What if …? This way of approaching things, namely with a question that needs to be answered, describes Simone Facagni's working method very well and accompanies him in his professional activity as product manager for W&H Sterlisation in Italy. The similarities between this and the detective profession are easily explained: Simone wants to find out what his market is looking for and wants to track out solutions to the obstacles his customers face. You can read the longer and, above all, much more exciting explanation here.

As a child, Simone dreamed of a professional football career, which is quite typical for Italians in the 90s, but his talent for different languages and communication crystallised quite early. Another Italian trait is perhaps the ability to hold good conversations and create an atmosphere of dialogue with kindness and ease. This passion not only for speaking, but also for different languages and cultures accompanied him throughout his later school career: "When I was at grammar school, I decided to learn foreign languages and had English, French and Spanish for five years. And I was already thinking about working in this field – perhaps as a translator". Here, too, we find a parallel with today's profession. Because, as he later mentions, as a product manager he often acts as an interface between the development area, the sales or distribution teams, the technicians, and finally the doctors or clinics, translating the specific needs of each individual into the right ‘language’. And always staying on guard with the curiosity of a detective – that is exactly what makes his current job so exciting and varied, one of the things that is particularly crucial for Simone in his professional life.

When he applied for an intern position in administration and sales department at W&H in Italy alongside his studies in ‘Foreign Languages in Business’ degree, he didn't realise that his path would take him in a different direction: "At the end of my studies, you had to work in a company. Back then, it was relatively difficult to get a job. In general, one of my biggest worries at the beginning was not having a job due to the economic situation. So I broadened my radius a bit. After 5 months, I started to become sceptical, but that was the moment when the vacancy at W&H came up."

An instructive time began

What did Simone take away from it? Definitely the connection to the product and the opportunity to get a taste of different areas. He also really appreciated the close collaboration with production. In his opinion, you also learn a lot about friendliness and contemplation, which is also important in the further course of his career.

After completing his bachelor's degree, Simone decided to work part-time and began a kind of master's course. When he had completed this, Alberto Borghi, product manager, noticed the young talent and his time in product management began immediately. Not entirely sure at first, he quickly developed a great deal of interest: "It was love at second sight, so to speak, as I came from the sales area. But it helped me enormously. This is how I describe my work: we build a bridge to the various people in charge and enquire about their needs in order to come up with a successful product or an important idea. To do this, I'm in different countries, work with different teams and have a really varied job. It's really fascinating." If you ask him about his ‘favourite product’, it would currently be the W&H eLog, because this is exactly what makes his professional field so incredibly interesting. The thought ‘what if …’ became ‘it is’.

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Quick shots

Your job in 3 words?
Diverse, challenging, different every day

Why medical technology?
Actually, it wasn't part of my school career, but during my studies I found the medical sector very fascinating because of its proximity to production. There is great potential for growth and innovation here when it comes to innovation and digitisation.

Your tip for future colleagues?
Get involved in the game and constantly take part in discussions so that you learn something new every day. It's not good if you stop developing and think you already know everything.

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