From Sasol to Air Liquide: Two employees, two journeys, one successful transition

Interview of Chwayita Faku, Director Zone Engineering, Large Industries, Air Liquide in North America

My role at Sasol at the time was Vice President, Operations for the oxygen units. 

I've worked all this time for a career in operations in Sasol. Having to now readjust and start thinking differently about it was really something that I had to adjust to. 

On our first day joining Air Liquide, the leadership and the team that Air Liquide had already established in Secunda, that gesture that they did on that very specific day, making sure from the leadership themselves, they went to the different control rooms, to each person handing out Air Liquide PPE. 

To me, that meant something. You are welcome in Air Liquide. You are wanted, we want you to be here. You are one of us now. 

I think for me, really, that was the most remarkable thing about the whole process, is that we had people coming from all over the world. 

Everyone had the same goal. We all wanted to make the Secunda site the flagship oxygen production site for Air Liquide. That was our goal, and that still is the goal. 

There was always a collaborative effort for all the different scenarios that we encountered, where our experts would be supporting us while we are focusing on making sure that our customer needs are met. 

Because now Sasol is our customer. I think I'm really proud of myself, having been adaptable enough, taking and grabbing the opportunities that came to me, and using them as a platform to grow my career, to grow myself. 

To all employees or colleagues of mine in Air Liquide, and maybe even in other companies that are experiencing a similar process, I would say embrace the change. Do not look too hard at what you perceive as a closed door. Look at the open door. There are opportunities there that lie for you to just grab hold of.

Interview of Lizelle Meyer, Asset & Technology Director at Air Liquide AMEI

I started my career about 20 years ago in Sasol, and then I transitioned to Air Liquide about three years ago. 

I've held various positions within the operation environment, including engineering support, projects, and being part of the maintenance team. 

For me, personally, it was quite difficult to let go of how I was used to doing things. The key was to step back and be open to the change. 

Also, realizing that it was a two-way street where I could learn a lot from Air Liquide, but Air Liquide could also learn a lot from us and the site. 

The first benefit for me when we were joining Air Liquide was really the access to Group experts and just being able to reach out to them when we had challenges within operations.

It created an environment where I could explore a little bit beyond my own technical field of expertise, and actually it was encouraged, which was a new experience for me. 

I transitioned from a more technical role into a role where I had to have a little bit of a more holistic view of the business, also be a little bit more conscious of the viability of solutions, which has given me a lot of room for growth. 

One of the key improvements that Air Liquide brought to the site was their daily focus on operational efficiency. 

The site uses around 560 megawatts of power in a year. Even a small, small improvement on energy efficiency has a big, big impact on the environment, and also just the overall business. 

I'm also constantly faced with new projects and initiatives and challenges. It really continues to build me professionally and also even on a personal level.  

I feel I've had to learn quite rapidly, but I have a great team that really inspires me, and I feel quite strongly that we will achieve success.