Continuous Improvement Lead

Continuous Improvement Lead
Safran Seats
Cwmbran, Wales

Skills: Continuous improvement / Quality / Lead / Project management / Six sigma

Safran is an international high-technology group, operating in the aviation (propulsion, equipment and interiors), defense and space markets. Its core purpose is to contribute to a safer, more sustainable world, where air transport is more environmentally friendly, comfortable and accessible. Safran has a global presence, with 100,000 employees and sales of 27.3 billion euros in 2024, and holds, alone or in partnership, world or regional leadership positions in its core markets.
Safran is in the 2nd place in the aerospace and defense industry in TIME magazine's "World's best companies 2024" ranking.

Safran Seats is one of the world's leading manufacturers of aircraft seats, for both crew and passengers. 1 million Safran Seats-manufactured aircraft seats are currently in service with air fleets around the world.

Looking after the people who make Safran great is our priority. We offer a range of flexible benefits designed to support you-both in and out of work, including:

• Early finish on Fridays
• Competitive salary and annual bonus and pay review
• 25 days' holiday + bank holidays (option to buy/sell)
• Strong Pension scheme and life assurance
• Professional development, ongoing training, mentoring
• Onsite amenities: parking, restaurant, bicycle storage, showers
• Family-friendly and accessible workplace policies

Your role:

As Continuous Improvement Lead, you'll be responsible for leading and coaching the organisation in driving an effective improvement journey. You'll actively lead teams and engage business leaders to analyse performance, determine processes and tools, and drive the projects and governance to implement tangible improvements.

You'll become a change agent with the courage to champion improvement within the business with the ability to motivate others to achieve results.

Key responsibilities:

Continuous Improvement (CI):

• Lead project teams to deliver business improvements through the deployment of tool
• Work with business leaders to undertake continual analysis of our operations, to expose opportunities for change & improvement
• Drive continuous improvement within the business and identify opportunities for improvement including deployment of Balanced scorecard, One Safran, Customer Improvement projects, Lean Journey & QRQC
• Analyse and monitor financial and customer benefits throughout the life of improvement projects

Problem Solving Capability:

• Work with the Director of CI to determine the tools required & scope of CI Training across the business
• Create, organise and deliver training to the targeted scope
• Coach Project Sponsors and Leaders to enable the delivery of successful project implementation

Drive Plant / Business Unit Improvement Workstreams:

• Lead teams in analysing data and determining the key activities that will reduce the defects or increase flow
• Use of Value-Stream Mapping to determine production bottle necks and leading the team to address the issues found
• Communicate the progress to both internal and external customers and influence the leadership team to ensure support to drive workstreams to closure
• Accountable for governance of improvement projects and activities

What You'll Bring:

As Continuous Improvement Lead, you'll bring a wide range knowledge and experience of problem solving, including:

• Six-sigma methodologies
• lean manufacturing and continuous improvement tools
• A Black Belt qualification (or equivalent experience)
• Able to act as a change agent with the courage to champion improvement within the business with the ability to motivate others to achieve results.
• Demonstrable CI project delivery experience within a production/manufacturing environment

At Safran, we understand that diversity and inclusion make teams stronger and more effective, and as an organisation, we are committed to fair and equitable employment practices for everyone.

We also know that some candidates may be put off applying for jobs where they don't meet 100% of the criteria outlined in the advert, however, we encourage anybody to apply if you can demonstrate a variety of skills and experience relevant to the requirements of this role.

Please let us know if you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments to the application or hiring process that may better facilitate your participation.