How did I get here?
How does a girl from Singapore end up working in Eastern Thailand? It’s quite simple really. After leaving college my first job was with a major electronics company. I realized that I wanted a job that involved talking to customers every day and solving their problems. So, when Corbion offered me the chance to work in Customer Relationship Management and Quality Assurance for their lactic acid operation in Thailand, I took it.
What do I do?
I preserve what matters, the well-being of my customers. Across the whole of Asia – from Australia and Japan to India – it’s my job to work with customers and our production facility to make sure that we can provide the product they want, when they want it. I’m often the first line of defense. So when a customer has a question about an order, a product, its ingredients, or delivery… they often come to me first and then I go to my teammates to get the answer. What makes this a challenge is the diversity – across huge distances and very different cultures. I’ve learned how to say “hello” in a dozen different languages!
Going the extra mile
One time we had a customer in Australia who had omitted key information from their product order. They believed they were receiving a major product delivery from us, but they weren’t! Suddenly we needed to tear up our very carefully planned production forecasting and inventory – and find a way of moving their order forward. This involved lots of frantic calls and emails both within Corbion and with the customer (four hours ahead of us) but we solved it and got their delivery to them on time. That’s what makes this a satisfying job.
The future
The more successful we are in the region, the more of a challenge our supply chain operation becomes. I would love to eventually become a buyer or planner at Corbion and take the next step in meeting that challenge, but still preserve what matters, the well-being of my customers. But for now I love being in Thailand and working with some wonderful people. Not for nothing is it known as the land of 1,000 smiles!