Arnaud Smoljan has a lot on his plate right now. Since January 2022, Uhlmann France has been oper­ating autonomously, and sepa­rately from Fette Compacting, at the site near Paris. There’s a lot of bureau­cracy to deal with, but the 41-year-old who has been working for Uhlmann for two and a half years doesn’t allow himself to get stressed. “We’re well-rehearsed here and our team has been around for a long time,” he says. The team includes him as Managing Director, a further sales­person, a service manager, two sales assis­tants and a tech­ni­cian in France. There is also a sales manager and a tech­ni­cian in Algeria. From there, Uhlmann France looks after both Algeria and Morocco and Tunisia. The three Maghreb states are impor­tant markets for Uhlmann France.

Ambi­tions for the market

“Just five years ago, for example, we were selling more new machines in the all so impor­tant Maghreb coun­tries than we were in France ” says Arnaud. “But we’ve been working on this and are now gaining ground in terms of sales within France as well.” Uhlmann France offers customers a total package. “We don’t have a typical customer request,” says the managing director. “We sell machines, do upgrades and e-upgrades, change parts and take care of main­te­nance.” In France, customers mostly come from the region around Paris or from the north of France. They are mainly large phar­ma­ceu­tical compa­nies, but an increasing number of CDMOs (Contract Devel­op­ment and Manu­fac­turing Orga­ni­za­tions, or contract packers) are coming into the fold. These take respon­si­bility for the devel­op­ment and produc­tion of phar­ma­ceu­tical prod­ucts on behalf of larger phar­ma­ceu­tical compa­nies.

We’re well-rehearsed here.

Arnaud Smoljan, Managing Director Uhlmann France

Savoir vivre away from busi­ness

The Uhlmann France team feels French and cele­brates French customs together on certain holi­days, for example. “After the New Year, we give each other galettes, which are little cakes with surprises inside,” Arnaud explains. Excur­sions also feature on the program. Every year, for example, the employees travel together to the north of France and spend a few days there with each other – far away from the daily busi­ness routine. “We use e-scooters to explore the area, eat together and have fun.” Arnaud himself enjoys spending his free time golfing, skiing and having time with his nine-year-old son. Now that there’s so much to do at Uhlmann France, this help to create a good work-life balance.