Yannick Firbal

Year of Graduation: 2008

  • Course MSc Advanced Technology Management
  • School School of Engineering
  • Nationality French
  • Career industry Aeronautical
  • Current job title HO A330 New Development Planning and Powerplant Programme Management
  • Current Company Airbus

Wolverhampton was for me one of the first cornerstones of my career and my first international and intercultural experience, a basis now of my day to day job. Thanks Wolverhampton!

I had the great opportunity to spend a few months at the University of Wolverhampton thanks to the membership with ESTIA French engineering school. Discovering such a huge campus with great facilities to study and party was impressive. Perhaps this is very "cliche" but I was proud to take the yellow bus to go the University satellite site. I was impressed too by the atmosphere, the structure of the classes and also the university spirit which clearly demonstrated how important the people-centric approach and openness are. I'm still regularly wearing my Wolverhampton sweatshirt (which really should now to be changed after 10 years) which reminds me of all the good times spent with my friends there.
Having a 2nd diploma was really an asset in several ways. First of all it was a very good point to demonstrate my ability to adapt to various environments and cultures. Part of my early career was spent in Spain too and this mixing of cultures fostered adaptability and efficiency in me. In addition, the class structure and the topics addressed were very professionally oriented and I used a lot of them during my first years of work to cope with a lot of new topics. The courses were pragmatic and useful enabling concrete and direct application in the complex industry world. I remember the course on Quality Gate Management which wasn't clear to me at that time but when I started to be confronted with thousands of requirements, processes, teams and systems, I realised, you need it! And I'm still using it!
With my team we act as "Chief of Orchestra" with all Airbus A330 teams (engineering, procurement, finance, plants, in service...) regarding three main clusters: 1) Powerplant: securing that all A330 get their engines on-time, at quality and on cost to secure their installation by our FAL teams and increase customer satisfaction. 2) New development: securing end to end planning of all functions regarding all A330 major developments enabling delivery on-time to support our continuous aircraft development for to the customers. 3) Aircraft conversion: securing end-to-end planning of all functions regarding the change of property from one airline to another when the aircraft is already built or in the assembly process. Last but not least as a manager my role is also to help all my teams members to learn and grow, developing them in order that they are prepared for their new challenges!
My current job - I am growing every day!
I encourage you to deeply read the great portfolio of courses and the path that the University is proposing and then follow your heart to where you feel the most attraction, and with which you feel more emotions. Indeed all paths proposed are of excellent quality and will present an opportunity to boost your skills and develop your creativity. Learn, participate, enjoy and have fun!