Main responsibilities and DUTIES:

At the request of the Industrial Performance VP, the Lean Management Director may intervene on different sites of the Group in order to provide operational support, in connection with his/her industrial expertise, in order to improve performance. Objectives will be set for each assignment. Support will be required, for example, for site openings, crisis management, and temporary replacement of a Manager on a site, management of an escalation. The list is not exhaustive.

A – Define, Develop and Improve the AKWEL Production System

Define, Develop and Improve the AKWEL Production System based on the TPS (Toyota Production System)

Implement the system on 5 axis :

• rules,
• tools, managerial
• roles
• routines
• Visual management

And give a clear view of the link and interaction between the different axis to have a robust production system to serve the improvement of performance on SQDC, the reduction of costs, and develop people empowerment

B – Ensure deployment of lean manufacturing via AKWEL Production System (APS)

• Coordinate actions for implementing lean methods in plants according to defined standards in APS
• Train and coach people with workshop activities in the different plants
• Check the respect and correct application of system with regular audits in coaching mode to help people to grow
• Coordinate task forces for converging standards toward APS best practices

C – Guide Group plants toward autonomy

Design and deploy training modules intended to help master lean methods and tools.

Serve as lead auditor and adviser for actions required to improve performance and results

Disseminate best practices across the Group

D – Lead the activity

• With priorities and projects defined by Industrial Strategy and Operations Group EVP, provide managerial or functional leadership on the deployment, use, and respect of the system for Manufacturing Performance Direction (MPD) teams, Executive Vice President Operations (EVPO), and plants. Challenged them on the deployment, use, and respect of the system.
• Plan and organize main projects to be deployed.
• Include in the factory workshops, MPD coordinators, EVPO, manufacturing engineering teams and factory management teams in order to train them on the rules, tools, methodologies, roles,routines to be able to understand the system and check his application and his respect.
• Check the respect of the schedule deployment and the maturity of use.
• Monitor the performance indicators of the plants to show the impact of the application and the respect of the system, and implement corrective actions if required
• Ensure information is communicated within the team and plants and promote team spirit.
• Develop a network to capte the best practices in place to standardise them and generalise the use.
• Verify if APS Principles are applied in Programs from design stage
• Report on the activity and project status

Additional Missions:

• Develop and train the MPD coordinators team on the system to give them the ability to do the deployment, the training, the audit of the respect of the system, and the maturity of use with participation in the different workshop

Frequent business travels will be required

 Profile

Senior Expert manager 15/20 years of experience and practice of the TPS (Toyota Production System) or FES (Faurecia Excellence System) or VPS (Valeo Production system) with experience in supply chain.

Professional abilities:

• Supervisory and mentoring skills, leadership spirit, active listening skills, communications abilities, rigor, management skills, analytical and synthetic thinking, organization skills ;
• Proficiency in office automation tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) ;
• Proficiency in English ; Spanish would be a plus
• Excellent communication skills ;
• Excellent problem-solving abilities ;
• Project management skills.

Technical knowledge:

• Good working knowledge of project management, product development and industrialization at Akwel;
• Good understanding of the organizational structure in industrial companies and the operational requirements in automotive industry ;
• Good understanding of development activities (R&D, industrial engineering, testing laboratory…) and supporting project and development activities (purchasing, management control, quality assurance) ;
• Good knowledge of product costing methodologies.

If you are interested in this role and believe that you meet the requirements, please forward your CV and cover letter to: hr.cha@akwel-automotive.com .