This week, CEO Patrick André visited the Vesuvius plant in Skawina. He was accompanied by Mark Collis (Chief Financial Officer), Richard Sykes (President Advanced Refractories), Rafael Navazo (Regional VP, Flow Control EMEA), Bart Louwagie (VP Operations, AR&FC), Elisabetta De Zan (VP Finance, Flow Control), Arne Schmidt (VP Finance, Advanced Refractories), Richard Bovy (Finance Director, Flow Control EMEA) and V Sunderrajan (Finance Director, AR EMEA).

During his visit, Patrick met with our management team, took the traditional Gemba Walk around the plant and also met with our employees at Town Hall. During his speech, he referred to the current position of our plant and its importance in the market:

– EMEA is one of the most challenging and demanding regions globally. The Skawina plant is a competitor not only in the European market, but worldwide. Its further development is in our strategy. We are constantly striving as Vesuvius’ flagship plant in the EMEA region to be a leader in terms of quality and efficiency. If we become competitive enough, we will continue to invest not only this year, but also in the following future. I believe that in 5 years this site will be as different from today as it is now from the plant 5 years ago. – Patrick concluded.

Town Hall concluded with a Q&A session. A few days before the meeting, everyone in the company had access to a form through which they could ask questions of our CEO but as well questions appeared on the spot during the meeting. The main curiosity of employees was in the future of our company and to Patrick’s own interests – each of which received a comprehensive answer.