The necessity for continuous improvement aptitudes within FMCG

With lean-management, also known as ‘Continuous Improvement’, leading the way in productivity, we spoke with Yasmin Bunn, Recruitment Consultant at Real about why it’s more important than ever, for engineers within the FMCG industry to apply this methodology to their work.

The current struggles of reactive engineering

For years, the status quo of engineers has typically sat in a reactive engineering mentality, this has created an extensive gap in the market for proactive engineering. In the majority of FMCG companies, engineering departments are usually the first to face budget cuts. This has led to companies paying more for interim engineers if there’s ever a technical fault in their production line.
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The value of a ‘continuous improvement’ mind set

The additional expense for interim professionals has created a demand for engineers who can look to the future and help prevent future technical issues for the company’s production. If systems don’t operate correctly, it can have a monumental impact on the rest of the production line. One example of this, is a leading soft drinks manufacturer, where one production line produces 2,000 cans per minute. If this line doesn’t operate for a day, there’s over a million cans per day of wastage, as the cans cannot be reused. So the need for engineers to spot potential future issues, is a must for companies with such a high turnover.

As an engineering manager at a leading soft drinks manufacturer explains, “If a line is down, the extra volume goes to another site, however, if this site cannot manage the workload, there’s a risk of losing a valuable customer. The hundred year fix is to counteract reactive engineering, clients want engineers with a ‘stop and fix’ attitude”.

The demand for managers who can lead the culture of a team

With the demand for continuous improvement within companies, the most valuable managers are those who can encourage the cultural switch from reactive engineering with their team of engineers. Companies are constantly seeking managers who can develop and conduct compliance audits, program evaluations and reviews to drive results with the determination to ensure change is permanent.

When speaking about the desired skillsets, Yasmin says, “The Interim Market for Engineering has traditionally been led by those with the strongest technical skillsets and multi skilled capabilities. The mentalities within Engineering has been to fight a fire with the quickest time possible. The Market has changed considerably in the last couple of years, and clients are acknowledging the need for continuous improvements within a business. Clients now value the preventative solutions that engineers can put in place to prevent problems, all together. The need for maintenance has never been so apparent and clients are now looking for Engineering Managers to influence culture change and continuous improvement within departments”.

Are you in need of engineers with a experience in continuous improvement? Then now might be the time to speak with Yasmin about our current contractors.

How does your business adapt continuous improvement aptitudes? Have you considered the value of encouraging ‘Continuous Improvement’ mind sets to your engineers? Let us know by emailing John Campbell, Market Research.