Africa Collaborative Manufacturing Capabilities Lead at Unilever

Business Context and Main Purpose of the Job

• The Collaborative Manufacturing Capabilities Lead as a member of the SC CM team for Africa, is responsible for combining supply chain, technology, manufacturing, and product knowledge with financial acumen to develop a Colaborative Manufacturing strategy for Africa.  The strategy developed will move Africa beyond using CM’s for tactical purposes, and leveraging CM’s to create competitive advantage to drive Value.

Main Accountabilities

• Development of the cross-category CM Manufacturing strategy:
• Interface with key PG/MCO stakeholders in defining business needs / strategy.
• The strategy will proactively identify opportunities to improve gross margin, identify capacity required to achieve service levels goals, and unlock innovation capability.
• Business partner functional stakeholders (PG, R&D, Finance etc) for cross Business Group needs as related to CM sourcing activity.
• Support Product Group & Sourcing Unit teams to conduct Portfolio Segmentation Analysis in order to identify opportunities to drive Overall improved Business Value.
• Partner Product Groups & R&D teams in order to identify Next Generation Capability Road Map.
• Partner with Product Group & Import teams to identify & evaluate Localisation Opportunities.
• Develop Advanced CM playbooks, Way of Working’s and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) to be rolled out to CM Operational teams via training platforms. Ensure these playbooks, WoW’s & SOP’s are maintained with changing environments and cascaded accordingly.
• Single point of contact for Africa as expert for CM business. Define and develop the end-to-end processes and Governance framework for Collaborative Manufacturing. Custodian to ensure governance is followed through with regular audits and checks.
• Develop and Maintain a CM Landscape Mapping to support resilience, agility and reactive/responsive requirement.
• Develop and manage digital platforms for CM reporting, supplier base and product catalogues
• CM External benchmarking and specialist skills deployment in Africa
• Support in the development of CM P&L development to track financial progress and identify hotspots requiring action from CM operational teams, Product Groups and/or CCBT’s.
• Develop & Drive Africa CM Savings program. Ensure the saving programs are landed in each cluster and rigor in development and execution of such.

Direct Reports  

• No direct reports. However, the role requires strong interpersonal and influencing skills. Will perform a ‘project lead function’ leading multi-disciplinary teams.         

Key Interfaces

• Primarily regional and local, with some global interface required.  Significant interface with functional team including procurement, R&D, technology, PG/Local SC, SHEQ and marketing

Critical success Factors for the Job

Key Skills            

•  Excellent understanding of an integrated supply chain network.
•  Excellent understanding of financial drivers, including make or buy analysis and decision making
•  Strong Customer Service orientation
•  Strong interpersonal skills and team commitment
•  Excellent team-working and networking skills
•  Excellent communication skills across all levels of the organisation
•  Ability to work well with a team of diverse staff
•  Ability to work with peers and demonstrate lateral influence
•  Sound understanding of technical areas
•  Good at managing customer expectations
•  Managing and delivering service through strategic partners
•  Good knowledge of Unilever’s business and processes

Essential:

• 3+years experience in Overall SC, Technology, Engineering, R&D processing or Manufacturing role
• Wider Unilever functional experience with at least 2 roles in a wider function (e.g. Source, Make, Plan, Deliver or Finance)
• Proven experience in technology evaluation and delivering to business needs
• Experience in Excel & Power Bi
• In-depth commercial knowledge

Desirable:

• Good project management skills
• Previous experience is SC studies and\ or business modelling.
• SAP Experience
• Professional Skills:

(The minimum requirement from the job skills profile should be described, including degrees/qualifications preferred.)

• A relevant degree in commerce, engineering or supply chain field.
• A Financial Experience / Diploma will be an advantage
• Experience in FMCG supply chain
• Demonstrated commercial acumen
• Cross functional business process knowledge

Experience Required:

•             More than 3+years experience in SC, Technology, Engineering, R&D processing or Manufacturing role
•             Experience as a business analyst or business consulting advantage
•             Demonstrated track record of working on complex problem solving, tight deadlines with quick turnaround times.

Travel:

•             As per job requirements and can be deployed in cluster for short stay periods.

Contacts:

•             Global Business Group Collaborative Manufacturing teams
•             Cluster Business Group teams
•             SC Finance partners
•             MCO SC Leads
•             Sourcing Unit Leads
•             Procurement
•             R&D
•             SHEQ

Reporting Channel:

•             SC Africa Collaborative Manufacturing Capabilities Manager