A Day in the Life of a packaging Project Engineer

To get to know the people working day to day behind our pharma companies, the ones who keep the wheels turning and ultimately bring better healthcare to the population, we would like to present a new interview series introducing pharma's talent. As big as the pharmaceutical industry is, it still boils down to individuals, and we are here to find out more about the people at the heart of pharma. 

Michiel Sools

As a Project Engineer at Sharp, Michiel is responsible for multiple projects ranging from assembly, labelling and packaging of pharmaceutical products. With two years' experience, Michiel developed his skills in the world of auto-injectors. Michiel holds a Professional bachelor's degree in Electromechanics from Thomas More Geel and Master of Science in Electromechanical Engineering Technology from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

Please could you outline your background and the career path that has led you to your  current position?  

Technical topics always fascinated me. So, it was an obvious decision to do something with that in my career.  
First, I graduated from high school with a Professional Bachelor’s degree in  Electromechanics. After this, I started studying for a Master of Science in Electromechanical Engineering Technology (Specialisation: Electromechanical Engineering), and I graduated in 2022 from University KU Leuven, Belgium. 

Directly after graduation, I started to search for an exciting job with new challenges to conquer every day. I wanted to improve my skills and build more experience for my future career so I signed a contract at Sharp as a Project Engineer. 

Could you describe a typical day in your role?  

As a Project Engineer, I will manage a handful of projects. Some will be larger than others. They can go from assembly to labelling and packaging of pharmaceutical components. As I manage multiple projects at once, every day will challenge me in a different way. One day I will be reviewing technical documents and have meetings with clients, suppliers or internal meetings. Another day I will be participating in machine testing in the facility, giving training to technicians and/or operators or even going abroad to visit clients and machine suppliers for factory acceptance testing and so much more. 

The constant mix between the technical (documentation, meetings) and the practical side  (testing the machinery) is the perfect ratio to keep it exciting every day.

What do you most like about your role?  

The aspect that I like the most about my role is that I will be challenged with new aspects every day. So, I need to be able to switch fast between the projects and their challenges. Thinking as a problem solver is a must-have. This is what I like the most, seeing a challenge, solving it, and seeing the solution being implemented afterward. 

What are the biggest challenges you face? What issues affect your role?

Starting to work after just graduating will bring some challenges. You already have some theoretical knowledge from what you have learned but now, you need to implement this knowledge into the ‘real world’. You will be in projects with more experienced people. I just tried to gain as much experience as possible from them so that I could use it the next time. Being a new graduate will also have some advantages. You will bring up new ideas, seeing different possibilities to improve the outcome of your projects. 

What advice would you give to other people aspiring to your position?

If you want a job that is not only doing ‘paperwork’, but also seeing that technical aspect in practice, a job as a Project Engineer is the way to go. You will learn new things every day, which keeps it exciting.  

Also working in a clean pharmaceutical environment has some advantages. The most important aspect is that you know these products will be used for improving people’s health or even save a person’s life.  

What would you like to see from the industry to better support diverse people in STEM?

My personal thoughts are that Belgium is very supportive of stimulating STEM education. I  think it would be nice if companies across the industry would promote their company more, maybe by a video to attract people and not only with some posters. By doing this, you will already get a sense of the company, their people, their ethos, and what they do. 

How can people in your position better support each other?  

Open communication is the key. By talking with each other they discover they have already been challenged by something similar before. This will lead to better, faster solutions for your project.

Do you have any further career aspirations? What do you think your next steps will be?

For now, I want to gain as much experience as possible, develop new skills, and use them. In the future, I hope my next steps will be in a higher position, like Lead Engineer or Engineering Manager.  

Who knows what the future will bring on my path!

What do you see as the next big opportunity in your sector? 

Artificial intelligence is still new, but I am curious what AI will do in the industry and the pharmaceutical world. I think it would be an advantage to use AI with robotics to pack pharmaceutical products. 

Who do you look up to in the industry? Who inspires you? 

Many people will say he has some strange thoughts, but Elon Musk is the type of guy who thinks outside of the box and realises projects that no one could ever have imagined. Also, he does this in a humouristic way and enjoys what he is doing. So, I would think he inspires a lot of engineers to do it that way.