Sash, Operational Excellence, Nestlé UK
Working in both Engineering and Operational Excellence has given me an opportunity to be involved in all aspects of factory operations. You come into contact with people from every function, from shop floor production operatives to the HR business partners, quality conformance managers to senior operations directors. You have an input in key decision making. So anyone interested in getting a broad and detailed understanding of factory operations should pursue this opportunity.
I’d been interested in pursuing a career in either FMCG operations management or management consulting. Nestlé offered a well–rounded graduate development programme – and the prospect of being able to undertake six–month placements in different parts of the business particularly attracted me.
During my time here, I’ve worked primarily in the fields of industrial performance and operations management. I spent my first year as part of the Operational Excellence Department in Nestlé Sweden, followed by four years in a variety of roles in our York factory. This was followed by a two–year stint at our global head office in Vevey, Switzerland. All of this gave me the opportunity to visit 22 different confectionery factories around the world. This provided me with a good foundation to undertake an Area Manager role at our Castleford Factory.
My current role in the York factory focuses on supporting front-line production with the tools and techniques needed to drive continuous process improvement. I find myself and my team working to ensure that all Nestlé manufacturing performance measurement systems are in place in order to ensure compliance and to help us co-ordinate improvement initiatives.
I’d love to further develop on an international level – I see myself in a senior management role within Nestlé Operations, and my current and previous roles provide a very strong foundation for that.
Sash graduated from Brunel University with a BEng (Hons) in Manufacturing Engineering.
