Operations (Engineering) Graduate - Operations

This vacancy has now expired, and is not accepting any new applications.

Role types
Grad Scheme
Role description

The Operations (Engineering) function at Heinz is looking to hire graduates with the potential to become the future leaders of the Operations (Engineering) function and the Organisation. Heinz believes it is critical to have a robust leadership pipeline and that graduates joining the operations (engineering) programme have the ability, hunger, passion and ambition to achieve. It is also essential that they are commercially astute and have the ability to work with all of the functions at Heinz.

Heinz UK & Ireland’s main food manufacturing facility is based in Kitt Green, near Wigan. At 55 acres, it is the largest site within Heinz globally and the largest food manufacturing plant in Europe. It primarily produces cans, manufacturing in excess of one billion each year, but also produces some plastics too (snap pots). There are 1500 people on the site, 280 of which are in the Engineering function, hence the importance of the ideal candidates for this operations role to have engineering as their core competency. Furthermore, the Engineering function at Kitt Green supports the primary process of manufacturing products. This involves setting policies, strategies and standards for equipment usage, design and maintenance. It is also the responsibility of the Engineering function to maintain the life cycle of the land building’s services (water, gas, power, steam, etc..) and processing equipment of the facility. This is achieved through design, installation, inspection, repair and improvement – until final replacement, when the cycle starts again.

It is a very exciting time to join the Operations (engineering) function at the Kitt Green site, as Heinz is currently on a journey creating a lean manufacturing culture through implementation of our Heinz Global Performance System (HGPS). We are striving to be the preferred supplier both within Heinz and externally, as well as be a workplace of choice and consistently excellent in everything we do.


Operations (Engineering) Graduate Role

The two-year programme will see the graduates complete a number of rotations in Operations within the Kitt Green factory mainly with the opportunity to also gain work experience at one of the other factories and some Hayes Park Head Office exposure.

Examples of assignments are:

Manufacturing Management (Factory)
This placement will involve working in a factory as a team leader, running a line of people with responsibilities which will include production plan delivery, line changes, as well as people management and development

Factory Scheduling
This is the team who complete the short term planning, designating which production line items should be produced on, what labour, ingredients and packaging are required, etc.. An example of a situation in this role would be if an order was placed for 100 cans of Beanz, how do Heinz physically do it – ingredients required, staff, packaging, etc.


Continuous Improvement
Placement within the continuous improvement team on the factory floor to gain a real understanding of the tools and systems being used to reach Heinz’s operations excellence and identify problems to be resolved and opportunities for improvement. An example would be to investigate a production line constantly stopping, thus providing extra waste in the system – and coming up with possible solutions, followed by running trials, analysis of results and then overseeing implementation. Another example can be working on a yield improvement project that explores how to make a saving on the quantity of sauce drained each week.

Working alongside a Shift Engineering Manager or/and Asset Engineer
This placement involves working on the factory floor to gain an understanding of the busy, pressurised nature of a front line role and develop the skill to manage multiple priorities simultaneously. This post also provides the opportunity to gain proactive engineering and people management experience (through supporting the leadership of a team of mechanical and electronic technicians) whilst considering strategic longer-term improvement and modular maintenance of the manufacturing equipment.

Rotations could last from between 3 months to 9 months depending on the team. The graduates might also spend some time at the Head Office in Hayes Park to further understanding of the wider organisation.

Training & Support

On joining Heinz, the Operations (Engineering) graduates together with graduates from across other functions will come together in a one week induction programme that includes factory site visits and presentations from senior Managers in the business. This will allow the individual to gain an understanding into the Organisation as well as each of the functions and how they fit into the operation. Following the initial training week, the graduate will start their role within the Operations (Engineering) function at Kitt Green.

The graduates will be in a ‘real job’ and be given a large amount of responsibility. It will be up to the individuals to shine and make use of all of the opportunities provided as the approach will not be to ‘spoon-feed’ information. A mentor will be appointed for additional support.

The individuals will also get a considerable amount of exposure to Dave Woodward and Senior Management who will take an active role in identifying potential leadership

Throughout the scheme, the Operations (Engineering) graduate will join graduates from other functions in group workshops to further the development of core interpersonal skills and support the technical skills gained.

Progression within the function depends entirely on the individual. High-fliers are usually earmarked by the company and graduates will be expected to be on that list. At the end of the 2 year programme, individuals will be placed in roles that take into account their performance and achievement throughout the scheme together with personal interests as well as the business needs. High-performing operations (engineering) graduates with the right skills could see themselves in a management role very early on upon joining Heinz.


Requirements

The ideal candidate will hold an engineering degree yet aspire to a career in a wider operations role rather than a career as a Technical Engineer. Heinz is looking for an individual that will be ready and able to run a factory in a short space of time, taking on responsibility for a significant budget and management of a large operations workforce. Because of this we are looking for a graduate that is big on social and people skills.

• Passion for working within the manufacturing operations environment
• Degree: Minimum 2:1 and the preferred disciplines will be: Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Production Engineering and Operations Management
• A-Levels: 300 UCAS points minimum
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Analytical
• Attention to detail
• Good project management skills
• Technical background
• Ability to challenge when necessary
• Good extra-curricular involvement at University
• Work experience or internships (Operations experience is not essential but highly desirable)
 

This vacancy has now expired, and is not accepting any new applications.

Operations (Engineering) Graduate