DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE – WAREHOUSING & LOGISTICS 

“Career development opportunity for Degree/Masters educated Operational Excellence specialist with a track record of lean CI and programme management within multinational warehousing and supply chain operations.”

£Excellent + Blue Chip Benefits

South East Asia 

Our client is a global multinational.  A true market leader, they have a strong culture of safety, customer focus, quality and reliability.  

Highly successful and long-established with industrial expertise across a number of verticals, our client has a global network of operations and integrated state-of-the-art information technology across warehousing and transport.  

As a result of internal promotion, they are seeking a Director of Operational Excellence.  As the Director of Operational Excellence, you will combine strategic insight and execution excellence. You will be responsible for the overall delivery, implementation and maintenance of the operational excellence programme across multiple countries and supply chain (predominantly warehousing) operations.  This will include facilitating the lean, continuous improvement process, training local teams, ensuring the sustainability of local compliance, coaching local Operational Excellence Programme Managers in managing improvement projects and training the local operations and management teams, continuous identification and development of best practice.

Specifically, this will include strategies for lead time reduction, faster time to market, process excellence and product lifecycle management.  Our client’s objective is enhanced service levels and efficiency throughout its supply chains, through best practice sharing and a culture of continuous improvement.  This includes increased transport, warehousing, management and supplier-related efficiency via enhanced traceability systems, optimised costs and inventory levels.  Our client’s aim is to mitigate supply chain risks through high flexibility and adaptability to change and a reduced negative impact on the environment via its sustainability initiatives.

Our client is seeking a university degree/Master’s degree educated Engineering or Logistics professional with a track record of Operational Excellence focused on large, multi-site manual, automated and semi-automated warehousing and logistics operations. This may include end-to-end fulfilment solutions, including order management, inventory planning, order picking and packaging, value-added logistics services such as repair services and spare parts or production or retail or ecommerce logistics. This experience may have been gained either inhouse within a multinational retailer, manufacturer or third-party contract logistics environment.  Candidates must have specifically worked within a lean, continuous improvement and operational excellence function.  Earlier operational leadership and change programme management experience must also be highly evident in your experience.  Multi country, multi-site and multinational experience are prerequisites.

You will work in partnership with highly experienced and skilled warehousing and logistics leadership colleagues to develop just-in-time and scalable solutions that optimise operations and boost productivity. You will apply best practices and management skills to improve business processes – enabling our client’s supply chains to gain a genuine competitive edge in the marketplace.  Through optimising organisational structures, improving critical material and information flows you and your Operational Excellence team will create sustainable value for the future, keeping business processes agile, smart and able to respond quickly to the pace of change.  Accordingly, your track record will include experience of end-to-end supply chain management and lean operational excellence which have driven efficiency and achieved optimum performance.

The Role:

• Lead the Operations Excellence function across a cluster of countries.
• Responsible and accountable for delivery of the agreed global agenda and value of Operational Excellence initiatives within the cluster.
• Ensure that the Operational Excellence agenda is aligned to support the business needs in each country within the cluster.
• Responsible for the Operational Excellence input to new business tenders and proposals
• Supports effective start-ups and implementations by providing resources, advice and guidance.
• Seeks commercial opportunities from promoting Operational Excellence initiatives with customers.
• Communication responsibility - to business, to customers, to employees.
• Represent the Operational Excellence agenda as a key member of the cluster senior leadership team.
• Working closely with senior colleagues in Safety, Quality, Compliance, Sustainability and HR you will be responsible for Operational Excellence across all elements of our client’s operations.
• Lead the Operational Excellence function by example, supporting the cluster senior leadership and management teams on their journey towards Lean thinking            
• Fosters a lean thinking, continuous improvement culture and relentlessly seeks opportunities for improvements on all levels within the organisation.            
• Maintains close relationship with customers from the business development phase through the customer life cycle.
• Ensures accurate management reporting from operational sites, utilising this management information to make recommendations for continuous improvement and take mitigating action.                            

The Ideal Candidate:

• University degree/Master’s degree educated in Engineering, Logistics, Business or similar
• Track record gained within a global multinational, best in class, matrix corporate environment.
• Current or very recent experience within an Operational Excellence role in APAC or Europe would be particularly advantageous.
• Previous experience of operational line management in a supply chain and logistics environment, with a strong emphasis on warehousing, will be essential to success.
• Industry sector experience could be industrial, automotive, retail, FMCG manufacturing or third-party contract logistics.
• Must demonstrate excellent and successful change and programme management experience in a culturally diverse and dynamic growth/transformational corporate environment.
• Solid understanding of the operational excellence function
• Excellent project and programme management skills ideally with a project management qualification.
• Strong leadership capability with gravitas.  Capability to deliver a compelling vision and to inspire, motivate, empower and facilitate change through direct and indirect teams. 
• Strong commercial acumen and financial capability familiar with partnering with commercial/sales teams and working closely with clients from tender to implementation and beyond. 
• Excellent experience and track record of implementing Lean methodologies and a continuous improvement.  
• Strong influencing skills and credibility with senior stakeholders, confident strategists, highly adept at presenting compelling business cases for change and improvement to board level.
• Diplomatic and mature with excellent listening skills, able to quickly assimilate a situation, analyse the data and facts and prepare a compelling plan of action taking account of all opportunities and risks.
• A fantastic team leader with the ability to work effectively and deliver successfully via direct and indirect teams within the Operational Excellence network within the organisation.