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Christel Füllenbach

In this interview, Christel Füllenbach talks about how her interest in mining started out, business opportunities and challenges. And the fact that she has another exciting challenge around the corner: she will soon become a mother of her second child. Christel began her career in the company in 2016 at the age of 24, straight after studying Industrial Engineering and Mining Engineering in Germany. Now 29, Christel is managing a team of about 60 people, mostly service technicians, as Business Manager Service and Aftermarket.  
In my role there is a lot of work to make the strategy for the region Europe West for Parts and Service Division and the service and aftermarket part for Hydraulic Attachments, covering UK, Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands and Luxembourg.  One important task is to continuously develop the service team. I'm responsible for all KPIs related to the division in the region, for example market contribution and revenue per employee, the team's training hours, sickness rate and functional cost.  

No typical work days

There is no typical days really, but I can describe two typical scenarios.  When I'm in the (home) office I have a lot of meetings with my team because we have projects together or they have questions for example regarding open cases. I'm also meeting with other Business Manager and Business Line Manager colleagues because we are working close together. Before Covid-19 I was also often also outside the office, then it's usually visits with customers or service technicians.  For me it's really important to have connection all the time with the service technicians because they are one of the main drivers of our business.  

Interested in mining

First I was more into industrial engineering at school. After a few months at school I had friends who studied mining and I had interesting talks with mining professors, which awoke the interest. People in mining are also interesting. It's a passion. Mining is not just engineering. It's also a lot of planning and people management, which is one of my favorite things now. This makes it very interesting. Also, a lot of people underestimate mining, so it's fun to convince them on how important mining is. 

“A lot of people underestimate mining, so it's fun to convince them on how important mining is.”

Christel Füllenbach , Business Manager Service and Aftermarket, Germany
Being a working mom, especially with small children, is not common in Germany and especially in the construction and mining industry. However, thanks to the network we have built up in the meantime with regard to childcare, this is possible. The Covid 19 pandemic also made it clear that hybrid working is also possible in my everyday working life, which has created a lot of flexibility through Epiroc. On average, I now work more than before, but this can also be at non-typical working hours due to the global and regional environment. At the same time, I have also learned that in addition to work and family obligations, it is important not to lose sight of myself and for this reason I try to do sports at least 4 times a week. In summary, I can say that being a mother has also taught me a lot about my everyday work and both fields of my life are very much enriched.