“Being a girl is no reason for not being good at maths.” This sentence can sound a bit tough at first but, in reality, it was only the reflection of my mother’s care for me. It was indeed one of her life mottos that she kept on repeating when I was younger, and I am happy she did! Those words stayed with me and guided me towards my studies in science and then a career in that field.
I started my glass education at the University of Rennes, France, which has a large and dynamic glass team. The lecturers were passionate and by highlighting how glass is a complex and useful material, they made me fall in love with it. This passion for glass is what I try to reproduce and convey when I give lectures during our courses. I am constantly searching for this “Wow!” moment when the trainees’ eyes sparkle. As a trainer, there’s nothing more rewarding and enjoyable than the atmosphere in a room when the content of the course perfectly aligns with the audience – when a new skill or concept is acquired and a door opens in their minds.
Advocate for glass science
I had the chance to do an internship in Turku, Finland, at Åbo Akademi, on bioglasses. One year later, I was working as an intern in Saint-Gobain Recherche on innovative windows. Versatility is what makes glass such a wonderful material. It is at the same time a mass-production commodity and a state of matter that is studied academically. It can be used to repair your bones and your teeth, protect you from the rain while letting light in, insulate your home… I am still fascinated by the diversity of its applications.
I’ve never looked back since and I heavily advocate for glass science every time I meet students. There’s chemistry and physics; history and innovation; fundamental and applied research; heavy-industry and small, specialty, handcrafted production; there’s science and beauty; we need this material so much that it is produced everywhere in the world… I could go on and on and on.
Part of my education comes from national and international glass organisations such as the USTV in France, which organises many events, seminars, conferences and workshops, and the ICG, which organises a summer school with high-quality lectures provided by amazing scholars. In addition to being educational, these gatherings and events make people feel they belong to a community. That is a key strength of the glass world.
Saint-Gobain is a big company that invests in research. One illustration of this commitment is its joint unit with the national French centre for research, called the SVI. That’s where I did my Ph.D., at the interface between academic and industrial research and development. That allowed me to smoothly integrate into the R&D centre as a glass researcher, and join CelSian five years later.
Opportunities at CelSian
CelSian is full of knowledgeable and dedicated people. We have clear goals and a lot of freedom in the way we achieve them. In every job, there’s a work/reward balance. I would say that the difference between working in a big multinational company and at CelSian is that the balance is pushed up. I am not sure I would have had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a speaker at the International Year of Glass (IYOG) opening ceremony, in the United Nations building [see the March/April issue of Glass Worldwide], if I would have worked anywhere else. Thinking about it still gives me goosebumps.
This type of progression from the university to the industry could be an inspiration for other glass companies. Overall, it is difficult to find glass experts. A solution might be to find and develop future glass experts when they are still in the early stages of their careers. Give them a chance when they are still freshly graduated, fund them, train them, and help them build their expertise. Of course, this advice also applies to glass professionals with a longer career. By investing in the training of your team members, you contribute to making them become great professionals and you can improve your talent retention. To quote Henry Ford “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay”.
The diversity challenge
When I started my studies in science in 2006, gender imbalance was significant. In my generation, there were only 20% of females. Unfortunately, gender imbalance is a known fact in what we call the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines and the glass industry is no exception. I am disappointed by the lack of women in the glass industry, and the answer to that complaint is always the same: no one can find skilled women. That’s not a satisfactory answer because actions can be taken and one thing that can be done is to train them!
Also, listen to the few women who made it to the factory floor. What could be done to improve their daily life? Their work? Do you offer suitable, female-size PPE? Are the female toilets at the other end of the factory? Are there still jokes about who should make coffee? Do you offer flexible working hours and options for home office or remote work? If something is too heavy for a female to lift, too high for a female to reach, or too hard for a female to withstand, perhaps it would be best for everyone, and not only females, to ensure that the tasks are achievable in a safe way with a reasonable amount of effort? Diversity is an improvement for all, and a way to enrich the workplace. I strongly believe that such commitments are the best way for a company to attract young people and future talent. Besides, most university graduates are female. These days, as the glass industry is facing major challenges regarding CO2 reduction and energy savings, it is important to attract educated workers, and therefore to be attractive to female workers as well.
The glass industry is aware of the diversity challenge and is already taking action. Luckily, there are some great examples to look up to: Prof. Alicia Durán who was president of the ICG when the IYOG was granted, Corning’s Principal Research Scientist Dr. Irene Peterson, Saint-Gobain Recherche Paris’ Scientific Director Dr. Emmanuelle Gouillart, Şişecam’s Glass Technology Director Dr. Ilkay Sökmen, amongst many others. There are many company initiatives, such as the woman in ENCIRC charter. It shows quantitative objectives and lists the way they monitor and intend to achieve them. It includes recruitment strategy, pays equality, training, promotions, education and feedback. I was really happy when I read that Lara Edison won the Michael Garvey award at Furnace Solutions. That’s what happens when bright women are placed in a smart environment. I also like the example set by Visy Logistics in Australia. To face the shortage of truck drivers, they created a Female Driver Trainee Programme consisting of a fully-paid, four-week intensive driver training course to obtain a Heavy Rigid Vehicle Licence. One stone, two birds: more truck drivers and more diversity in a massively male-dominated position. Again, training is a very powerful and pragmatic way to increase diversity in the workplace and I hope CelSian’s Academy can play a role in it.
Investing in employees
Training is key to the success of a team or a company. First of all, it provides employees with the knowledge and skills they need to perform their daily job. Such knowledge transmission can be achieved by internal training, tutoring and mentorship of newcomers by skilled experts. Providing your employees with training shows that your company cares and invests in them. It contributes to improving morale and adhesion. Now the next step is to provide employees with additional, comprehensive training to improve their capacity to articulate ideas about improvements. Well-trained teams encourage proactive and innovative behaviour. Finally, training allows employees to acquire skills they need to do other jobs, which gives extra flexibility and supports job rotation and career advancement. Training and learning opportunities have a clear positive relationship with scores on workplace well-being and establishment performance. That’s why CelSian’s Academy, and before that the TNO glass group, has been providing training courses for the glass industry for more than 30 years.
It all started with the General Glass Technology course, a five-day comprehensive training course on glass science and technology developed with the NCNG, the association of the Dutch glass industry. The programme is intense, rich and diversified to be suitable both for complete newcomers to the glass industry and for experts who are looking for a broader overview. During this course, we explain the ‘whys’ behind the ‘hows’. We know that well-trained teams are faster at understanding the root cause behind a problem and taking action to solve it. It has a direct impact on productivity, furnace lifetime, and production quality. These teams understand the reasons for some good practices; they can question them and innovate further. This course is a must-have for every batch and furnace manager, assistant, supervisor and glass technologist. It’s such an intense course that it comes with an 800-page handbook that contains the contribution of more than 50 experts from the glass industry and academics. The book was revised in 2020 and we are now on the fifth edition. We always feel very proud when we visit customers and spot the handbook on someone’s desk!
Always learning
We also know that providing a training course once to one employee is not enough for motivation and knowledge retention. [CelSian’s] portfolio of courses is increasing every year, with shorter, dedicated courses for beginners and experts on different topics. Redox, combustion and NOx emissions, electric systems, sustainability… we try to pinpoint useful topics for the industry. We rely on the knowledge of CelSian’s team and external trainers such as Neil Simpson. We carefully listen to feedback too: the newly created courses on annealing and tempering or refractory selection, maintenance, and defects follow suggestions from the industry. Remaining up-to-date is important so we always keep our eyes and ears open.
Even though I’ve been working in glass companies for more than 10 years, I learn new things every day. Being fed with knowledge keeps me motivated. Then, at CelSian’s Academy, we are transforming these stories, papers, articles, books, experiments, observations and videos into compact, accessible, insightful, practical courses. Our work mixes technology and creativity, hard science and human knowledge. Most of us are scientists and technologists, and we are trained in education and teaching techniques by external partners. For example, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and we were not allowed to meet in person anymore, we had to adapt and we learned how to provide interactive, dynamic, and powerful courses online. We also adapted the schedule of our courses to allow more people, especially those located in Asia and the Americas, to join in without [having to] wake up in the middle of the night or stay connected [until] late. Training requires knowledge, technique and a little bit of performing as well. What trainees don’t know is that before starting a course, I always wonder: what would Beyoncé do?
Image: Corinne Claireaux (fourth from right) with fellow speakers at the IYOG Opening Ceremony in Geneva in February.