Head of Warehousing at Diageo

Reports To: Customer Service & Logistics Director Africa

Contract type: full time, permanent

About us:

Diageo is a global leader company in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of over 200 brands enjoyed in more than 180 countries.  We are home to over 30,000 talented people all working together to make Diageo one of the best and most respected consumer product companies. Walk into any Diageo distillery, brewery or office anywhere in the world and you’ll meet teams of people who are very good at what they do and who enjoy doing it.

About the function:

To deliver the ambition of becoming the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products company in the world, Diageo embarked on an initiative aimed at improving its processes, including how it manages its logistics operations. Diageo’s end-game vision is for control tower visibility and strategic decisions to be made centrally via a Centre of Excellence (COE) whilst the transactional activity will be carried out by a managed service provider all using a single leading technology platform across Africa. This is aimed at; Building and sustaining Standardization in MOVE processes, establish control of Operations through detailed codification, delivering stretch improvement targets for the markets, Disciplined application of the best in class Technology and Processes to exploit the full potential of the region, Creating a central talent pool of expert staff at an optimised cost for the diverse African market to tap skills, create growth opportunities and minimise risks associated with employee turnover and finally, create a competitive edge over companies with the best in class Supply chain operations (mostly CPGs) COE’s/Control towers for efficiency and cost effectiveness. To deliver cost effective and customer focused warehousing operations in all Diageo markets in Africa.

Financial

No budget responsibilities directly but support delivery of overall financial performance through effective & efficient system.

Market/Role  Complexity

The Diageo market in Africa contributes 13% of Diageo’s NSV and boosts the leading growth statistics in the world. There are 8 different companies stretched on the continent with Nigeria and South Africa as the biggest. Over 1,400 SKus managed in 38 warehouses and over 79 transporters. Apart from SA, most transport and warehousing activities are manual and for the automation, and not interfaced with SAP. Tracking tools for trucks are owned and operated by 3PL and not Diageo, Transport rates are pre-negotiated, and changes attract high penalties.

About the role:

This role is to manage warehousing operations across Africa providing a service of executing operations, partnering with warehouse providers and adding value to each market in the region. The outcomes of this CoE are measured in: Cost Efficiency, Service and Collaborative and value creating relationships. He/she will also need to engage and partner with key Diageo Supply Partners (3PL’s, GDBS, resourcing partners etc.) as well as other external suppliers

• Deliver warehousing strategies and operations that are fit for purpose to support market requirements.
• Manage warehousing spend to be within budget and delivering operational savings.
• Lead and motivate the team to deliver the CoE requirements including influencing those non direct reports.
• Provide expert warehousing input understanding African dynamics to ensure credibility of CoE and optimisation initiatives.
• Develop a synergistic relationship with PLAN and SOURCE CoE and MAKE in market to ensure delivery of overall supply excellence

About you:

• Minimum 5 years’ experience as a warehouse manager in a manufacturing company managing multiple sites including bonds in different countries.
• Minimum 2 years’ experience of warehouse management including external 3PL warehouses in Africa.
• Demonstrable ability to engage and align stakeholders behind plans and win support for implementing change within the warehouse environment.
• BSc or MSc in a supply chain related subject.
• Ability to lead in environments where influence is more important than formal authority.
• Demonstrable knowledge of end to end supply chain and Customer collaboration.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written combined with the ability to engage effectively at all levels in the organisation.
• An understanding of how leading technology can enable effective logistics operations.
• Excellent knowledge of WMS systems and experience of implementation.
• Demonstrable ability to drive savings through warehouse optimisation.
• Numerate and ability to apply KPI’s to drive performance management at all levels in the warehouse.