LEAN Partner

Compass Executives supported global Pharmaceutical household name, Novo Nordisk, secure a LEAN Partner as part of a business critical hire into one of their Danish factories in order to reintroduce LEAN methods of working which would subsequently be rolled-out across other sites.

Novo Nordisk employees more than 47,000 employees across 168 offices around the world. Their purpose is to drive change to defeat
diabetes and other serious chronic diseases such as obesity, and rare blood and rare endocrine diseases.

Reason and Purpose

Following several failed attempts at recruiting this critical position via internal methods, as well as outsourcing the role to a local search partner, the Compass Executives team were approached to conduct a full search process to find a suitably qualified LEAN Partner to
implement LEAN practices at the lighthouse site. In recent years the practices had been neglected, hence the need to recruit a specialist to ensure quality standards were reintroduced.

Search Process / Methodology

Compass Executives undertook a comprehensive market-mapping activity which saw a wide-range of companies identified within comparable industries who implement and rely on continuous improvement drive, taught through LEAN and Six-Sigma methodologies.
These sectors included Pharmaceuticals, Logistics & Distribution, FMCG & Food Production, and Cosmetics. Owing to the highly specialist and niche skillset required to succeed in the role, 108 candidates were identified, 54% were assessed to have met the requirement for the search and to be of a suitable scale, and importantly, had not previously worked for Novo Nordisk.

Outcome

The robust and concise process meant that from taking the brief, through to the successful candidate being offered, was 8 weeks, as had been outlined in the agreed process timeline with the client. The full mandate included a briefing with Novo Nordisk, target list agreement as compiled by Compass Executives, meticulous market-mapping, weekly progress reviews, longlisting, screening, shortlisting presentation, and client interviews. The successfully placed candidate was also managed through a relocation process along with their family – with all parties concerned very happy with the successful outcome.