ALPS Maintenance Expert Job in Amsterdam, Netherlands

AkzoNobel is a leading global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals, with leading market positions and brands in countries around the world. We operate in a number of important market segments ranging from buildings and infrastructure to transport, industrial and consumer goods. We’re also the sector leader in sustainability and are number one in the renowned Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In practical terms, that means our sustainable solutions are in your lives, and those of your friends and family, every day. We’re the people that make it possible for you to do what you need to do.

ALPS Maintenance Expert Job Description

AkzoNobel’s business area Decorative Paints (DP) adds color to people’s lives with a full range of interior and exterior decoration and protection products for the trade and consumer markets. As authorities on color we aim to provide all our customers – from professional decorators to DIY enthusiasts – with a great color experience and a fantastic finish. Our range includes paints, lacquers and varnishes, as well as products for surface preparation (pre-deco products).

AkzoNobel and DP are currently implementing ALPS (AkzoNobel Leading Performance Systems) designed to ensure company-wide standardized processes, a culture of continuous improvement, process-centric behaviours, AkzoNobel values, and required capabilities. ALPS focuses on Manufacturing (work streams: enablers, operations, maintenance, projects, training), Supply Chain, Procurement, HSE and Engineering.
Within this context, your mission in this role is to form a key part of the BA Deployment organization focused on the ALPS Maintenance work stream. You will be part of a small central team that is responsible for implementing ALPS for Maintenance with a specific focus on maintenance reliability at sites across Akzo Nobel Decorative Paints. 

As such, this is an ideal role for someone with extensive project management experience, particularly in terms of implementing reliability centered maintenance work processes and driving cultural change. It also demands that you deploy coaching and performance management techniques to develop regional and site based maintenance teams and drive continuous improvement.

Is this a challenge that matches your ambitions as a results-focused professional with extensive and hands-on experience in Reliability Centered Maintenance? Do you have knowledge of the paint manufacturing industry along with solid experience of major Capex projects and an overall understanding of legislation in this area? Can you demonstrate the problem-solving skills necessary to identify and structure issues, run accurate analyses and synthesize recommendations? Can you lead process transformation without having direct reports or the direct authority over teams based in regions/manufacturing sites? Above all, can you make a real difference within our dynamic, multinational and multicultural business environment? 

If you offer all this and more, we invite you to apply for the position of

ALPS Maintenance Expert

The role and its responsibilities
This role can be based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, or any other AkzoNobel location in Europe. You will travel for approximately 40% of your time to sites with varying maturity levels in maintenance processes and desired culture.

Your core function is to develop the plan and approach for deploying ALPS Maintenance processes across BA Decorative Paints. In doing so, you instill a passion for excellence across the Maintenance community, review progress (milestones, performance metrics, etc.) against agreed work stream deployment plans, and identify areas for improvement. At all times you adhere to AkzoNobel Asset Integrity Guidelines and ensure that ALPS Maintenance processes support these.

Thus you provide basic training and coaching in Reliability principles, and drive the implementation of Reliability improvement initiatives. You also support, coach and train operational managers and employees, and facilitate a Maintenance Network aimed at accelerating improvement.

Further, you develop, recommend and implement strategies for improving equipment and process reliability, monitoring, quantifying and reporting cost savings and/or equipment life cycle costs. You also verify process maturity and the effectiveness of planned improvement activities/projects through field observations. 

This requires you to serve as the ‘owner’ of the management of change process for your specific work stream, aligning with Maintenance work stream owners in other teams and for feeding back valuable insights.

All of this requires that you spend time at manufacturing sites and possess the ability to extract information from real life observations. You must also be able to interact effectively with Customers, Community and other AkzoNobel visitors on a regular basis.

Candidate profile
To apply for this position you must possess all the following attributes:

• BSc degree or higher in Technology, Engineering or a similar discipline, along with in-depth knowledge of state of the art maintenance processes and tools;
• A proven track record in implementing Reliability Centered Maintenance programs
• Ideally you have experience of continuous improvement tools such as Lean, Six Sigma or other continuous improvement methodologies and tools;
• Ability to use Situational Leadership to effectively manage and lead teams, including leading workshops and working groups;
• Good understanding of SAP PM and/or other CMMS systems;
• Experience of Process Safety Management, with experience of the batch process industry preferred;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, from plant managers to line operators, including fluent written and spoken English.

ALPS Maintenance Expert Summary

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