Orica is the global leader in commercial explosives and blasting services to Open Cut and Underground Mining as well as the Quarrying Industry.
As a Territory Manager at Orica I am responsible for ensuring the safe and efficient delivery of bulk explosives to our customers in the West Metals Region.
Key duties include:
I grew up in Adelaide, South Australia and attended the University of Adelaide where I studied a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (Honours).
I began my employment with Orica 3.5 years ago in Mackay, Queensland as an Operations Graduate.
In my first-year rotation, I was based on site, where I learnt to drive an MMU (Mobile Manufacturing Unit) and learnt the challenges of our on-site operations firsthand. Eager to gain some engineering experience, for my second rotation I moved to Newcastle, NSW where I was based in the ANE (Ammonium Nitrate Emulsion) Manufacturing plant for the first 6 months followed by a rotation in the Projects and Engineering (P&E) Team, as a project manager, for the following 6 months.
Through my time in the P&E team, I was able to expand my internal network and subsequently was offered a role as an Account Coordinator, leaving the Graduate Program 1 year early*, based in Kalgoorlie, WA. For 8 months I provided commercial and operational support for the Territory Managers and ABM (Area Business Manager) to ensure the safe and efficient delivery of our products and services to the customer in the Goldfield Region. An opportunity arose in which the Goldfields Region was to be merged with another (West, SA, NT) Region. I took over the Account Coordinator Role for Goldfields, West, SA, NT, region in late 2018 where I could again expand my learning.
As an Account Coordinator for this region, I was able to gain exposure to the Territory Manager Role and in July 2019 I was promoted to a Territory Manager in the West Metals Team.
*The graduate program was 3 years in duration when I began
To become a Territory Manager at Orica it does not matter what background you have. The Orica West Metals Team is a highly diverse team with individuals with backgrounds in business, engineering (various disciplines), operations and individuals who have worked up from operating a truck.
Key sough after characteristics of a Territory Manager include (but not limited to)
Recently I had the opportunity to run a bid/tender proposal. Through this process I was required to understand the customer needs, then engage internal experts, conduct financial and resource modelling to formulate an offer which meets those needs.
Owning this process was highly rewarding because I was required to understand all the technical, operational and commercial aspects. (Plus, there is something exciting about submitting a 200 + page document to a customer)
The most rewarding part of my role would be finding operational improvements on-site / assisting the Team Leaders and Operators in my team to get to their full potential.
I think its important that all our operators have the right tools and knowledge to be set up for success and being an enabler for this is a key part of my role.
The Reactive Nature and having difficult conversations. Things just sometimes go wrong. This may not necessarily be my fault or within my circle of control but as the key point of contact for the customer I must have those difficult conversations and fix the issue. This can be rewarding if you can fix the issue immediately but there are often complex problems which you need to unpack, and a solution can take time.