Name: Kevin Fox
Company: Unilever UK – Home & Personal Care
Professional Qualification(s):
MEng with distinction in Chemical and Process Engineering. 3 CSYS, 5 Highers(Scottish education). GCSE’s 8 Standard grades. Associate member of IChemE.
Brief overview of your job:
Responsible for the delivery of a portfolio of innovation and capability projects on time, in full and safely that will help grow the business. In charge of building and developing an extended team of people to help deliver these projects to the highest standard.
What does your job involve?
- Promote and enforce rigorous safety standards for self and others at all times. Carry out risk assessments and HAZOP studies and manage the actions, you are responsible for your teams safety.
- Prepare and install engineering designs, in accordance with relevant local legislation, Unilever procedure, to ensure inherently safe plant and equipment, proper environmental protection and safety of all personnel.
- Lead core and extended project teams involving all relevant stakeholders (Logistics, Quality, Health and Safety team, TPM, Operations) and contract project engineers.
- Lead the commissioning phase of the installation to ensure the machines are right first time and start up at optimum efficiency.
- Recruitment and management of contractors as necessary to carry out the design and implementation of the project. In charge of an extended team of over 20 people from all engineering back grounds e.g mechanical, chemical, electrical and other functions. The real challenge is getting these people to work effectively as a team and pull in the same direction.
- In charge and control budgets for engineering design and installation. These can be over 1 million pounds in value.
What do you most like about your job?
- Being given real responsibility form the start and support network so you never feel you are out of your depth along with excellent development opportunities.
- Dealing with people. Being involved in motivating and getting the best out of your core team as well as having interaction with shop floor operators and all other stake holders. Working with great people.
- You never have one day the same dealing with all of the unforeseen obstacles that can get in the way of projects. You have a very broad remit and see a lot of the business through the different stages of the project, from working with marketers to siting down with the finance department
What skills are required in your job?
- A degree in any engineering
- Good communicator and able to deal with a variety of people and understand how to get the best out of a team and react to certain situations.
- Be decisive when people are trying to pull you in different directions. Be able to think outside the box to continually identify new opportunities
- Be prepared to go that extra mile to deliver stretching targets and have good priority management.
What is your advice to people looking for a career in the food & grocery industry?
- It’s a challenging industry that is growing and developing fast. Technological advances are at the fore front to reduce overheads and increase productivity.
- An industry that offers a lot of diversity and excitement. Have a look through different companies brochures and see what brands etc excite you to work with.
- Be involved in an industry that can effect the lives of consumers and feel part of the brands that people are connected to.
Career so far:
Proctor and Gamble, in R&D;