Team of experts

Our large network of local sales people means that customers can have global agreements and conditions while benefitting from the global market in terms of price and volumes.

Sebastien Houvenaghel Sales Manager, Automotive

In 2001, Sébastien came to work at GGB straight out of his studies to take on the position of application engineer for the French automotive market. Two years later, he began his career as sales manager and now holds the position of sales manager for the automotive industry, managing a team across Europe.

• Journalist
• S. HOUVENAGHEL

• What does your role as sales manager involve?

• My role is to drive sales by offering customers propositions of value in order to gain customer satisfaction as well as commercial success, including developing new markets. I lead a team of people and help them evolve and grow in term of skills and abilities. I try to support them with my experience gained from my time as an application engineer and sales engineer.

• What kind of changes have you seen in the industry over your career?

• Application requirements have changed customers’ needs in terms of materials. For example, a big change in the automotive industry is fuel consumption reduction: using less fuel to reach 100km. A reduction in energy means less power, which requires lighter vehicles. Here we have opportunities at GGB, to replace heavier roller bearings with a smaller, lighter product that offers the same performance. Quality requirements have also changed a lot. Customers demand better quality because there is competition between manufactures and you need be able to give guarantees. You need quality products that perform to be a key player in the automotive industry.

• Why should customers choose GGB for their automotive applications?

• Basically, we answer to all the changes we’ve just talked about. Technologically, we have a large brand portfolio in terms of characteristics in different applications. In addition to quality products and services, we provide good expertise in the markets as we work with most major automotive manufacturers or their Tier 1 suppliers. We can cover all automotive applications with our large product range. After many years in the industry, we have a lot of experience and we are a well-known brand who can offer global services through our network of local support.

• What advantages does GGB’s network of worldwide locations offer customers?

• For the automotive market, we have a worldwide team available to follow our global customers locally. Our large network of local sales people and our global footprint means that customers can have global agreements and conditions with locally supplied products, while benefitting from the global market in terms of price and volumes. This is a big advantage for GGB, especially for the automotive industry, as we are based in all the same worldwide locations as our customers. We can also manufacture and supply the same product on a global scale: in Europe, North America, Brazil, China or anywhere else.

• What do you enjoy most about working at GGB?

• At GGB, you need to meet with many other departments and understand their jobs, so it’s a great opportunity to learn and gain experience in other areas. Even working in sales, I learn about quality, logistics, manufacturing, etc. I believe that the people here are able to share a lot of knowledge because of the size of the company, but we still have a big powerful group to support us. I also like the dynamics here, good working conditions and good people. I always have the possibility and the opportunity to express myself. There is also a new focus on people development, meaning the wealth of the company is encouraging its people to evolve, so you’re always building something and moving forward. This is very important to me today being the manager of a team. I can invest myself and share my experience and knowledge with the team. That, for me, is very worthwhile.