Alexis Ricois

Hello,

Welcome to my blog!

I’d like to use this initial article to tell you about my first few weeks at Caen mill. The mill is an imposing building. It was rebuilt in 1948, after the bombings in Normandy, but most local people know little about what goes on inside.

I joined Axiane Meunerie on 1 September 2023, working on the Caen site. On my first day, I met the teams that work here, and also toured the huge and very unusual building. 

The mill is built on eight floors, and around 240 tonnes of flour are ground here every day. The industrial process from the arrival of the wheat through to turning it into flour is relatively complex. 

I’m naturally inquisitive, so I found the tour of the mill fascinating. I was able to understand how wheat is actually transformed into flour, and to get a measure of the quality of the flour that I would be selling a few weeks later. It’s important, in my day-to-day work as a salesperson, that I know my products. The information that I amassed about the various stages of processing during my tour helps me when I’m talking to customers and prospective customers. I also learned to work flour alongside our bakery consultant, so that I could understand how the flour we produce is made into bread. 

The flour production process is far more complex than I had imagined. When you look at how it’s used, it’s a highly technical product. With every customer I meet, I discover a different way of working. As a salesperson, I need the best possible knowledge of my product. The fact that flour is so technical makes acquiring that knowledge all the more interesting! Through my close links with the customers (and their patience!), I’ve been able to learn all about the specificities of different flours.

Based on several requests I’ve had, over the next few months I’d like to organise an open day for Axiane customers. (Hopefully, I’ll be able to write an article to let you know what we get up to!)