Onaopemipo (Ope) Taiwo

Managing the Facilities Services procurement portfolio across Lafarge Cement’s Nigerian operations. My category scope covers canteen services, warehouse operations, facilities maintenance, medical services, security operations, real estate, transport services, industrial gases, environmental assessments and laboratory maintenance. I am responsible for category strategy development, cost-saving initiatives, supplier development and appraisal, continuous improvement of supply efficiency, quality, and processes. I own performance tracking through defined KPIs and maintain full accountability for delivering targeted financial and operational outcomes across my category.

Led the end-to-end procurement-to-pay cycle for engineering spares (local and international), site services, and capital projects across all manufacturing sites in Nigeria. Managed both operational and capital expenditures, established strategic contracts in collaboration with finance, commercial, and legal teams, and partnered with the imports team to secure competitive freight and duty costs. • Managed an annual ₦23Billon MRO & Site Services spend across 9 plants, driving cost savings and ensuring uninterrupted supply for 230Million annual production cases through strategic sourcing and vendor negotiations. • Built and managed a robust supplier base, enforcing SLAs/KPIs and optimizing contracts to improve vendor performance, compliance, and supply reliability. • Led and coached a 3-member procurement team, driving nationwide performance improvements through structured goal-setting, reviews, and capability development.

• Successfully implemented operational excellence foundational practices in Tin-Can B factory, leading to a project phase change from Stability (Phase 1) to Reliability (Phase 2) within 14 months. • Implemented Steps 1 & 2 activities for AM, PM & FI Pillar in Tin-Can A factory while holding the gains of the Stability Phase. • Set up a Mission Control room to facilitate regular Performance Management Reviews. • Launched a plant-wide 5S and visual management initiative as a step towards creating a visual and digital factory. • Achieved a 100% involvement of the Plant Leadership Team in the Leadership at Frontline initiative. • Established multiple communication channels to facilitate knowledge-sharing sessions and promote inclusion. • Enhanced C-suite engagements and interests by regularly communicating project timelines, obstacles, and next steps.

Managed the implementation of OPEX 2.OX as one of the four key enablers to achieving Olam's strategic vision for the year 2040. 1. Performance Management aimed at aligning, engaging, and delivering business results by: • Eliminating root causes for sustainable results through problem solving (RCA). • Managing performance at all levels through Shift Handovers, Daily, Weekly and Monthly Operational Reviews. • Standard Routines. • Cascading measures and objectives to all levels (Metrics that Matter). • Cascading business priorities to operators and frontline team through Operational Master Plan (OMP). • Periodic Trainings, Coaching and Assessment of employees. • Leadership at frontline aimed at inspiring employee engagement and bridging hierarchical gaps between C-suite executives and frontline teams. 2. Advanced tools and Practices aimed at identifying wastes and improvement opportunities and converting the opportunities to value through structured methodologies such as: • Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to determine the current state and design a future state. • Focused Improvement for value delivery (from VSM) using tools like; A3, SMED, Standard Work, Mizusumashi, Line Design & Six Sigma to drive improvement projects. 3. Compliance aimed at removing deviations from standards through: • Adherence to the 6 imperatives for Health, Safety and Environment. • Food Safety Management System audits and certifications (ISO, GMP, FSSC). • Olam group audit. ACHIEVEMENTS • Successfully implemented operational excellence foundational practices in Port Harcourt factory (a pilot plant), leading to a project phase change from Stability (Phase 1) to Reliability (Phase 2) in record time. • Successfully implemented Steps 1 & 2 activities of AM, PM & FI Pillars while holding the gains of the Stability Phase. • Earned recognition from the Olam Group as one of the top three plants in the West African region for the exemplary implementation of Best Practices during periodic assessments.

Led cross-functional teams overseeing engineering spare parts, packaging materials, additives, Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) operations, and local procurement. • Ensured continuous plant operation by proper stock-level monitoring (MRP) for spares, additives, and packaging materials – reduced material stock out from 10% to 2% within 6 months. • Reduced monthly engineering spare verification from 7 days to 3 days, packaging materials and additives from 5 hours to 1 hour, lead time between engineering spare request and issuance from 5 mins to 45 secs, and material variance to 0% for Classes A & B inventory by implementing a barcoding solution, thus improving overall facility operations and minimum time to repair (MTTR). • Worked with the Accounts department to reduce vendor payment time from 1 month to 7 days and late material delivery from 40% to 15% by removing bottlenecks; ensured Purchase Orders issuance to vendors pre-delivery of material and goods receipt (GR) were done within 2 days. • Created an autonomous team upon identifying some team members’ skill gaps and leading trainings in the use of SAP and Microsoft Office for procurement and reporting activities. • Key team member in the implementation of Planned Maintenance (PM) Module on SAP. • Implemented Barcode mobility solution for Engineering Spares, Work Order and Asset Management. • Performed monthly analysis for Maintenance spends costs. • Implemented and maintained 5S in material storage areas, reducing retrieval time and optimizing warehouse space utilization by 30%. • Performed periodic FSN (Fast-Slow-Non-Moving) analysis on inventory to support informed business decisions. • Conducted monthly safety audits of material storage areas to identify risks and develop mitigation plans.

Completed rotations across various sections of the value chain as part of the 12-month program requirements. • Managed daily process capability computation and analysis – Pasta, Flour and Bran production lines – to improve accuracy and reduce customer complaints about underweight products. • Reduced frequent failure of generators after part replacement by subjecting diesel supply to integrity tests. • Reduced laminate wastage from 5% to 2.5% – worth $50,000 annual savings – and product rework from 4% to 1% by capturing and analyzing data via Pareto, Fishbone, Why-Why and Cause/Effect diagrams, establishing and implementing corrective actions, and defining control measures. • Computed and analyzed monthly performance parameters, including overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), Production/Man-HR, MTTR and mean time between failures (MTBF) for various departments. • Worked with Lean and Six Sigma teams to reduce early breakdown from 4% to 1% by mapping all equipment with unique codes and spares with material codes and creating a maintenance job plan. • Collaborated with the production team to stabilize operations at a 600MTPD wheat milling facility.

Used R language to analyze power flow on select IEEE Standard Power Systems and the Nigerian 31-bus, 330kV Grid – contingency simulation and analysis, simulation of the use of tap changing transformers and shunt compensators to control voltage profiles at buses. Analyzed transient stability of single and multi-machines: power-angle relationship, swing equation, and equal area criterion

Worked with a team of engineers on the Lafarge Plant 1 upgrade project on the IBM Maximo 7.5 Asset Management Software to keep supply costs kept within budget, reduce cost associated with Planned Maintenance activities, and drive in taking informed decisions as regards procurement activities leading to better plan variable cost control. Actively contributed to data preparation of Bill of Materials (BOM); identified missing Inspection Job Plans (IJP), Execution Job Plans (EJP); and uploaded on IBM Maximo 7.5 Asset Management Software. Maintained electrical installations, including di-electric insulation tests on transformer oils, worn-out carbon brush replacement, energy isolation and de-isolation of equipment before and after maintenance; and general maintenance of drives, transformers, stackers and reclaimers, ID Fan Motors, VRM Fan Motors and Raw Mill Fans

▪ Served as the liaison between the course instructor and a class of 120 fourth year engineering students (2013/2014 session). ▪ Engaged students on weekly course recitals and problem solving sessions. ▪ Mentored and graded students on course work, providing insights and techniques to understanding identified areas of difficulty. ▪ Ensured that attendances were documented and assignments were turned-in when due. ▪ Supported the course instructor in ensuring that the course contents were understood by the students and ensured synchrony between the recitations and the course coordinator’s lectures.