Sheïla Yanes, Production Engineer, Belgium

Insights into Avery Dennison Early Career Program

Years with AD

Attribute

Baker

Interest

Travel

Why were you interested in Operations, and what made you choose the Avery Dennison European Graduate Program?

I've always been interested in a little bit of everything. To that end, I chose a general engineering course that would allow me to learn about different engineering fields. Five years and two degrees later, I had a better idea of what I wanted to do, but… not quite. Applying to a graduate program seemed like the natural choice for me, as it gave me space to continue to learn and grow, all while trying different things. As a young graduate, it felt a bit awkward to express, "I don't know what I want to do,” but it became clear in the job interviews with Avery Dennison that the need to explore was understood and would be embraced.

How have you experienced the culture at Avery Dennison?

I've worked on two sites so far, and I've been lucky to be welcomed warmly by both teams I joined. I admire the value of bringing new initiatives and ideas, even when they are a bit out of the ordinary. A strong work-life balance is also a plus! Great care is taken to respect boundaries.

Strong differences exist between sites, which has taught me that location can also be an important factor.

What do you see as the biggest personal benefit of your work so far?

The biggest personal benefit is probably learning a new language (Dutch). While it's not a holiday language (I should've learned Portuguese or Greek), I'm happy to be able to travel around Belgium and the Netherlands and not be confused by everything around me. For me, moving to a new country is the best way to get more than a surface-level understanding of the local culture, so the program had that great added benefit.

Another benefit is the availability and diversity of training. In addition to the professional ones (notably green and black belt), personal development training gave me tools that could be applied to both professional and personal situations.

What is your greatest achievement in the company so far?

I'm quite proud of the claim cockpit web app I co-developed while in Rodange. When I interviewed for this position, I mentioned that I loved the idea of identifying people's issues and providing custom solutions, and I got the opportunity to do just that!

While I studied software engineering and was familiar with programming, I had to learn many, many new skills to make this app—from the inner workings of the company to general coding in the app script. From the design to the release stage, I had to develop soft and hard skills to learn from people's feedback better.

How do you experience the rotations during the European Graduate Program?

Transitioning to a foreign country twice is always a challenge. You have to find an apartment, learn the local rules around residency and taxes, and quickly learn how to communicate in your daily life when you don't know the language. And right when you start getting used to it, it's the end of the rotation! But it's also a lot of fun: I never realized how even two neighboring countries could have such wildly different cultures.

On a professional level, the rotations were an excellent way for me to engage with different teams: notably, my first rotation was office-based. At the same time, the second was more directly tied to operations on the shop floor. As a rotation is only one year, it's quickly apparent how important it is to hit the ground running when entering a new rotation while staying very adaptable as the rotation project is defined months earlier. The scope is very likely to have changed in the meantime.

As long as I voiced an interest, I would always be given space to explore it.

How have you grown in your career at Avery Dennison?

In two years, I experienced three different positions. First, I was an office employee, then closer to the manufacturing process. I had to learn to convince stakeholders across different roles to ensure my projects succeeded. While I'm only at the beginning of my career, I feel like my ECP years have given me a strong basis for the future.

What role has mentorship played in your career?

My mentor has helped me orient myself in both my second ECP position and my permanent role, so it's a pretty big one! It was also very reassuring to have a mentor, as I always knew that next to my manager, they were the person I could raise concerns and count on to be in my corner if needed. I was lucky also to have some unofficial mentors who helped me adjust to the local environment very quickly, in getting to know systems and people.

What advice can you offer to others?

My advice would be not to be afraid to explore different interests! Initially, I was worried that if I were not careful, I would be "stuck" doing the same thing for years. Instead, I discovered that as long as I voiced an interest, I would always be given space to explore it.

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