A passionate job, colleagues and a friendly place.
Enter the backstage of Surgères with the portrait of its mill driver : Cloé Chevalier !
It's an exciting job, you never get bored! Moreover, I like the contact we can have with the product: the visual aspect, the touch.
I love working at the Surgères mill, the workplace is irreproachable, we focus on safety above all. We also have a good atmosphere between colleagues and managers, everyone is attentive. And then there is also the living environment which is ideal, we are close to the sea and I think that is great.
What led you to join Grands Moulins de Paris?
I started with a professional bac Bio-Industries de Transformation (BIT) in Surgères, then I integrated a BTS, in milling school, specialized in cereal products.
During this BTS, I was able to visit the mill of Surgères, which made me want to join Grands Moulins de Paris one day. After my baccalaureate, I did a degree in management with an option in cereals.
In 2017, I entered the workforce, where I started my professional career in a regional mill. Then I logically wanted to try my luck with Grands Moulins de Paris. I knew someone from the Surgères site who also spoke very highly of them. After a very quick recruitment process, I joined the company in February 2021 as a mill operator at the Surgères site.
A little anecdote, this was absolutely not my favorite field... when I was younger I wanted to go to art school!
What is your job?
Being a mill operator or miller is a multi-task job. I have three main missions, starting with production monitoring. There is also the follow-up of the good process, i.e. to check the conformity of the flour, its quality, its humidity, etc...
At the Surgères mill, flour is mainly produced for the industry.
Do you think that becoming a mother is problematic for being a mill driver and/or for evolving?
No, being a woman with family constraints is not incompatible with my job. And I intend to continue to evolve in my job by taking on more responsibilities in the long term. Moreover, at GMP we are fortunate to be supported in our development within the company with a catalog of training courses offered to develop our skills (team management, cross-functional work, self-knowledge and communication, etc.).
Your profession, and milling in general, are often perceived as very masculine. How do you see it?
It is true that production positions are generally occupied by men, but, since the regulations on the weight of heavy loads are the same for men and women, women can occupy the same positions. In this case, the Surgères mill is highly automated, which facilitates the movement of heavy loads.
In fact, in Surgères, 45% of our employees are women and 55% are men, and we feel that the company has a strong desire to ensure gender equality.
I think that as women we must also be ambassadors of our professions to motivate others to join us in this field. As far as I am concerned, I speak at my former milling school in Surgères to share my experience. I am also a member of the jury for the final exams in production.
To conclude, as an ambassador for Grands Moulins de Paris, what are the three words that best describe the company?
I would say family for the proximity (NEAR) between collaborators, serenity for the safety and the facility of communication on the site of Surgères.
