Senior Manager, New Platforms & Technology – Occasion Based Packaging

Job Description

<strong>Overview</strong><p><br></p><strong>Note: this role can be located in any of PepsiCo Hubs in the following countries: Netherlands, Poland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Spain, India</strong><p><br></p>The International Engineering Group (IEG) is a globally dispersed, agile, central team focused on delivering innovative, competitively advantaged Supply Chain solutions incorporating internal and external perspectives. IEG is tasked to accelerate the development of transformative engineering and supply chain solutions for PepsiCo’s international sectors across Europe, LATAM, AMESA, and APAC, focusing on four key strategic remits:<p><br></p><ul><li>Design next-generation greenfield facility &amp; infrastructure solutions </li><li>Identify technical unlocks to significantly improve PC &amp; TC line technology costs </li><li>Develop next-generation equipment solutions to provide high functionality &amp; flexibility and low-cost/low-tech automation </li><li>Develop &amp; Deploy next generation Innovation Platforms &amp; Technologies e.g. Compression Popping &amp; Occasion Based Packaging</li></ul><p><br></p>The role of Senior Manager, New Platforms &amp; Technologies will report into the director of that remit and will be responsible for collaborating with Global and Sector teams across Commercial, Technical, Supply Chain, R&amp;D, Procurement, and Finance, leading the development of scalable, viable manufacturing &amp; technology strategies and solutions to support Sector teams in their execution of the Global Strategic priorities – the initial key focus of this role will be on Occasion Based Packaging (OBP), e.g., rigid packaging, multipack, etc.<p><br></p><strong>Main purpose</strong><p><br></p>This new role will support the business agenda for growth, productivity &amp; low-cost capital across all international markets outside of North America. The successful candidate will be the <strong>Supply Chain lead</strong> for the Foods International Occasion-Based Packaging Innovation program, initially focusing on leveraging Rigid Packaging &amp; Multipack formats. OBP is a key priority for PepsiCo as we continue to drive incremental margin accretive growth in our international business. The role will be part of a cross-functional international team tasked with delivering the business’s 2030 commercial growth ambition for Multipack &amp; unlocking new snacking occasions by growing our share of products sold in rigid packaging.<p><br></p>The role will work closely with the sector and business unit (BU) teams to define the manufacturing strategies and build the business case for required investments. The person will be expected to challenge the norms, creating cost-effective solutions for both the large-scale BU’s and those with smaller volume demand, requiring innovative solutions and leveraging proven approaches from across the snack foods or other similar industries. The initial focus will be working with teams in Europe, Australia, the Middle East &amp; India; this will require on-the-ground support to build relationships with local teams and stakeholders, identify and drive solutions, and work with the teams via Zoom, Teams, etc. As a result, there will be a requirement to travel for ~30% of the time.<p><br></p><strong>Main objectives:</strong><p><br></p><ul><li>Partner with global partners to define the strategic ambition and develop solutions to deliver, including core manufacturing strategies and sector / BU-tailored solutions leveraging industry best practices.</li><li>Partner sector engineering teams with the Site and BU teams to define the strategy, identify the site(s), and deliver the capex and subsequent execution – leveraging previous &amp; innovative approaches &amp; data benchmarking to ensure consistency &amp; accuracy.</li><li>Rigid Packaging: Partner with Engineering &amp; R+D to identify/develop equipment capable of production, gas flushing (N2), filling, and sealing in large and smaller volume markets.</li><li>Multipacking: Leverage internal &amp; external knowledge to guide BU’s on potential solutions to deliver commercial asks.</li><li>Understand OEM &amp; markets place capability to enable continuous improvement of approaches within PepsiCo, focusing on capital optimization, equipment flexibility &amp; enhanced output, space utilization, and handling &amp; filling technology to guide future installations.</li><li>Define and develop technical solutions, leveraging food industry standards to deliver affordable manufacturing/supply solutions for low-volume BUs through close collaboration with cross-functional and external partners.</li><li>Develop and deploy standardized approaches to optimise operational capability, driving quality, efficiency &amp; maintenance costs for the current asset base, embedding within current PepsiCo systems as needed.</li><li>Support the capex builds &amp; subsequent execution and deployment.</li><li>Partner with 3rd Party Manufacturing (3PM) teams to develop supply solutions leveraging contract manufacturers as needed.</li><li>Partner with Engineering, R+D and GP to develop &amp; optimize rigid packaging forming at OEM.</li><li>Explore and deliver the above for other packaging strategies &amp; formats as needed.</li></ul><p><br></p><strong>Responsibilities</strong><p><br></p><ul><li>Define the manufacturing strategy for enabling OBP launches in cluster 3&amp;4 markets and growth 2023-2030 through close collaboration with Commercial, Commercialization, BU &amp; Sector LT, defining the analysis &amp; assessment approach &amp; models required to execute and deliver the planned growth</li><li>Research &amp; understand OEM &amp; marketplace capability to enable continuous improvement of approaches within PEP with a particular focus on capital optimization, equipment flexibility &amp; enhanced output, space utilization along with handling &amp; filling technology to be able to advise, guide and optimize manufacturing strategy and equipment selection</li><li>Understand the production capabilities in relevant BU’s to support the manufacturing strategy build and guide on relevant phasing, timing, and investment </li><li>Partner with BU &amp; Sector Supply Chain &amp; Engineering teams to assess options, define solutions and build a business case for OBP delivery </li><li>Support the investment build, execution &amp; deployment of new installations and expansions, leveraging best practices to ensure standard operations and embrace learnings from others</li><li>Understand all current PepsiCo OBP capabilities &amp; approaches to guide and support future developments, including performance benchmarking to establish best practices</li><li>Day-to-day activities: 45% strategic, 40% executional, 15% tactical</li><li>Partnering with R+D and Engineering to develop solutions to enable low-cost investment or other solutions to support product launches in BUs with low initial volumes, ensuring that growth can be delivered through alternate approaches</li></ul><p><br></p><strong>Qualifications</strong><p><br></p><strong>Key skills required:</strong><p><br></p><ul><li>10+ years of supply chain/manufacturing experience in the food industry</li><li>Experience in snack food manufacturing &amp; packing operations</li><li>Deep knowledge of rigid packaging (including canisters) &amp; multipack packaging operations (production, filling &amp; handling), and other packaging formats used in the snack food industry</li><li>Technical degree</li><li>Ability to work with and influence senior leadership &amp; cross-functional teams, as well as OEMs and other external partners, to deliver manufacturing solutions</li><li>Business and customer mindset with solid financial system understanding</li><li>Experience in strategic planning, building strategies &amp; understanding of influencing factors</li><li>Experience in operational approaches within packaging &amp; product handling in the snack food industry</li><li>Ability to research global OEM and other market capabilities to influence strategy and equipment selection</li><li>Ability to challenge assumptions and build creative, affordable solutions, engaging key stakeholders to enable the adoption </li><li>Ability to investigate &amp; analyse data at ground level to underpin strategy builds &amp; justification </li><li>Experience in working across international business in both developed and developing markets</li><li>Demonstrated success in driving agenda through cross-functional, matrixed, and international organization with the ability to influence senior and peer stakeholders</li><li>Team player, self-motivating, able to deal with ambiguity and complexity, strong analytical skills</li><li>Able to build trusting relationships, lead, inspire, and manage technical partners within and outside the company</li><li>Fluent in English</li></ul><p><br></p><strong>Differentiating Competencies Required:</strong><p><br></p><ul><li>Cultural sensitivity and cross-cultural exposure to support international teams</li><li>Solid interpersonal skills with the ability to influence at senior / peer levels within the organisation</li><li>First-class presentation skills (written &amp; verbal) with the ability to explain complex issues/solutions</li><li>Self-starter, self-motivating, and able to deal with detail and complexity as well as simplify and elevate</li><li>Curiosity and learning mindset; willingness to explore, challenge &amp; develop new or breakthrough solutions</li></ul>