Melike, our Process engineer

“I keep pushing and hopefully inspire other women to do the same”  

Melike loves the world of paper. As our first female process engineer in Mondi Tire in Türkiye, Melike tells us about what she gets out of working in paper production and her ambitious plans to develop her career. 

As part of our Spotlight On series, we are profiling several Corrugated Packaging colleagues to discover the opportunities, and occasional challenges, of our growth journey.

I was concerned about being the only woman at the mill.  

When I interviewed for the job of process engineer, I knew Mondi wanted more female employees. I guess I had my own prejudices; would colleagues question my ability to do the job – especially on the mechanical side? I felt that I needed to prove myself at the start. Paper is a heavy industry; both production and maintenance are demanding. So I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to show my value from day one. 

Everyone has been very open-minded. So far, I’ve experienced no obstacles or negative comments – in fact, one of my shift supervisors recently said to me: “Women have started coming here since you arrived!” It’s true that more females have joined the team since I joined Mondi.  

Each day is different.  

I live in İzmir. It can suddenly rain and, even though it's sunny today, I still carry an umbrella with me. You never know what each day will bring. It’s a bit like at work. Here in Mondi Tire, our containerboard mill in Türkiye, we need to be prepared as every day is different – especially in production. That’s what makes it fun!  

Paper production is hot, crowded and noisy.  

You need experience and absolute focus to succeed. Paper production is a process; decisions need to be made quickly and within the limits of certain efficiencies and KPIs. Otherwise, we would experience losses in both time and cost. 

Fortunately, our team is very experienced and hard-working. We have a lot of know-how and a decision-making error rate of almost zero! At Mondi Tire, we have the most efficient paper machine in its class and we are very goal-orientated. 

Sometimes you need to be a detective.  

When a problem arises, we work like detectives. Making paper is a closed production process, so you don’t always know what is happening inside, you can’t see it and you can’t measure it. Like detectives, we need to have theories and find ways to test out those theories. 

I’m making progress and my role is growing.  

I started at Mondi as a process engineer. Even though my title remains the same, my role has broadened significantly. I’ve moved from process engineering into production, which includes areas like the paper machine, pulp preparation and the paper yard. I’ve gradually started to learn their processes, as well as taking on additional reporting and related tasks. 

I want to gain detailed knowledge of the entire paper production process from start to finish – including procurement, finance and HR. And I’m progressing in my learning journey! At Mondi, the culture is so important for career development, and all of our supervisors and managers are encouraging us to take advantage of opportunities. It really makes me want to keep pushing forward and hopefully inspire other women to do the same.