The Manufacturing Industry offers an exciting and varied career both in the UK & abroad providing a broad spectrum of opportunities for people to work in a technically advanced and innovative environment.
Businesses within the sector range from small family run manufacturing operations to large multi-national companies driving the countries growth & wealth.
The UK’s Manufacturing Industry is highly regarded worldwide for its innovation and manufacturing excellence and requires a high degree of skill & knowledge across all levels of their organisations.
A Lean Manufacturing Operative will be expected to carry out their work safely and meet the exacting quality standards demanded in a fast paced and efficient processing environment and develop into a multi-skilled operator through process ownership. A lean manufacturing operative can be required to carry out manufacturing activities on multiple products with different specifications consecutively e.g. automotive manufacturing – Multi models manufacturing results in the manufacturing of different models of vehicle with different specification variants within a high volume environment.
They will be required to prepare, control, contribute to and complete manufacturing operations, and follow manufacturing processes and standard operating procedures (SOPs) whilst adhering to specific safe working policies & procedures. A Lean Manufacturing Operative will be responsible for maintaining Health and Safety requirements at all times e.g. wearing correct Personal Protective Equipment (P.P.E.) correct use of equipment and tooling, safe stopping and resetting of machinery, maintain an organised work area e.g. 5s (Sifting, Sorting, Sweeping, Spick & Span and Sustain) ensuring the safe disposal of waste in line with environmental systems and regulatory requirements (ISO 14001). They will be required to contribute, develop and support improvement in the manufacturing operation using continuous improvement methods, kaizen tools, process visualisation using lean principles and problem solving tools and techniques. They will be responsible for carrying out quality checks throughout the manufacturing operations to ensure quality is built in and that any defects or concerns are highlighted and dealt with in line with relevant quality standards (ISO 9002).
They will work closely with stakeholders and will have clear reporting lines to ensure appropriate escalation e.g. teamleader, line leader, process leader, supervisor etc. should problems occur within the process.
Examples of the job titles from across the manufacturing sector that would be covered within this standard are: Team Member Production; Manufacturing Production Operative; Manufacturing Assembly Operative; Manufacturing Inspection/Quality Assurance Operative; Manufacturing Logistics Operative; Manufacturing Material Handling Operative; Manufacturing Process/Finishing Operative.
