AddressDate: Mar 20, 2024
Location: Bangalore, IN
Company: AkzoNobel
We supply the sustainable and innovative paints and coatings that our customers, communities – and the environment – are increasingly relying on. Our world class portfolio of brands – including Dulux, International, Sikkens and Interpon – is trusted by customers around the globe. We’re active in more than 150 countries and have set our sights on becoming the global industry leader. It’s what you’d expect from a pioneering paints company that’s committed to science-based targets and is taking genuine action to address globally relevant challenges and protect future generations.
For more information please visit www.akzonobel.com.
© 2023 Akzo Nobel N.V. All rights reserved.
1. Purpose/Key Objectives of the Job
- Works closely together with business stakeholders, regional color coordinators, project leaders, other global contacts including multiple countries in all the regions USA ,EMEA & Asia Pacific market of Aerospace.These include the colors to be developed for key global aerospace oem majors like Boeing & Airbus.
- Understand/evaluate/align and agree on the customer requirement from the regions, key users and across functional units to deliver color formulas as per the business requirements.
- Responsible for operation planning, coordination, developing, administrating and approving formula development and other color activities.
- Is the leading contact in the development of high priority Aerospace color LWRs of all regions and Aerospace OEMs using the various color applications like CFDT, other colorimetric components and color engines enabling first time right colors formulas accessible to the global BU customers and processes.
- Key role in the completion & delivery of Global Toner change project formulations of aerospace as per the agreed duedates with the business
- Strategize, plan & ensure colors formula development as per Global formula development plan made together with market & as per the business requirements.
- Inspire the team to deliver quality color solutions as per the priorities of color work requests received from customers around the globe.
- Active participation in global color innovation projects for A&SC and giving inputs on the requirement and feedbacks.
- Collaborate with other departments to ensure alignment between customer needs and R&D output.
- Understand color strategy and have customer contact to know process, technology and challenges for new colors.
- Attracting talent, leading, coaching, appraising and developing team members.
- Drive excellence in efficiency & continuous improvement of day-to-day color activities.
- Demonstrating and driving safety leadership.
- Delivering of color formulae first time right in various product lines as per A&SC business need which seeks the knowledge of pigments, paint and the latest introductions of various pigments into the market.
- To make sure all the process and the documentation are Quality compliant.
2. Key responsibilities
Leading a team of ~6-10 FTEs, color matchers and ensuring execution and delivery of agreed plans, using multiple areas of expertise
Deliver FD plan and support, coach and oversee the progress of the color matchers in the team, with hands-on support to where required. Further enrich (on a continuous basis) and co-create further with colormatchers to define success (a joint plan) with identified objectives, stakeholders, milestones, risks and metrics to achieve the team and business goals.
Prioritize activities and arrange for appropriate level of staffing.
Continuous improvement of department knowledge and efficiency.
Strengthens and develops the capabilities of the team (members).
Partner within R&D and other departments (like supply chain and/or marketing)
Project leader and team member for color related projects.
Lead R&D contact for customer and attends customer meeting and develops overview and technology presentations.
Driving engagement and managing talent development and succession planning.
Analyze, standardize and optimize color processes and data.
Manage Production support, including formulation engineering process optimization, scale up process, batch support.
Manage proposing and implementation of new pigments and components if necessary to match color.
Ensure job profiles are in place, sets objectives for team members, review development and provides clear, open and constructive feedback on performance combined with the appropriate actions.
Follow and coordinate that 5’s, BBS, safety, are followed by all team members.
Ensuring end to end project management, incorporating relevant experiments, methodology and tools, intellectual property, knowledge development and customer needs, using AkzoNobel project management standards.
Formulation/technology alignment within R&D team to ensure that information is always up-to-date.
Manage material evaluation to support VE and other cost efficiency programs.
Ensure that color members use/have correct tools (e.g. software, material, hardware)
Formula Development of Aerospace
- To deliver color formulae for the global Aerospace business in terms of agreed quantity
- Ensures formula development meeting technical specifications
- Monitors department process, availabilities, due dates, etc. via key performance indicators (KPI’s).
- Investigates factors influencing the quality and efficiency of the formula development process.
- Determines and gives pigment/toner advice based on the influx and screening/developing of not feasible colors and/or total re-spray colors.
- Ensure operational excellence of all instruments & equipments.
- Provides helpdesk function (questions/ answers) for countries and other regions
- Plans, arranges and ensures enough capacity and material (paint, panels, etc.) to enable efficient formula development according to targets and due dates, within agreed budgets.
Global MRO/Rush & OEM colors of Europe , US & Asia Pacific regions
- To provide the color formulae of all the color LWRs released in these regions
- Ensures to maintain the Target KPIs of Leadtime and Throughput time of Maintenance colors as per the agreement with Product Management.
- Publishing the reports with the trend analysis of the requests and colors introduced to market.
- Regular interactions to review the progress with the stake holders and the marketing team.
- Periodically visit customers in EMEA, Americas & AP regions and implement the learnings in the formula development process.
Quality Compliant
- To ensure that the good quality colors are approved along with delivering the complete data to the customers
- To achieve the KPI of quality checks as agreed.
- The process and the records are maintained as per the Quality requirement of ISO and AS standards.
- Responsible for implementation of Quality Management systems in CDC
Global Innovation Projects
- Lead color A&SC maintenance, improvement and new development projects. Acquire and maintain knowledge with respect to color matching, pigments, paint products and tools in order to support and execute improvements and maintenance projects.
- Suggests, implements and evaluates improvements for the formula development process and tools (equipment, software and data) used.
- Gives project support to the A&SC and Business Area Performance Coatings color group.
Data Representation/ Reports:
- Organize and present data in graphical and tabular formats and publish reports about the activities to the global stakeholders
- Initiate statistical studies for process and quality improvements.
HSE, 5S and BBS
- Execute, supervise & ensures safe environment by leading various HSE&S projects in color development center & implementing safe work practices in line with Corporate HSE&S directives & guidelines in order to build work culture driven by safety consciousness
- Maintain the area 5S complaint
- Ensure regular quality updation of BBS observations and to maintain CFR.
3. Level of Autonomy
- Execution of activities within the year plan framework.
- Team coordination and management.
- Choose correct tools for color development process in terms of technology.
- Create & optimize color development process in team.
- Request for new pigments to the color expert team
- Local day-to-day color development process from cradle-to-grave.
- Expense approval for team members.
- Project leader for color related projects.
4. Examples
- Pressure from the all requestors over the multiple stakeholders of various segments of the business Aero, Product Management ,Color Coordinators , Aero OEM Majors , MROsetc. Color development must be solved to their satisfaction within the given time limit. The pressure of getting more colors done in less time is always there. Rapidly changing priorities, workload and the capacity challenges in the color development teams
- Color info must be correct in all used databases by internal and external customers & production. When it’s not right customers get the wrong color and AkzoNobel will get complaints (costing a lot of money).
5. Job Requirements
- B. E., B. Tech (Chemical) or M. Sc. (Chemistry)
- Hands on experience with minimum 13 -15 years or more of experience in color domain
- Minimum 5 years experience of managing people or leading teams / activities
- Certification: Color matcher A or E (= expert)
- Strong communication skills in English
- Expert leave knowledge of coatings chemistry/polymers/reaction mechanism
- In-depth knowledge of the VR/CV color process
- Ability to work in an international/multi-cultural environment
- Knowledge of colorimetry, paint products and statistical methods
- Adhering to professionalism & organization specific code of business conduct
- Hands on experience in various paints & coatings & product lines
- Work Break down structure (WBS) with time management
- Project Management with business orientation
- Pro-active, pragmatic hands on mentality, positive mentality with a strong drive for ownership and responsibility.
- Ability to work collaboratively and flexible as part of a team and independently when required
- People Management – Right person for the right project , coaching , mentoring and leading team members
- Expectation Management – Responding to business requirements by aligning team aspiration
- Results oriented with excellent drive & commitment to accomplish
- Excellent in Multi-tasking & flexi-orientation & ability to work under pressure
- Built Straight forward & openness culture & built team synergy and enable quick decision making capability in team
- An eye for detail & problem solving & root cause analysis approach
- Creative / Innovative thinking through ‘out of box’ thinking approach
- Cause-effect & hypothesis thinking approach
- Excellent Analytical skills, should display good Process orientation and Customer orientation in addressing problems/Issues.
- Team work – gel well with people in terms of contributing & generating new ideas & understanding the other’s perspectives
At AkzoNobel we are highly committed to ensuring an inclusive and respectful workplace where all employees can be their best self. We strive to embrace diversity in a context of tolerance. Our talent acquisition process plays an integral part in this journey, as setting the foundations for a diverse environment. For this reason we train and educate on the implications of our Unconscious Bias in order for our TA and hiring managers to be mindful of them and take corrective actions when applicable. In our organization, all qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age or disability.
