Foods Greater Asia Manufacturing Excellence Lead

Overview

Role Title: Foods Greater Asia Manufacturing Excellence Lead

Primary Location: General Trias, Cavite (Philippines)

Additional Locations: Thailand/Vietnam

As the Manufacturing Excellence Lead for Foods Greater Asia, you will be responsible for driving the transformation of manufacturing capabilities across the cluster. You will lead the deployment of the Manufacturing Excellence (ManEx) program—including UMS, WCM, sustainability, agility, asset efficiency, digitization, and automation—by partnering closely with Site Directors and factory leadership teams. This role is critical in unlocking performance improvements, enabling future-fit technologies, and ensuring engineering best practices are embedded across operations. You will also serve as the single point of contact for global engineering initiatives, supporting innovation delivery, strategic project development, and capital efficiency improvements.

• Contributes to building the Greater Asia ManEx program (such as UMS, WCM, sustainability, agility, asset efficiency, digitisation and automation) and is responsible for managing and driving the implementation of the agreed ManEx program together with the SUDs and the factory leadership teams in the countries served. Provides WCM coaching for the plants, coordinates activities, and develops the required WCM skill base to enable factories to eradicate losses, delivering WCM training. Directly impacts Manufacturing performance KPI improvements (e.g., OR, OEE, agility, sustainability, ME Savings).
• Directs and enables factory journey to build the Masterplan and defines the best fit technology needed for the future.
• Develops and deploys the technology framework for each factory for assigned technology. Serves as single point resource for factory engineering team for technology selection (process design/ machine selection).
• Supports factory engineering teams in Concept & FEED (pre-capex) engineering stages in defining the technical solution. Greater support for newer/higher risk technologies; for projects requiring replicates of existing proven technology within the agreed framework, support expected would be lower.
• Identifies opportunities for improving capital efficiency via development or rollout of new technologies, qualification of low-cost vendors, and increasing productivity of existing assets (BCT reduction/ line speed increase, asset transfer, etc.).
• Drives BU initiatives—flexible and agile operation, delivers saving targets, SHEQ improvements, and sustainability—by working closely with R&D, Planning, CM, Quality, SHE, SUIT, ManEx and factory engineering teams from idea development up to MPT stage.
• Partners with planning and R&D teams in defining the technology solution for all 70/20 innovation projects. Engages with SUIT/factory engineering teams to ensure smooth transition of innovation projects to execution.
• Ensures best engineering practices & designs are implemented across the country.
• Serves as single point of contact for Global Engineering team for technology transfer—global innovations, updates to engineering standards, globally developed new technologies (e.g., higher speed lines), and represents the cluster in relevant global networks or COP.
• Leads critical safety or quality interventions that are led globally.
• Leads early phase definition & development of strategic projects in collaboration with the business (brief/concept stage) until a dedicated team is formed (e.g., acquisitions, new plants, small MoQ mixer and flexible filling line).
• Drives the digitalization and automation roadmap by working closely with factory and global teams to ensure Unilever standards are implemented.

• Manufacturing Excellence Expertise – Deep knowledge of UMS, WCM, TPM, Lean, and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Engineering & Technology Leadership – Ability to define, evaluate, and deploy future-fit technologies across multiple sites.
• Project Management – Skilled in leading complex, multi-country initiatives from concept to execution.
• Digital & Automation Capability – Experience in developing and implementing digitization and automation roadmaps and deployment.
• Fully functional in data analytics and use of tools like Power BI
• Cross-functional Collaboration – Strong ability to work with diverse teams including R&D, Planning, Quality, and Global Engineering.
• Strategic Thinking – Capable of translating business needs into technical solutions and long-term manufacturing strategies.
• Coaching & Capability Building – Proven track record in developing factory teams through training and hands-on support.
• Influencing & Communication – Strong stakeholder management and ability to influence across levels and geographies.

• 4-6 years experience in manufacturing management
• Fully Operational in Digital Manufacturing and deployment of digital and IOT technologies
• Strong Manufacturing / WCM (or equivalent like TPM, Lean Management, etc.) background is required (with strong achievements)
• Good communication and influencing skills

We highly encourage applicants to exclude information on age, gender, and school/s in view of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Unilever assesses candidates based on skills, performance, experience and leadership.

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever we are interested in every individual bring ing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.