Impact FC's performance and be able to prove yourself

Jaap Sassen

Jaap Sassen is a Controlling Operations Analyst, he is financially responsible for the Cheese Packing site Leerdam. Jaap started working for FrieslandCampina 4.5 years ago as an assistant cluster controller. He really got to know FrieslandCampina in this role and worked for different periods at Workum, Steenderen, Rijkevoort, and Gerkesklooster. After 2,5 years he was ready to move to a different position and got the role of Plant Controller in Leerdam. At the moment he has been a Plant Controller for two years while studying for a year at the University of Amsterdam on Fridays. 

At FrieslandCampina the passion and energy that you lay in your work is recognized and appointed by the people you work with.

My personal development

At the very start, my manager took a risk by asking me if I would temporarily take part in the Cheese Make site Workum management team as a controller. Fresh in the company, I felt empowered and it marked the start of my learning journey within FrieslandCampina. Thereafter I got to build a network within Amersfoort while working on the budget guidance for the Cheese Make cluster. Then some more factories. I worked on several business cases (e.g. Cheese on Wheels, Dry-in). And I got to work on Rijkevoorts’ administrative closure. This laid the foundation of my next role, as plant controller in Leerdam.

Jaap Sassen

My projects

Recently I was Treasurer of the Young FrieslandCampina Board, a social network for young professionals in the company. We started up again after Corona with four other colleagues (Young FrieslandCampina members). During this project we rebuilt and expanded Young FrieslandCampina within the organization. It took us one and a half years to deliver a vivid and active community of Young talents again. Currently, social, educative, and interactive events are organized regularly (c.a. 2/month).

This year I am already forecasting the factory’s monthly results within the
established bandwidth (x variance on EBIT) 6 out of 7 months. This makes the factory's financial behavior relatively predictable and reliable strategic decisions can be made with more assurance, as such contributing to the company. This is a team effort since every responsible department head displays knowledge of the financial consequences of their decisions or actions. This is a mindset we can build on.

Collaborative by Nature

I am Collaborative by Nature since I like to bring the team together and make joint efforts to realize the goals we all see as worth our while. This is very important at a factory since the individual goals lead to the conversations that lead to the contribution to the strategy of FrieslandCampina. From your expertise, you can collaborate to jointly put the pieces together.

Jaap Sassen Collaborative by nature

My team

My team is clever and diverse in terms of experience and gender. We all represent one needed pillar to realize customer satisfaction with our products, for a competitive price. We can challenge each other on the content and have a cozy dinner our our team members on the same day. There are regular meetings (daily to weekly) to steer the performance of the factory, as well as monthly sessions to look long-term together. For example to build our strategy or to review the year plans we made for our departments. The ambiance is high-performing with room for some lightness, and humor.

"Impact FC's performance and be able to prove yourself"

It energizes me to work on a presentation that is meant to make an impact on FC's performance and be able to prove yourself. But also to receive colleagues at our workplace, the factory. It’s nice to oversee the whole picture together with the management team. But also to be able to take responsibility and ownership of finance-related topics within the factory. And to be able to meet 400 very different colleagues during lunch breaks or assistance/walks in the factory. To represent Leerdam in Amersfoort.