and all the others….

 

At Maisons du Monde, people in a variety of departments and jobs work to ensure that our products arrive in stores, but also to help open new stores and get them up and running!

  • Procurement : Route products from the vendor to our warehouses, then from our warehouses to our stores.
  • Transportation : Transportation of goods by sea (upstream) or road for deliveries to stores or customers.
  • Quality / Standards : Quality management of our furniture and decorative items in compliance with current standards<
  • Technical Service : For new store openings, our construction staff coordinates with our contractors, and once the store is open, the maintenance department handles preventive and corrective maintenance.
  • General Purchases : General purchases supports operations by procuring equipment and services for our stores and headquarters.

Read on for some examples of these exciting jobs!

 

 

Anna, Import Assistant

My missions:

  • Oversee imports
  • Interface between the internal departments and external partners
  • Ensure the accuracy of the information before the warehouses process the orders

My qualities :

  • Self-reliance
  • Versatility
  • Reactivity

How did you discover Maisons du Monde?
Before joining Maisons du Monde, I already had 8 years of experience in logistics after earning a 2-year degree in transport and logistics.
I already knew the company as a store customer, and via my personal network I learned that a position was being created in the import logistics sector, so I applied. I've been at Maisons du Monde for 5 years now.

What do you like most about your current job?
The import assistant job involves handling all the operations between when an order is signed with a foreign supplier and when the product arrives in France, including customs clearance. It's a job where you're in constant contact with people, both internally, for example purchasing, and externally with suppliers or freight forwarders.

Working with Asian suppliers means learning about a different culture and that's really rewarding.

It's also a very busy job because you're 100% operational: the goods must be shipped on time, there may be unexpected events and you have to find solutions quickly.

What are the qualities needed to be an import assistant?
I would say, first, you need to be organized because of the time difference our suppliers can only be reached in the morning, urgent issues must be handled during that time slot.
You also need to be methodical, logistics works well when it's well-regulated. Finally, agilityand people skills are also determining factors.

Can you describe a typical day?
As I said before, the morning is essentially dealing with suppliers or carriers, and in the afternoon, it's mostly management and setting up payments to suppliers. In fact it's quite varied, each import operation is different but the common thread is coordination and interactions with the entire supply chain.

Do you have a story to tell that reflects the spirit and values of Maisons du Monde?
It's not really a story but I wanted to talk about the solidarity leave that Maisons du Monde has offered for many years. You go abroad with an association that is a partner of Maisons du Monde and you work on aid projects or co-development.

For my part, I went to Peru for 2 weeks to work on reforestation: it was really great, I ended up working alongside 8 people from the company whom I didn't really know at first. Maisons du Monde finances the trip and the stay, making the adventure possible. It's so great to discover a country while being useful.

 

 

Michèle, Procurement Manager

My missions:

  • Supervise restocking of stores from the warehouse
  • Monitor the product circuit and optimize product rotation

My qualities :

  • Attention to detail
  • Curiosity
  • Versatility
How did you discover Maisons du Monde?
In fact I'm the exception that proves the rule, I'm not the one who found Maisons du Monde, it was Maisons du Monde that found me, because I was working at the company that Xavier Marie bought in 1991, which would become Maisons du Monde. So I was lucky enough to work in a number of different positions at the company, including store manager, with new store openings, and network director. After that I worked in the warehouse, in receiving and now for the past ten years, I've been working in procurement, which I really like.

What do you like most about your current job?
The procurement manager takes charge of the products when they arrive in the warehouse and handles things until they reach the stores. I make sure there is good product rotation and that everything arrives on time. We are in constant contact with the stores, which is great. It's also very interesting to work on the product life cycle. This job keeps us in touch with what's real, keeps us grounded.

What are the qualities needed to be a procurement manager?
Curiosity and versatility. We hunt for errors and inconsistencies, so we can't just focus on the day to day, but often we have to go back up the entire product chain to figure out what happened and find a solution.

Can you describe a typical day?
I work at our warehouse in Fos-sur-Mer. Every morning we have to check the overnight computer processes that gather all the store orders.

So there may be problems to solve by calling different departments, like logistics or IT support if it's a computer problem. In the afternoon, we schedule the shipments for the coming days.

Do you have a story to tell that reflects the spirit and values of Maisons du Monde?
I remember the early years when we were still in the Brest region, the company was smaller, I had the chance to work with Xavier Marie who was very involved in purchasing and logistics. He could spend hours on a totally basic or completely revolutionary product because he has very eclectic tastes, he would walk through the warehouse just like anyone else.

Today of course the company has grown tremendously but we have a boss who is above all a visionary and still likes working in the field and isn't afraid to "get his hands dirty".

 

 

Video of our warehouses

top TV (antenne)

bottom TV (pied)