 18 years as an expedition leader in the mussel industry in Yerseke, where I had 3 months of vacation due to seasonal work, my wife, who works as an account manager at a staffing company, asked me to consider a job at St. Paul. At the time, St. Paul was looking for an employee to help set up and run a department for cheese cleaning. This was a challenge that I was willing to lend my vacation period from my employer in Yerseke to take on.
Taking on the challenge was an enjoyable and not even unsuccessful experience for me. However, due to other circumstances, cheese cleaning at the location was ultimately discontinued. The management asked me to stay at St. Paul as a production leader for the grating/form/snack lines, with the agreement to return to Yerseke when the season started again.
In the end, I decided to work full-time for St. Paul because of the company’s drive, enthusiasm, honesty, approachability, respectful treatment, and the opportunity to live a more structured life I consider my position at St. Paul as a pivotal point in the network and believe that every pivot is equally important and indispensable. I enjoy working with my production team, a great group of people from different nationalities who all work with enthusiasm and full commitment. The fun part is to maximize the involvement of these people in the production process and create a group that profiles itself to the maximum. I love the challenges that the progressive company offers and always try to keep up with the desired innovations and expansions.
As for the working atmosphere within the organization, I experience it as jovial, involved, and friendly. St. Paul feels like a family business where everyone contributes to the common goal. Collaboration with colleagues is very important to me and is crucial within a company, even if you don’t always get along with everyone. I’ve observed that all employees at St. Paul share a familial bond, and there is a good balance between interacting on the floor and communicating with supervisors. My supervisor, Wim Kuijl, Operational Production Manager (NL), is as open to innovations as I am, accepts criticism, and has the same group feeling as myself, which makes collaboration just great.
At this moment, there are still plenty of challenges in production at St. Paul. There are still some great projects coming up. My ambition is to grow and work on the plans for the future from the work I am doing now.