Head Of Operations (Multi Site)
BMB Group
Total years of experience :15 years, 2 Months
Company Summary: BMB is an innovative confectionary business that is passionate about providing premium quality with an exceptional taste. With a 1300 strong team We strive to be the most recognised confectionary and Snacking Company in the MENA region and USA through our Brands and Private label divisions.
Brands and Partner Brands include: Petit Gourmet, Smart Gourmet, Alqamar, Asateer, Simply BKLVA, Freakin Healthy, Health Nation
Job Summary: Answering into the CEO, Head of Operations across MENA Region. Entered the business with a remit to create and lead a business strategy to double the size of the business in 4 years.
Achievements;
• Acting ahead of the curve of the global COVID 19 Pandemic, drove a major contingency planning process with a range of preventative measures that ensured no contamination issues impacted the business operationally;
o Key steps restricting / controlling the movement of staff to and from our manufacturing, storage and distribution facilities and across accommodation facilities.
o Focused Strategy designed to build long-term partnerships and alliances with all major suppliers to ensure consistent supply of key ingredients and components throughout the crisis period.
o Moving swiftly to significantly reduce the cost base to improve cash flow whilst maintaining core skills and competencies capable of taking the business into recovery.
o Creating New Product ‘Creativity and Product Innovation Team’ fast-tracking product development to create a portfolio of diverse products that will support business recovery and growth
o Personally delivering Lean Culture change workshops that have ensured we have the capability to eliminate non value adding activities streamline our processes and produce comparative volumes with a reduction in labour costs of 30%.
o Developing a technology roadmap including automate, computerise, digitise and align many of the critical systems and processes to ensure people, asset, materials and process control is effective and future proofed.
o Developing a business wide strategy to consolidate supply chain facilities including feasibility study across a range of 3PL suppliers to consolidated logistics operations and focus on our core business.
Company Summary: AWJ Investments LLC is a fast-growing Food & Beverage Holding Group. Founded and headquartered in Dubai; AWJ brands are strategically located across popular tourist and dining destinations in Dubai. the AWJ model has exploited a rapidly evolving global Food & Beverage market, growing our internationally recognized brands, across the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and the USA.
Brands: Catch 22, Murjan, Operation Falafal, Chicks ’n’ Friends, Smokey Beach, Awani.
Job Summary: Reporting to the Global Operations Director. An autonomous, flexible role combining full accountability for the initial concept and design of Central Production Facilities in Middle East, USA and Europe. Full P&L Operational Accountability for food Production to our Brands and Brand Franchisees across Middle East.
Achievements
• • Build a Business Operations Vision and Strategy to align Operations / Manufacturing to the Global Business Growth Strategy
• Expanding manufacturing Operations Output aligned to the opening of additional outlets both in UAE and in KSA.
• Aligning F&B Manufacturing and Logistics Operations with Commercial and Marketing teams supporting the Global Franchise and Brand growth strategy.
• Growing bottom line EBIT by 20% in 9 months
• Building relationships with key customer category managers and working with site NPD, commercial and marketing teams to develop and deliver new and innovative products.
• Drove Service levels from 98% to a consistent 99.5%
• Full responsibility for the design and project leadership of Central Production Facilities across the Middle East, Europe and USA including project leadership and transition of purpose built Central Production Facility in UAE (Delivered on time and in Full in 9 months)
• Align Operations to Sales and Marketing to introduced Product Range Refreshment and new product Development program;
o NPD / EPD project management and tracking process improving concept to shelf times from 8 weeks to 4 weeks.
o Improve Menu offering across all restaurant outlets - Keep the product range dynamic;
• Focussing on profitability drivers to enhance outlet sales expectations and increase margins.
• Develop H&S Policies and Safety awareness program across all outlets and Manufacturing Facilities
• Building supplier partnerships to drive down procurement costs (10% reduction on top 20% high cost / high vol components), whilst improving service and quality consistency through development of supplier specifications and supplier performance review process
• Maintenance restructure and development of maintenance Systems to support Overall Facilities Effectiveness
Company Summary: AWJ Investments LLC is a fast-growing Food & Beverage Holding Group. Founded and headquartered in Dubai; AWJ brands are strategically located across popular tourist and dining destinations in Dubai. the AWJ model has exploited a rapidly evolving global Food & Beverage market, growing our internationally recognized brands, across the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and the USA.
Brands: Catch 22, Murjan, Operation Falafal, Chicks ’n’ Friends, Smokey Beach, Awani.
Job Summary: Reporting to the Global Operations Director. An autonomous, flexible role combining full accountability for the initial concept and design of Central Production Facilities in Middle East, USA and Europe. Full P&L Operational Accountability for food Production to our Brands and Brand Franchisees across Middle East.
Achievements
• Deliver business growth of 20% in line with the opening of several additional outlets both in UAE and in KSA.
• Drove Customer Service levels from 98% to a consistent 99.5%
• Full responsibility for the design and project leadership of Central Production Facilities across the Middle East, Europe and USA.
• Leading the design, development, project leadership and transition of Central Production facility from an existing site to a new purpose-built facility in UAE Aug 2019 - Seamless transition of complete production facility to the new facility
• Introduced Product Range Refreshment and new product Development program;
o improve Menu offering across all restaurant outlets - Keep the product range dynamic;
o focussing on profitability drivers to enhance outlet sales expectations and increase margins.
• Operations Team restructure, Culture Change initiative moving from a silo, non-flexible structure to cross functional, flexibility across key production areas reducing Labour costs by 5% in first eight months.
• DM and DCD / SFA legal statutory compliance; Risk Focus - Development of H & S and Food Safety policies, HACCP / ISO2200 - Grade A in Dubai Municipality audit
Company Summary: Alshaya Food, is a subsidiary MH Alshaya Co L.L.C and manages the food production for all franchised food outlets including. Alshaya is a multi-national retail franchise organisation. It operates close to 90 world recognised consumer brands across MENA, Russia, Turkey and Europe and 4000 outlets.
Brands: Starbucks, Cheesecake Factory, PF. Changs, Dean and Deluca, Shake-Shack, Le Pain Quotidien, Blaze, Pizza Express.
Reason for leaving: Headhunted into the AWJ role. Opportunity to progress into a more challenging, wider reaching role with wider global development opportunities.
Job Summary: Reporting to Business Director (UAE, KSA & Kuwait). Full Operations and P&L responsibility supplying products into UAE, Oman and KSA.
Achievements:
• • Steering 'Alshaya Food Manufacturing Division' start-up' covering the MENA Region - Successful completion and start-up of a 22, 000 sqm, $70m new purpose built manufacturing facility in Dubai - May 2018
o Overseeing “Construction (Design and Management)” in line with DM and DCD regulations compliance, Fire safety and H & S policy development, Risk management and contingency program (including scoping a 6000L Ammonia plant project in line with BS308 expectations, working with DCD to develop ammonia risk management program)
• Multi-Cultural Change initiative to deliver Business Vision through all levels of the Operations and Sales / Commercial teams.
o Build Capability, Lean principals and align front line teams to business goals and priorities through the Development of a ‘Manufacturing Academy’.
• Driving sales manufactured food and ingredient sales across the Food Division brands from 3.6M KD in 2016 to 6M KD in 2018. Ambitious 102% growth target in 2019 of 10.2M KD.
• Personally, led a range of NPD projects from concept to launch to deliver our sales Growth by moving from own brand manufacturing to 3rd Party customer base. Included personally developing relationships with ENOC, ADNOC, Landmark, Jumeirah Group etc.
• Slashing labour and operational costs to improve margin from 38% to 40.2%.
• Drove Customer Service levels from 99% to a consistent 99.95%
Aug 2015 - Jan 2016 Goldenfry Foods Ltd, North Yorkshire, UK
Interim Head of Operations
Company Summary: family owned business supplying major Supermarket chains with sauce and baking products under the Goldenfry brand.
Reason for leaving: Headhunted into the Alshaya role. Opportunity to strategically progress into a more challenging role with wider scope for business development opportunities in Middle east.
Job Summary: Support the owners to develop a business growth strategy.
Achievements:
• Business mapping and strategy development process focusing on;
o Building capability through leadership restructure and enhancing technical competence.
o Process Improvement initiative focusing on Quality, Cost and Service Improvements;
16% reduction in Cost to produce - 74% to 62% (Margin 26% to 38%)
Slashed supplier materials costs by 200K GBP / annum through re-negotiating supplier contracts
Labour cost reduction from 2m GBP / Annum to 1.7m GBP (15% reduction)
Site General Manager / Head of Operations
Company Summary: International, Irish based food production company providing a Range of baked and ready to eat products.
Reason for leaving: Headhunted to join Alshaya Food in UAE - Opportunity to strategically progress into a more challenging role with wider scope for business development opportunities in Middle east.
Job Summary:
Reported to Regional Operations director. The role covering direct responsibility for H & S, CI, Risk, Production, Finance and Engineering whilst supporting commercial colleagues to deliver the Business Strategy.
Key Achievements:
• Growing bottom line EBIT from GBP 800K to GBP 2.2m over 2 years
• Working closely with Commercial team supporting the growth in market share through Process Optimisation, Systems development and Effectiveness, Customer focus, Service delivery and Cost efficiency.
• Building relationships with key customer category managers (Tesco, Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury) and working with site NPD, commercial and marketing teams to develop and deliver new and innovative products.
• Divisional Chair working as part of the Business Leadership Team utilising Shingo inspired cultural development framework and Hoshin strategy deployment process to develop and deploy business wide Lean / six sigma cultural change strategy;
• Development of five-year strategic capital investment roadmap for the site including overseeing;
o 14000L Ammonia refrigeration plant replacement project;
o Transformer and associated LV supply (review of site load risk and contingency plans).
Company Summary: International Healthcare, Hygiene and Homecare organisation
Reason for leaving: Return to a more Senior Operations role with Greencore Foods
Job Summary:
Engineering responsibility for Home Health Care and pharmaceutical processing and dispensary suites, six bottling plants, four stick pack lines, two sachets lines, two tube and cream filling facilities.
Achievements:
• Part of RB UK’s development of a sustainable ‘Cultural Change Philosophy’ to Hull site utilising Kotter’s change model.
• Development of Asset Care and Process improvement Strategy taking asset reliability from 89% to 96%. This included;
• Maintenance regime and spares criticality program driven through FMECA approach
• A major restructure to the maintenance function to give focus on proactive asset care, maintenance reliability and autonomous production team ownership of asset care maintenance activities through introduction and development of ‘Manufacturing technicians’ program.
• A drive for improved Maintenance GMP, engineering standards and workshop management
• Leading delivery of comprehensive capital investment program to introduce new processing dispensary suite and two new bottling lines plus various other capacity improvement/plant expansion projects in excess of £6m
Company Summary: Warburtons is a family owned Bakery products organisation. It is the number one bakery products brand in the UK and UK’s second-best selling food Brand second to Coca-Cola
Reason for leaving: Major car accident requiring extensive recovery period requiring the need to move closer to home
Job Summary: Leading all key functions on a bakery site employing approx. 200 people and a business turnover of approx. £56m.
Achievements:
• Driving Sales increase of 15% and Bottom Line increase of 18%
• Delivery of a 5.5m GBP project to introduce new state of the art crumpet manufacturing facility.
• Driving commercially effective promotional activities across a range of major UK Supermarket Brands Reviewing data from brand / product assessment, challenging assumptions where appropriate.
• Personally Securing Government funding for delivery of a sustainable, multi-site, Lean Cultural change strategy;
o Program delivery through Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), North East productivity Alliance (NEPA), Nissan Mfg. UK Ltd SQA development and training group (NAC).
o Extensive Lean Cultural Change benchmarking initiative across major WCM businesses throughout the UK
• Delivery of Technical and Product Excellence development program - (Master Baker apprenticeship scheme, baking process and ingredients awareness programmes).
• Leading regional Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives as part of a ‘Business in the Community’ program.