Business Unit Lean Leader | Northants | Food Manuf. - Job Offered 30 Jan 2017

As one of the most well-established food manufacturers in Europe, this innovative organisation is striving to achieve operation excellence in all functions including the building of a sustainable world-class manufacturing operation across all sites throughout the UK. We seek an accomplished Improvement Champion, to join their large manufacturing site in Northamptonshire with a remit to drive change and engage the work force in their improvement programme. This key position will report to Senior Management level and the job holder will benefit from significant support in driving long-term cultural change and will be fully sponsored from the Main Board.       

Accountabilities:

• To maximise manufacturing efficiency in terms of OEE and unit costs through the development, implementation, coordination and support of plant / process improvements and project management
• To ensure the RCM (Reliability Centered Manufacturing) philosophy is understood, shared and committed to at all levels and in all disciplines
• To develop team and individual capability in CI (Continuous Improvement) techniques and process understanding to improve KPI performance
• To develop and implement MIS (Management Information Systems) and monitor them to identify variance, RCA (Root Cause Analysis) and remedial / improvement work
• To assist in the management of the Line Leaders and their teams through good leadership, and facilitation
• To work with the Commercial, R&D and Manufacturing teams to develop, implement, coordinate and support New Products within the Unit
• To implement and drive manufacturing standards towards World Class Manufacturing status
• To support the implementation of the Performance Management System in accordance with Business Values.
• To support the achievement of the highest people and food safety standards, quality standards and customer satisfaction (internal and external) to minimise risk to both business and people.
• To manage all processes, people and systems in accordance with the Manufacturing and Business Strategy, Statutory requirements and Company policy.

This position is highly visible within the organisation and as such offers a structured and exciting career development plan.

To be considered you will be of graduate calibre (not necessarily degree educated) and at present or recently held a business process / operations improvement position. You will demonstrate a progressive career, likely to have originated from engineering or manufacturing line management and you will ideally have experience of working within a FMCG (food or non-food) manufacturing environment. Most importantly you will possess excellent communication and influencing skills and an engaging, energetic people management style. As a change manager you will be passionate about enriching the work place with world-class improvement techniques with a comprehensive understanding of the theory, but be naturally ‘hands-on’ in your desire to implement change.