Interview Melanie

Not your average girly girl: Melanie is the linchpin of a growing Mantrec

Among the welders, the rumbling forklifts and the administrative chaos, she feels right at home. Melanie (35) is officially Office and Operations Manager at Mantrec, but that title barely covers it. “If I say I want to sort something out myself, I get the freedom and the responsibility to do it here.”

Changing course: from hospitality to engineering

Melanie’s route to Mantrec was anything but a straight line. After training in hospitality and an adventure abroad, she ended up in her father’s family business: a wholesaler in marine and contractors’ supplies. But her true nature won out. Melanie wanted to work with her hands. She took a course as an ‘all-round handywoman’ and set up on her own. Still, something nagged at her. She wasn’t comfortable in her own skin. “I always call it a glass wall,” she says frankly. “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, and I couldn’t work it out either.” Through her father she got in touch with Giel, the driving force behind Mantrec. What started as a few hours a week finding her feet grew, in the space of two years, into an indispensable pivotal role. “I’m not your average girly girl,” she laughs. The rough-and-ready variety is exactly what gives her the energy she was missing elsewhere. “One minute I’m driving to Rotterdam to deliver a trailer, the next I’m in the workshop on the forklift unloading a lorry. It goes back and forth here all day long.”

She is particularly proud of the entire administrative side, which she built up from scratch. She set up a telephone system, put structure into the office environment and started entering purchase orders. But her heart is also with the lads in the workshop. Although she can’t weld herself, she is the one who keeps everything on track. “I’m the link between the customer and the shop floor. I talked it through with the lads and fortunately they were all for me taking charge of things.” The strength of Mantrec: quick turnaround and quality. Mantrec is a company of around 20 to 25 people, spread across engineering, the office and the workshop. The atmosphere is excellent, helped by short lines of communication and a personal approach. It is precisely that personal contact that makes customers choose Mantrec, Melanie finds. “In production we’re very good at reacting quickly. If someone rings on a Wednesday, we can often deliver a welding job that same week. That really is one of our strong points.” At Mantrec it is also about craftsmanship without the fuss. Customers aren’t numbers; they’re welcome to drop in and take a look at their project. “Sometimes we tack-weld a frame first and ask the customer: ‘Is this right, or would you like it differently?’ before we weld everything out for good,” she explains. That involvement is what delivers the quality Mantrec is known for.

A future full of growth. Melanie has found her place at Mantrec and is far from finished. What moves her most? The genuine appreciation she receives. She remembers a moment when she was quite short with her employer Giel because she was under a lot of pressure. “He rang me that afternoon. I thought: now I’m in for it because I snapped at him,” she says. “But all he said was that he wanted to call to tell me I was doing a great job and that I was really getting on well. I wasn’t used to that at all from previous employers.” At Mantrec you are seen for who you are. And Melanie? She is determined to achieve a great deal more together with the team in the years ahead. “I’m simply in the right place here.”