Colors are passion, emotions and personality. At Siegwerk, inks and coatings are our specialty and we use color to bring the packaging and products of our customers to life.
Customer service at Siegwerk – how ink experts work for your success
Offering the optimal solutions & products that meet the individual needs of every single customer is key for us at Siegwerk. In a recent customer survey, our customer service and technical support for sheetfed packaging applications was quoted as one of the best. That’s why we talked to our colleague Céline Ducrot about her daily job as Hotline Technical Manager.
Q: What is your daily job about and what are your main responsibilities?
A: As Technical Manager I am especially familiar with sheetfed packaging applications and therefore am the contact person for any technical question around this topic. I am working at the hotline which serves as touch point for customer requests but also for internal inquiries when technical support is needed. I am mainly responsible for the Southern European region. I am especially focused on our product series TEMPO for offset conventional printing and SICURA, our UV ink series. That means, I know the best way to use those inks and am able to recommend the optimal product to meet a customer- or case-specific need or identify and solve existing problems.
Q: Could you give us some examples for cases concretely requesting your ink expertise?
A: Sure. Generally, in any case someone from the region has questions about inks for his or her individual sheetfed application, I am the contact person to talk to. I am looking into these cases, analyzing requirements and settings and at the end recommend the best-fitting product solution from Siegwerk. I also give technical guidance how to use the inks in order to receive the desired results. Sometimes, customers for example also ask for specific studies of an ink. In this case, I analyze some printed jobs using the specific ink, check the characterization on different substrates and if desired also run some special tests with the ink. After interpreting all the different test results, I prepare a test summary and am able to answer the customer’s question which led to the test run in first place. It’s really important to listen to the individual situation and needs in order to target them with an optimal recommendation that enables the customer to gain the desired results. In my daily job it’s essential to exactly analyze and reliably interpret the situation and possibilities.
Q: What about complaints? Do you also deal with negative experiences?
A: Of course, there are not only requests for product recommendations or technical implementation. Sometimes, something is just not working out and a customer points out a problem he or she is facing. We take complaints very serious. So, for my customers dealing with a problem that I can’t solve by myself, I register the incident and activate the corresponding internal workflow. This also contains the follow-up on the investigation and an eye on the agreed deadlines. In keeping with our philosophy “Ink, Heart & Soul,” we set highest priority to a supportive and collaborative relationship with our customers and make any effort to solve occurring problems as soon as possible.
Q: You’ve also mentioned internal inquiries asking for your technical knowledge. Do you have some examples?
A: Actually, it just consists of providing support to the sales team when they for example prepare technical dossiers or tenders. Sales people, technicians, account managers - we are one team and always put all strengths together in order to offer an optimal solution meeting the individual requirements of a customer. In order to always get better, improve our offering and develop innovative new products, it’s important for us to exchange experiences internally. By reviewing the activities I’ve worked on for a month, I can help our R&D teams to complete the picture of trending topics and open needs on a global scale. Herewith, they can focus the R&D activities into promising areas for the future.
Q: And what do you like the most in your job?
A: I like this job very much. It’s a dynamic and diverse task that offers me a variety of activities. You always live and learn, and in my job that’s a daily fact. There is no routine and you never know what the day will bring. I like to enable others to reach their goals; this interface position between my company Siegwerk and its customers is really exciting. And what I definitively enjoy the most: A positive feedback from a happy customer after a conclusive trial! And that’s what I am working for every day. Our company philosophy “Ink, Heart & Soul” reflects my personal motto very well as I really do my job with heart and soul.