Meet Silvia Chodurova, Section Manager

Monday, October 14, 2024

Tell us about yourself and your role at Mondelēz International.

My name is Silvia. I am originally from Slovakia and have lived in France, the Czech Republic, and the UK.

I have worked in various areas, including Planning, Business Development, Logistics, Regional, and Strategic Project Leading. Now, I’m leading a team responsible for croissant production, cream and seasoning making, control, and inventory management in the plant situated in Kostolne Kracany, Slovakia. It’s amazing to work with a group of people who are passionate about their jobs.

How would you describe your career path?

The story began somewhere back at university. I worked on a project that optimized material flow in a company making packaging for ready meals. I spent a lot of time in production with a great production director, who also became my mentor for the project. He guided me through all the production mysteries, and that was when my passion for processes started.

Choosing a correct career path is not always as straightforward as it may seem, and it also depends on the opportunities available at that time. I was fortunate enough to work in different roles in different countries and cultures, which enriched my professional and personal life.

I went through various departments, such as material planning and leading projects in the business's manufacturing and commercial side. I also had an opportunity to work in logistics, productivity, and process engineering. These opportunities allowed me to gain further knowledge and better understand how things are connected from an end-to-end perspective within the supply chain. During this time, I was also exposed to various situations and concerns that helped improve my soft skills, like problem-solving or working under pressure. All these experiences helped shape me into the person I am now.

I encourage you to be brave and consider horizontal moves. This will allow you to learn and develop within the company, benefiting your career.

What challenges have you encountered in your journey?

I have learned that nothing is as easy as it seems at the beginning. It is important to face challenges and accept them as important and inevitable parts of our lives. In professional life, moving roles can be challenging. You will be dealing with many ambiguities and knowledge gaps and might lack practical experience. Similarly, I experienced this when I changed position and moved from planning to project leading. I was assigned to lead various interdependent projects, including two projects with a high investment value of around $10MM. The projects required high technical and logistics knowledge due to their complexity. Frankly speaking, at the beginning, I felt lost! I had to deal with many specific expressions, piping maps, quality rules, etc… However, I relied on my previous expertise and always asked for help when needed, as well as worked on improving my research skills to gain knowledge on new topics.

The next biggest challenge was when I was offered to move to another plant in another country. Although it was an exciting move, it was very challenging at the same time. I had the right knowledge; however, identifying HOW you can get things done in a different country and plant was unexpected. I realized that what worked in a previous plant did not necessarily mean it would work there, too.

Therefore, a lot of attention and patience were needed to develop the right tools and new ways of working.

Would I be surprised by something else? Yes 😊 I was leading the Business Continuity Projects (BCP) when COVID-19. It was a time when it was necessary to make the right decision quickly and act even quicker. We did projects that usually take two years to implement in 3-5 months! I learned that if you have the right people with the right approach in a team, you can do anything – breakthrough technical equipment, solve capacity issues across all MEU plants, alternative cocoa beans, and maybe even build a space rocket!

The most important message I’d like to pass on is that I am EXTREMELY grateful to MDLZ as a company that allows you to learn and develop within a wide variety of areas. MDLZ feels like a family, as you will always find somebody who can give you a helping hand 😊 THANKS to EVERYONE who gave me direction, challenge, recognition, constructive feedback, and every 1:1 that helped me move in the right direction. 😊

How would you describe Mondelēz’s culture?

I perceive MDLZ as an organization that is open to new ideas, extremely diverse, and with an aim to be a leader in people management. MDLZ’s focus areas, such as mental health and work-life balance, are important values, as is development, and the phrase “growing people” is not an unknown expression in MDLZ. After the 14 years I spent in MDLZ, I feel like everyone here is part of my family. You might change roles, teams, departments, or even countries, but the connections stay, and you always find somebody open to talk and help. It's always nice to shake hands and hug with my previous colleagues 😊

How does being part of the team at the Kostolne Kracany plant in Slovakia feel?

Even though the factory in Kostolne Kracany is in a small city outside Slovakia’s capital, it’s multicultural! You would probably not expect that I speak English most of the time with my colleagues from various countries – that’s how diverse we are!

As a young plant with colleagues from mixed backgrounds, people are much more open to learning new things, improving, and understanding what we are doing and why. It's very rewarding to implement changes and work here.

How would you describe the manufacturing/engineering/production world?

What should I say? You will never be bored or feel your job is routine. In manufacturing, something always happens. You work with many different departments, and you all work together to find acceptable solutions for all involved sites. Every day in manufacturing brings challenges, and you work with your team to create better ways of doing things. You end up with results and stories which make you and the team proud. 😊