Head of Process Technology

Jobinhalt

Location: Europe (Belgium Preferred)

Working Mode: Office-based if residing in Belgium, remote working if residing outside Belgium

Traveling frequently to manufacturing sites in India

Language: Fluent in English

Timeframe: Role has full sign-off and budget

Salary/Package: Competitive salary and benefits on offer

Interviews: to be held within 1-2 weeks

Recruitment Partner: Airswift Account Manager: Felicia Brown and Jannet Yankova

Key Words: Carbon Black, Specialty Black, Oil, Plant, Process Engineering, Technology, Team Management, Product Design, Commercialisation, Specialty Chemicals, Head, Engineering

Company Summary

We are proud to be retained by the 7th largest Carbon Black manufacturers with half a billion turnover and a part of a multi-billion fastest-growing conglomerate. With 4 plants and operations in 40+ countries, the Company also generates 84 MW of green power and is the first carbon black company in the world to be awarded carbon credit. They are looking for an experienced Head of Engineering in Europe (Belgium Preferred) to lead a team of 10 members to improve quality and productivity.

Job Summary

You will primarily be responsible for Product Design and process development operations across all plant locations with the objective of improving quality and productivity. The position also needs to benchmark with global standards and source best-in-class technology. Another major responsibility will be quality improvement for in-house manufacturing as well as meeting customer requirements.

Requirements

• Extensive experience in Carbon Black Industry on Process technology related to Reactor/Downstream or New Product Development in Rubber/Non-Rubber/Specialty or Carbon Black Research and Development
• Availability to travel and be present in India every 2 months and spend a few weeks there at a time and travel back home
• Good experience in team management
• Ability to be office-based in the West of Brussels Area or working remotely if residing outside Belgium
• Good understating of Carbon Black Grades, Manufacturing Processes, and technologies
  

Responsibilities

Process Development

• Improving yields by investigating alternative materials or new machinery to improve efficiency, quality, and yields in bottleneck areas.
• Devising new processes, refining existing ones, or debottlenecking including equipment design to optimize the manufacturing process and enhance Plant Reliability
• Planning, and supervising process trials in plants
• Improvement in reactor technology which is water-cooled/gas based
• Reactor technology to manufacture Carbon Black from different Raw Materials
• Technology to manufacture Hybrid fillers
• Technology Capability building of Process Managers
• Provide guidance in the design of a new plant and its equipment if required
• Advance Process Control
• Overall Yield Improvements: Establish a system and practice for correlating oil, process parameters to efficiencies
  

Quality Improvement

• Develop and implement quality management strategy and plans to contribute to and integrate with the organization’s annual business plan and long-term strategy.
• Develop and maintain systems to measure product performance against established standards.
• Establish and implement a necessary communication strategy for the improvement and awareness of quality issues across all departments.
  

Product development

• Design and develop new products and improve existing ones to meet customer requirements. Emphasis on specialty grades.
• Formulate and establish product design and performance objectives
• Responding to customer requirements, liaising with suppliers of raw materials, and resolving production problems.
• Devising methods for making products at the required scale and/or evaluating existing processes to identify areas for improvement.
• Suggesting alternative technical solutions to meet client requirements more efficiently
• Transferring new technologies across a range of product categories.
  

Key Competencies

HAVING A STRATEGIC OUTLOOK -Tactical application of business awareness

• Develops functional strategies based on organizational strategies
• Leverages knowledge/experience to overcome challenges and exploit opportunities
• Keeps track of details of significant moves of competitors
• Understands industry and market trends affecting the organization’s competitiveness
• Implements initiatives to drive down costs
  

CHALLENGING STATUS QUO AND INNOVATING - Fosters creativity in others

• Shares a wide range of ideas and perspectives which are new to the organization, borrowing from industry, if necessary
• Introduces to others new approaches to work
• Motivates others to develop innovative solutions, look for new ideas, etc.
• Nurtures creative ideas that will sell in the marketplace and result in a tangible gain for the company (save cost, increase revenue, etc.)
  

KEEPING CUSTOMER AT THE CORE OF EVERY ACTION - Motivates others to exhibit customer ownership

• Drives the function’s resources to meet customer commitments at all costs and delight the customer
• Works with the various teams to provide an integrated solution to meet the customer’s stated and underlying needs
• Work towards building long-term relationships with customers
• Acts as a trusted advisor to key customers by being closely involved in customers’ decision-making process
  

NURTURING YOUR TEAM -Participates actively and extensively in developing others

• Creates opportunities for others to enhance their skills and knowledge
• Encourages diversity of thoughts and ideas in the function
• Coaches’ high-potential subordinates to take up higher roles
• Inspires and empowers others to achieve goals and overcome difficulties
• Delegates decision-making authority to subordinates
  

BUILDING COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS - Builds and maintains networks

• Has a network of people from whom expertise and solutions can be sought
• Encourages knowledge sharing across functions
• Looks for opportunities for synergies within and between teams/functions
• Prioritizes activities that benefit the organization over functional gains
  

ENSURING UNCOMPROMISED QUALITY - Integrates quality with all activities

• Sets high-quality standards and develops indicators to monitor output quality
• Integrates and tracks quality parameters across all processes of the function
• Continually assesses the quality of output against standards/customer requirements; takes feedback from customers and redefines standards, if required
• Invests efforts and resources in improvement initiatives
  

BEING PROCESS ORIENTED - Adapts processes

• Applies defined processes to improve team efficiency
• Gathers and uses best practices demonstrated by others within the organization
• Deploys technology to ensure process efficiency
• Adapts processes to meet work requirements
  

MAKING THINGS HAPPEN - Provides leadership to enable and facilitate the achievement of results

• Takes responsibility for setting clear goals, gaining buy-in, and generating commitment and ownership to action
• Builds disciplines within the function to accomplish targets - quality, cost, and time
• Executes solutions rapidly and decisively when required
• Considers the impact of own decisions on the function/business
• Encourages decisiveness in others
  

The next steps

We have an exceptional team in place, and we are pleased to be able to appoint a further person to our growing business. We are aware that you may not ‘tick all the boxes’, but if you believe you can genuinely offer some valuable skills and experience to our business, please in the first instance then please contact our recruitment partner Airswift, and the account manager Felicia Brown, felicia.brown@airswift.com