Luke Azzopardi

Luke
Luke Azzopardi, Product Manager, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, Hal Far, Malta
As a project manager, my job is based on bridging customer needs represented by our sales teams with our manufacturing capabilities within Trelleborg Sealing Solutions in Malta. On the other hand, my internal stakeholders are directly involved in the production facility. I offer my support throughout the process in which a part on a drawing becomes a part we produce, ready to fulfill the customer’s need. 

My role entails being responsible for new projects reaching our site. Different situations require different responses, striking a balance between what the customer wants and our capabilities, to pushing the envelope in areas we want to grow in. 

I joined Trelleborg in 2011, starting off as a manufacturing engineer. A year after this, I enrolled in the Graduate Program, and spent 6 months doing an internship in Tijuana, Mexico. Thereafter I did an internal rotation in Malta, and a placement with our business area’s R&D center in Stuttgart. 

Being a bit short of a year in my position, it comes natural to do things in a new manner. Still, as part of my learning, I uptake the information from people with a much broader experience than me. Merging such knowledge with new ideas is definitely a clever way to be innovative. One particular learning which has stuck in my head is that “the present is of the ‘learned’, but the future is of ‘learners’”, highlighting the fact that we live in a very dynamic environment, and there is always a need for change and improvement. If you want your role to be relevant for the future, you must embrace change.