Head of Operations - Food Company
IRC Global Executive Search Partner
VMS France , IRC Global Executive Search Partners - France
Search:
Head of Operations - Food Company
Client/Industry:
Global Food Products Company
Situation:
Our client is a global food products company and we were assigned to search for the Head of Operations for one of their industrial sites in France which is the biggest bottling plant in Europe. The site is composed of two autonomous industrial units: one that manufactures plastic bottles and representing 400 people and the other one, a production and operations unit representing 500 people. The Head of Operations, a newly created position, would be in charge first of the latter and of both units later on. The manager of the industrial unit at the time had an opportunity to gain responsibilities within the group and it was therefore decided that a more complete position would be created whose scope would also include the supply chain as well as systems and performance.
Assessment:
The ever growing worldwide request implies constant improvement of production processes. Global competition and far-off exporting require to cut down the costs of production and logistics. The workforce in that plant is local and in most cases, the men have worked there for generations which gives them power and importance. The candidate's challenge was therefore to take charge of several functions which had been separated since then and give them coherence. Besides, the candidate had to have great leadership skills and a strong personality but also the ability to listen, to establish a dialog and understand the specificity of the plant and its men.
Challenge:
The ever growing worldwide request implies constant improvement of production processes. Global competition and far-off exporting require to cut down the costs of production and logistics. The workforce in that plant is local and in most cases, the men have worked there for generations which gives them power and importance. The candidate's challenge was therefore to take charge of several functions which had been separated since then and give them coherence. Besides, the candidate had to have great leadership skills and a strong personality but also the ability to listen, to establish a dialog and understand the specificity of the plant and its men.
Methodology/Solution:
We defined a target list focusing on companies having the same quality standards and similar conditions. Our consultant met many candidates and a shortlist of six candidates was sent to the client.
Candidate:
Among the candidates, one was really outstanding but after his first interview with the consultant, he decided not to pursue. His experience and personality were quite exceptional which led our consultant to discuss at length the details of the opportunity with him. His doubts were finally cleared and he met with our client who was instantly convinced. Yet he was made a counterproposal by the CEO of his company at the time which he finally refused and was recruited by our client.
Post-mortem:
Our candidate was easily adopted by his teams. His qualities, his sense of analysis and innovative propositions earned him much praise and he was given charge of Human Resources. After 18 months, he became Managing Director for the whole industrial site.
