Benoit FLORIN

As a preparatory class student, I wanted to be admitted into an engineering school with a strong international opening. I chose the chemistry school in Montpellier for their reputation for general teaching and their dynamism in international mobility. I could thus spend my third year at the Université Nationale de Singapour where I graduated from a chemistry master’s programme which combined research in an organic chemistry lab and chemistry classes.
I then joined SNF, a French company, leader in flocculants used in water treatment. I had a position as a manufacturing engineer in Saint-Etienne for two years, and then as production manager on the equivalent Chinese site. My job consists of providing, amongst other things, technology transfer to China, personnel training, implementation of methods for improving quality and industrial performances. After six years in this job, I joined the Rhodia group as Manager of the Polyamide site in Shanghai where I run production, maintenance, quality control, health, safety and environment operations and the use of Lean Manufacturing tools in the implementation of continuous improvement and cost reduction.

Today, I am Technical manager for Asia for the Swiss company Vestergaard Frandsen. I cover all industrial operations in Asia, with main operations in Vietnam, Thailand, China and India, and fully outsourced production. Based in Hanoi, Vietnam, I manage Asian partners for the implementation and improvement of best practices in manufacturing our products in terms of quality control, productivity, lead times, volume yields, inspection and reduction of costs, safety and environment, to meet the needs and evolutions of markets and to act proactively towards competition. I manage certain investments, I advise and negotiate with partners or others; I participate in all innovation projects on products and processes in the industrial stage, and I lead an in-house technical team of engineers coming from varied cultural and professional directions (Danish, Indian, Vietnamese, etc.). It is a very versatile job therefore, where I need to discuss and cooperate with various dialogue partners in different technical and cultural environments, which requires developing flexibility, an open mind and the ability to listen.

In my work, I am part of the Vestergaard Frandsen adventure. This company innovates on products called “disease control textile“ designed to prevent tropical diseases such as malaria*, and to help populations affected by drought, to treat contaminated water to obtain drinking water. My choice for the international opening in industry thus led me to work for a noble cause in a very dynamic multicultural environment where very motivating issues are at stake, being vital to millions of people throughout the world.

*Every thirty seconds, a child dies of malaria.