MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE & DIGITAL LEADER Ben & Jerry’s Hellendoorn (The Netherlands)

Join Ben & Jerry’s Hellendoorn as Manufacturing Excellence & Digital Leader

Ben & Jerry’s in Hellendoorn is looking for a Manufacturing Excellence & Digital Leader

Voor deze rol is het essentieel om Nederlands te spreken of bereid zijn dit te leren.
For this role, it is essential to speak Dutch or be willing to learn it.

We benadrukken dat voor deze rol, lokale condities van toepassing zijn.
We emphasize that local conditions apply to this role.

About the Position / Over de functie

Within the walls of the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Hellendoorn, about 170 employees make the tastiest ice cream in Europe. From Hellendoorn, all ice creams find their way to about 25 countries in Europe. All Ben & Jerry’s ice cream on the European market comes from Hellendoorn. Hellendoorn is the center of this large process. Everything revolves around making delicious dairy and plant-based ice cream with natural ingredients and a lot of attention to the environment and society. All Ben & Jerry’s ice cream we produce is 100% Fairtrade, and within the factory, we look at how we can produce as energy-neutral as possible.

For this great factory, we are looking for a Manufacturing Excellence (ManEx) & Digital Leader who will lead our factory on our path to operational excellence and in the digital revolution.

Your Main Responsibilities / Dit zijn je belangrijkste verantwoordelijkheden

The ManEx & Digital Leader is part of the site management team and reports to the factory director. This role leads a department that currently consists of five employees and a flexible layer of young talents.

You will lead a program of ManEx activities aimed at eliminating factory and supply chain losses and risks in the broadest sense of the word. This concerns all aspects in the factory, from safety to quality, from productivity improvement to waste reduction, and is measured in tangible KPIs (zero incidents, OLE, waste percentages, savings). You record the improvements in standards and manage them. You also lead the improvement agenda with a 3-year horizon, which is an essential part of the factory Masterplan.

Finally, you lead the development and implementation of our digital agenda. In a rapidly changing world, it is important that our factory remains at the forefront digitally. This concerns cybersecurity and the use of digital tools in production and our supporting processes, specifically for the Ben & Jerry’s factory but also in conjunction with Unilever.

What are your tasks and responsibilities? / Wat zijn je werkzaamheden en taken?

• Responsible for the implementation of the ManEx program with a zero-loss mentality
• Shaping and realizing the continuous improvement program, in collaboration with your fellow MT members and the factory leadership team
• Shaping and realizing the digital roadmap of the factory
• Setting up a program to meet our cybersecurity requirements
• Achieving the objectives included in the Masterplan, focusing on safety, production efficiency (OLE), and waste
• Strengthening the continuous improvement mentality in the factory culture
• Thought leader on the above topics and advising the factory director and the management team
• Representing the Ben & Jerry’s factory on the above topics in the global Unilever network

What You Bring as a ManEx & Digital Leader / Dit breng je mee als ManEx & Digital Leader

• Bachelor/Master's degree in supply chain management or engineering
• Proven experience in a production environment
• Experience with WCM, TPM, or Lean
• Very curious
• High degree of analytical ability
• Digital native and proven affinity with digital processes and improvements
• Knowledge of sustainable processes and improvement possibilities
• Proficiency in Dutch and English

Competencies / Competenties

• Self-starter
• Goal-oriented
• Entrepreneurial behavior
• Practical creativity
• Team commitment
• Analytical ability