The Tubular Business

As part of the Steel Business Unit, Sumitomo Corporation’s Tubular products segment supplies a wide variety of high grade oil country tubular goods (OCTG), line pipe and specialty tubing to companies in the oil, gas, petrochemical, automobile and boiler manufacturing industries.

The graduate programme feeds into the Tubular Products unit based in London and Aberdeen. Graduates will be given experience in a variety of international locations and ultimately could find themselves working in any one of Sumitomo’s tubular businesses around the globe.

The Tubular division operates in North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Far East, and counts most of the world’s major energy companies amongst its clients.

Tubular Global Operations Map

Graduate Role

Role

Graduate trainees will assist business unit managers and consultants in all aspects of development, implementation, and ongoing operation of the integrated supply chain management projects. You will be given assignments designed to fully develop your skill base in the commercial, technical and business process areas of the global OCTG supply business. These initial assignments will prepare you for further development in the business, as well as potentially provide opportunities to move into operations, business administration or sales.

We are looking for individuals with degrees in:

• Business
• Supply Chain Management (SCM)
• Finance/Accounting
• Industrial Engineering
• Related Fields

These people will understand project management, business process analysis, modelling concepts and/or systems development. They will be team players with the potential to advance.

What You Will Be Doing

• Analysing business processes and operations to identify opportunities for improvement
• Performing business process mapping
• Generating and maintaining project process documentation
• Performing project operational process audits
• Conducting financial analysis of projects for budgeting and performance monitoring purposes
• Performing global inventory monitoring and coordination including physical stock checking
• Becoming a team member for new project implementations

In all of the above areas there will be potential for foreign travel to support existing project management teams.

We combine our rich history and sound management values with a global and progressive outlook which continues to challenge the frontiers of new business development. In doing so, Sumitomo places prime importance on its people and actively encourages them to find new ways of contributing to the overall success of our business.

Competencies

As part of the programme, you will be required to demonstrate competencies in certain disciplines, which will then be certified in accordance with the Tubular Business Unit’s training matrix.

• Technical, Product & Industry knowledge
• Business Development
• Project Implementation
• Inventory Management
• Logistics
• QA/QC and Auditing
• Business Solutions / Systems Integration
• Business Skills
• People Skills
• Supervisory Skills

Rewards and Recognition

We offer a package that is designed to recognise and reward your performance and to keep you motivated and updated with the latest in business methodology. Here’s a summary of our benefits which we regularly review.

• Competitive salary
• 25 days’ annual leave
• Pension
• Private Medical Insurance
• In house leisure facilities (gym + pool – London office)
• Flexible working

Meet Our Current Graduates

Freddy

After graduating with an MSci degree in Chemistry, I was actively seeking graduate roles within the oil and gas industry. With limited experience in this industry, the five week intensive training programme at the start gave me a fantastic insight into the inner workings of such a complicated and interesting industry as well as equipping me with the skills to start contributing to the company from day one. Furthermore, it showed me the importance Sumitomo place on looking after, investing in and developing their employees. I found that I was given responsibility with big clients quickly, with the freedom to carve my own path in my role. Due to the nature of the work at Sumitomo (international and project based), it is vital that you are a flexible person, both with workload and location. Confidence is also key, as right from the start you will be working with people from all over the world and you will have to learn quickly in order to make the most out of such a fruitful experience.

Since joining the company in 2014 I have been lucky enough to live and work in various countries including: Norway, Scotland and most recently, Brunei, in South East Asia, where I spent 19 months as the Inventory Controller of the latest and most extensive Sumitomo supply chain project. When I first arrived the project was in it’s infancy, and the team was small , but over the course of my assignment the project quickly ramped up and we had to manage the transition to a brand new facility where Sumitomo managed everything from rig inspections to full length OCTG threading. My role was incredibly varied, with responsibility for designing and implementing new operational and administrational processes, optimising customer and consignment inventory, planning OCTG threading, forecasting and project reporting among others things. The opportunity to live and work in such a culturally different country and on this incredibly exciting project was fantastic and has acted like a spring board for my Sumitomo career. Now back in London, I have moved away from operations and am currently managing the “Global Framework Agreement (GFA)” we have with our largest customer; it is a very international role and one which is allowing me to develop further, building crucial commercial and management experience.

To summarise, my first four years at Sumitomo have been nothing like what I predicted; it has been far more varied, international and challenging but incredibly interesting and exciting none-the-less. I look forward to seeing what the next four years will bring; it will no doubt be fun!

Michael

The Sumitomo Tubular Graduate Programme was an exciting start to my career with great opportunities to learn, whilst equally having high levels of responsibility and independence.

From the start I was thrown into exciting and strategically important projects which involved working within fast paced multi-disciplinary teams operating across multiple countries. I was able to learn from some of the best in the industry while being given the freedom to bring fresh ideas to the projects.

The Tubular Graduate Programme provided me with an excellent launch pad, and I now find myself on an exciting 2 year secondment in our London based Investment Portfolio Management Department (IPM). Whilst in the IPM team, I have had the opportunity to gain hands on experience in the world of investment working directly with many of the top financial advisors on multiple M&A and Venture Capital investment deals across several industries.

Such diverse secondment opportunities provided by Sumitomo are an excellent opportunity to see the company and the world from different perspectives. They enable you to get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to grow.

Through a careful balance of being challenged and supported throughout the scheme, I was able to grow professionally and make the most of the unique opportunities that come from working for a world leading global Japanese trading house. I have enjoyed every day and I am looking forward to my exciting future at Sumitomo.