Bedrijfsdetails

Aluminium Duffel is a European leader in the manufacture and sale of aluminium rolled products for diverse industries worldwide. It features state-of-the art technology, including the widest Automotive cold rolling mill in Europe and a CALP-line (Continuous Annealing Line with Pre-Treatment).

Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities produce rolled aluminium for everything from highly designed cladding for building facades to automotive body sheet. Almost everything we make is manufactured to specific customer requirements. We employ around 1.000 people and produce 200.000 tons of high-value aluminium rolled products annually.

It is our purpose to create a sustainable future for our industry and society. We continuously work to develop innovative solutions that will better position aluminium as the material of choice for customers and consumers seeking high-performance and sustainable products.

Functie

The Customer Development Engineer (CDE) is responsible for early identification and creation of new business opportunities and initiating them into the Aluminium Duffel organization.

The CDE has to understand both existing customers as well as prospects in terms of their current and future technical needs and strategic direction. For this he/she needs to visualize the main production & development processes of these customers, including their key programs, development projects and R&D activities.

The CDE advises on most suitable products/services according to the requirements of customers and discusses product properties and capabilities with customers in order to deliver the right products. The CDE initiates a relevant APM (AD Product Mngmt) project by specifying a technical business case.

Furthermore the CDE has to benchmark & maintain an awareness of competitor products & activities, and general industry trends/legislation related to their field and visualize the technical market space towards the organization.

YOUR FUNCTION

• Create and maintain a network of customer contacts to maximize customer intimacy
• Regular presence at key customers and prospects in order to assure pro-active business development activities
• Generate customer roadmaps (Models/SOP’s/alu content/grades etc.) and CTD-tools (customer to design) for each customer/prospect
• Initiate and prepare (sample preparation , lab requests, trial orders, ….) projects to support material implementations (eg. press simulations via simultaneous engineering) after internal alignment (eg. Customer Development)
• Organize and define trial deliveries in the Duffel plant to be able to test our qualities in prototype panels
• Initiate improvement projects and lessons learnt regarding product properties in collaboration with Product/Process technology and R&D in order to strengthen our supplier position at key customers
• Respond in a quick and accurate way on new or changed technical requirements, e.g. new or adapted products or (functional and hidden) product specifications
• Lead discussions on counter proposals on specifications and get to an agreement, based on the feedback from the plant
• Lead qualification projects in order to get our product approved by the customer
• Monitor ongoing AD R&D activities for relevant customers/product groups
• Support our Marketing team with technical content (trade fairs, brochures etc.)
• Evaluate properties of competition material in order to define potential for our product portfolio
• Provide input for visit reports and prepare weekly or bi-weekly CDE report
• Participate in R&D projects as a team member in order to have a good insight in the knowledge and experience, which has to be used in the co-operation with the customer development teams
• Install NDA’s with target customers, third parties & suppliers whenever appropriate in order to safeguard our intellectual property rights
• Detect technological developments at customers which influence or change the requirements for our material qualities
• Give detailed feedback on customer test results to the AD organisation in order to be able to fine-tune or improve the material properties.
• Keep informed about general product- and application developments and competitors’ products and services, by consulting specialized literature, patent applications, and conferences or via conversations with customers.
• Provide input for Customer Development Strategy and Customer Development Year plan
• Member of the core account team and responsible for 2 way technical communication flow between customer and Aluminium Duffel
• Alignment PPT-QA about customer spec
• Organise and lead customer plant tours in Duffel
• Take over customer test procedures
• Provide input to QA for the commercial bible
• Technical support to several (min. 20 main) customers in various countries
• >50% presence at the customer

Profiel

• BSc or MSc, preferably material science or mechanical engineering. Several years of experience in the aluminum industry with similar activities as the targeted portfolio.
• Thorough understanding of the customer design cycle, ideally has been part of this process. Understands how product design decisions are derived from the product functional requirements.
• Experience working with internal and external suppliers.
• Strong understanding of project management
• Ability to work cross functionally and cross culturally
• Ability to prioritize
• Strong analytical thinker
• Well-developed communication skills
• Ability to influence and persuade peers, employees, customers, suppliers and other functions

Taal

• English, German and French skills

Aanbod

We offer you a challenging job with market conform benefits (company car, hospitalization insurance, bonus system, group insurance, ...). You get to be part of a dynamic team and act both internally as externally as face of our company towards the customer.