3 countries in 5 years: A truly global career

Hi there, I am Agnieszka and this is my first blog post for  my RB Opportunity. I am Polish and work in supply for RB: South Africa, which I joined in September 2009. But I have also worked for RB in Poland and in Russia.

Yes, I really like the RB environment and the way they are developing their employees! And I would like to share with you some of my experiences, the opportunities I’ve been given and the major projects I’m working on.

EXPERIENCE:

3 countries in just 5 years, that’s quite some career progression! Here’s how I did it.

After completing my MSc. in Production Management, I started my career with Reckitt Benckiser Poland in April 2004 as a Production Supervisor.
Here I managed production operations, reduced COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) and identified and implemented cost reduction projects. After a very successful journey in this position, RB moved me to RB Russia in June 2005 as a Production Manager.

It was really a very challenging role for me at that time but since I love to accept the challenges and deliver the best, I accepted the role.
I started all manufacturing activities from scratch, built a very competent team, set the production targets, OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) for each line and changed the line layouts to enhance the lines production.

In a very short time, I delivered very good results and then RB moved me back to RB Poland as a Production Coordinator in Aug 2006. As a Production Coordinator, I reduced head counts, waste, COGS , improved OEE  and took part in line validations.

After reviewing my performance, RB promoted me to the Planning Specialist Position at RB Poland. I spent around 2 successful years on this position and managed the planning, scheduling, forecasting, inventory and waste control, NPD (New Product Development) projects and met the customer service on time, effectively and very successfully.

My experience kept improving and when I gained significant industrial experience in Production, Planning and Technical roles, RB reviewed my performance again and moved me to RB South Africa as a Factory Manager and Global Supply Rep for Shoe and Furniture Care reporting to GCD (Global Category Diector).

SO WHAT AM I DOING IN THE BUSINESS NOW?

Well, I’m currently working with RB South Africa as a Factory Manager & Global Supply Rep for Shoe and Furniture Care, managing the whole manufacturing activities, safety health & environment of all manufacturing. employees, waste reduction, maintenance of plant and machinery, delivery of good quality products on time, CAPEX projects, execution of continuous improvement or COGS reduction projects, employees training and development and many many more projects!

So as you can see, I’m really busy! But I love it. It’s why I work at RB and why I’m happy to come on this blog and share my experiences with you so you too can get an idea of what working for a truly global company is really like.

Take a look at this video from one of RB’s marketing directors Francesco. He started out in Italy, then moved to the UK and then to Germany. He joined in a marketing role, took on a global brand position, then became a Marketing Director of one of RBs key regions. He reveals how he did it, talks about the uncompromising nature of Reckitt Benckiser’s company culture, and how he ‘learned by doing’.