Lean, Performance and Continuous Improvement Expert

Lean, Performance and Continuous Improvement Expert at Thales

About the team

Our Operational Excellence works at the core of the Thales Industrial transformation. We are proud to be part of the Industry organization in Hengelo as a support department.

With a team of 500+ colleagues within the Supply Chain, we deliver on time high-technology systems to our customers without any compromise on quality. In the same time, we continuously strive to improve the satisfaction of all our customers.

The mission of our Improvement Team? We bring together our Lean and Digital expertise to accelerate the learning pace and the industrial transformation of Industry. As change leaders, we value exemplarity, teamwork, listening and industrial expertise. We don’t like to fail, but we see failures as opportunities to improve!

About your future job

You will be a key player within our team, you will lead change and play an important role for/with us in becoming more excellent in our operations. Overall you will get a broad view on our production area’s, get to work on operations, processes and teams at the same time. This is a role where people skill and abstract thinking are essential, combined with a hand-on approach. You get to work on an organization that continuously improves. As a change leader you are directly connected to Thales Industrial strategy and stand for being a key stakeholder in building the Thales of the future.

Your time as a Lean Performance & Improvement Expert is, for the major part, spent on the floor working with the operational manager (internal customer) and her/his team to help to improve processes in order to reach our targets.

You are able to put a vision in place about what lean way of working actually means, and deploy Lean methods and tools in order to improve the performance.

You pay specific attention to keep the operational team onboard and maintaining a trustful relationship with the management.
Acting as a project leader, you play an important role in accelerating the transformation of the Industry organization.As every shop floor environment is different, you like complexity and spending time to solve problems in order to implement Lean in the most efficient way for the operational teams, always focusing on customer satisfaction.

Core Responsibilities:

Building vision & execution plan with Business Unit Manager:

• Discuss improvement strategies and operational excellence with the APRU manager to establish shared goals.
• Collaborate on building long-term vision and actionable steps to achieve it, ensuring alignment with change management principles.
• Monitor the balance between theoretical best practices and practical applications in the production environment.

Initiate & Lead Improvements:

• Drive improvement projects and develop actionable plans to enhance efficiency in production and repair processes.
• Identify cost reduction opportunities and monitor project execution within budget and timelines while applying change management frameworks.

Change management:

• Collaborate closely with operators to implement and integrate process improvements into daily operations.
• Challenge business unit manager & team members to enhance their processes and foster a culture of active contribution to improvements, supporting them through change initiatives.

Training & Coaching:

• Organize and lead workshops and training sessions to develop the team’s knowledge in operational processes, efficiency, and change management strategies.
• Support team members in enhancing their skills, strengthening team dynamics, and executing improvement projects while adapting to changes.

Why you'd be a good match

You are familiar with the Lean manufacturing system and people often praise you for your communication abilities. You are proactive and result oriented and able to build bridges.

You speak fluent English and you are open-minded in adopting new styles of working. Plus, you have

• Knowledge in Lean Manufacturing pillars: Customer Value, Just In Time, Jidoka
• Knowledge concerning lean tools and methods: Kanban, Andon, Pulled flow, Kaizen, VSM, SIM, A3 problem solving, Root cause Problem Solving techniques like 8D, DMAIC
• Knowledge of industrial standards: Planning, Logistics, ERP
• Experience in project management
• Knowledge about change management
• Strong personality capable of influencing without power
• You are a driver of change and you want to have impact on our delivery performance
• An analytical thinker with an open and curious mind and excellent communication and writing skills
• Ability to work in a dynamic, complex and multi-national environment wherein you manage/influence various stakeholders, challenge the status quo and solve problems
• At least 5 years of experience in a comparable role

Bij Thales krijg ik alle kansen en de ruimte om mijzelf verder te ontwikkelen, en dat als onderdeel van allerlei gave processen en projecten binnen de organisatie!

Anoek Trainee

Wat het voor mij aantrekkelijk maakt om hier te werken, is de diversiteit in opdrachten en het werken in verschillende teams met diverse disciplines. Zo blijf je jezelf ontwikkelen binnen het cyberdomein.

Maurits Cyber Engineer

Over thales

We vinden dat je baan de juiste work/life balance moet ondersteunen en het platform is om jóuw ambities waar te maken. Dat betekent dat gelijke kansen, inclusiviteit en een informele cultuur een essentieel onderdeel uitmaken van ons succes. Maar ook dat jouw gezondheid en geluk voor ons erg belangrijk zijn! Daarom bieden we je de flexibiliteit om te doen wat voor jóu belangrijk is; of dat nu parttime werken is, of werken vanuit huis, of de mogelijkheid om flexibel te zijn in je start- en eindtijden, we denken met je mee.

Security Requirements

In lijn met de basisbeveiligingsvereisten van Thales vragen wij kandidaten mogelijk om bewijs omtrent identiteit, werkvergunning en arbeids- plus opleidingsgeschiedenis. Sommige vacatures vereisen ook een security clearance die verdere informatie vereist. Voor meer informatie over wat er nodig is voor bepaalde security clearance, raadpleeg dan de General Intelligence and Security Service.