” We could think that after 10 years in the same position, we know everything about it and it becomes boring. But not at all. I still learn things everyday. The company doesn’t stop to grow and we can feel it every day.”
Laurence Varlez is a bit like Ouvry’s voice and image: she’s the first person who greets us, on the phone and at the reception of Ouvry. After 10 years in the company, Laurence tells us her experience and career path as an administrative and commercial assistant at Ouvry.
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- What are your main tasks?
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My main tasks treat about three different fields : reception, logistics and commercial. Concerning reception, I am the first person who exchange with external persons, by phone or physically.
For the logistics, I have to check orders before shipments, I organize the removal of the goods, and I assure the good transit of them.
Concerning the commercial part, I manage quotations for agriculture field, I inform customers on orders shippings, edit invoices, and send them after validation by our accounting.
I also manage the relaunch suppliers invoices.
I do garden too, because I water plants.
- Since your arrival at Ouvry ten years ago, you have seen the company evolve and advance. Tell us how have you lived this evolution and what changed in 10 years?
During ten years, the company has grown significantly : we were only three at the beginning and today we are more than twenty people here in the headquarters !
When I started to work in this company we were not many of us, so everyone had to be a little bit generalist and sometimes, it was complicated. Today there are more employees, so it allows me to focus on the main tasks of my job.
Progressively, we have welcomed new collaborators and so, we have created new process and rules, in order to better structure the company and treat an increasing volume of activity. For example, the automation of commercial documents by a specific software : before, inventory management, entering invoices and quotes were done manually on the computer. It allows a considerable saving in time and a decrease of mistakes during date entry. In 10 years, my work position didn’t change so much, I just adapted myself to new process and rules that we set up gradually.
An other example which illustrate the evolution of Ouvry : When I arrived 10 years ago, the company mainly worked on a big project : FELIN CBN program for French army. Over the years, the company significantly diversified its customers types and its products catalog.
- Can you describe us a typical day and what’s motivating you everyday?
My day begin at 8am. In a first time, I update and organize my files. I junk useless stuff, that’s my minimalist spirit. Then, I make my to-do list of the day and I try to track it during the day. This is not always easy to do because there are a lot of new urgent tasks.
At 9am, it’s the beginning of calls and deliverers. At the end of morning, I check daily expeditions in order everything is ready to be transportation at midday.
After lunch, I work on usual administrative, commercial and logistics tasks. At the end of the day, I schedule the collecting for the shipments of the following day.
At the end of the week, I download invoices corresponding to orders ship during the week in order to make them validated by the accounting.
The days are all differents depending of new urgent tasks which arrived during the day.
On could think that after ten years on the same word position, we know everything and it’s boring. But it’s not. I learn things everyday, still today. The company don’t stop to grow and we feel it each day.
- What do you prefer in your job?
-The versatility
-To have a function of a relay of information between the different services
-The fact that Ouvry is an independent company : it’s motivating and it promote to have more responsability. Each action done have direct impacts on others collaborators and on customers and we can quickly note effects of this.
-It’s a human-scale society, with a “familial” atmosphere : You know the expression : “We are all in the same boat!”
-It’s gratifying to work in this line of business and to provide protection equipments to institutions which defend us (hospital, army, etc)
- What’s your favorite hobbies ?
During my free time, I love reading, watch TV shows, move around, see my friend…