Guillaume Mouzet

Product engineer

My career path

At the end of high school, when I had to make a choice as to the next step in my education, I didn’t have a precise idea of what my job or vocation would be. I knew only two things: I liked sport and science. When I looked around me, I realized that there were an enormous number of job possibilities in chemistry because it can be found everywhere and notably in sport. I therefore oriented myself towards « classes préparatoires » (two years higher education in math, physics and chemistry in preparation for competitive or direct entry to high level schools of science and engineering). I had a preference for “classes préparatoires intégrées (CPIs)” i.e. direct entry to these schools as, in my opinion, this was synonymous with a better ambiance. I chose the CPI of CPE Lyon, attracted notably by this school’s strong links with industry and also the possibility of working for a year in industry in another country before the end of the final year.

After the CPI, I entered the Chemistry-Process Engineering section. I later specialized (in the fourth year of higher education in engineering) in polymers. The first inkling of that I was where I should be, came in the first lesson: I discovered the materials of my surfboard. I saw immediately the link which could be made between my education and my leisure activities. I therefore spent one year working in Australia, in the University of Sydney then the University of Queensland in a synthetic and natural polymer research center. This experience was extremely positive for me and I would recommend it to everybody.

On returning to France for my final year, in addition to my normal courses, I did a Research Master’s in Innovative Materials in the University Lyon 1, in collaboration with “INSA” (National Institute of Applied Sciences) and “Centrale Lyon” (an engineering school). I had found my career goal: acquire the knowledge necessary in innovative materials and plastics for sport. My final year project also took place in Australia, where I was in charge of improving the materials in traditional surfboards.

My job

Today, I am a Product Engineer in Quechua, i.e. I design and develop new products for this brand. What makes me so passionate about this work is that my field of influence is very vast as together with the innovation on the technical side, I am also in constant communication with all the different people involved in the project. I follow the product from the initial idea, the customer’s need, to the shop where the product is sold, and even further than that; and this of course passing through the design phase, development and production…
 On the development site, at the foot of the Mont Blanc, or when traveling to another country to meet our suppliers, I am responsible for the quality, optimizing the cost, improving the delays, and reducing the environmental impact of my products. My studies have helped me enormously, because as well as my technical knowledge, I have a good critical sense, am responsible and open-minded, which permits me to combine my work and my passion for sport.

In conclusion

I have been passionate about sport since I was young. I didn’t have a clear vision of what I really wanted to do until I found that chemistry, as well as being amusing in practicals, opened doors to so many domains because we find it in every object of everyday life.

I therefore oriented my studies to the classes préparatoires of CPE Lyon followed by an engineering diploma in the chemistry-process engineering department where I learned about all the different aspects of chemistry and could capitalize on a scientific know-how and savoir-faire. I then specialized in polymers as well as innovative materials following an internship year in laboratory research in Australia.

After a final year project where I could combine my knowledge of materials with my passion for sport, I naturally oriented me career to one where I could apply my education and everything I had learned in an industrial context.

Today, as a fully-integrated member of the research department in Quechua, in Sallanches, I feel very comfortable working on products which I am passionate about where I have significant human contact as well as a very technical aspect to my work.