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Jan, tell us about yourself! What is your role in McKinsey and what are you mainly working on?
I love to help our clients get more value from designing and building big stuff. It allows me to get my daily dose of engineering while bringing our business understanding and value focus to the client's project teams. My role in McKinsey is partner in our Capital Productivity & Infrastructure practice and in this capacity I help clients on topics ranging from capital portfolio management, optimizing individual project designs to leaning project construction. I spend more days wearing a hard hat, fewer days wearing a suit.
For those interested in the Operations Excellence Program (OEP) in Amsterdam, can you describe it?
The Operations Excellence Program (OEP) is our early tenure program for operational transformation expertise. In this two-year training program, we develop our junior consultants to become specialists with an emphasis on operational topics in one of our service lines: manufacturing, product development, purchasing & supply management, supply chain management, service operations, and capital productivity. Unique in the consulting industry, the OEP imparts comprehensive knowledge about lean operations—both in theory and practice. Throughout the program, the consultants work closely with clients at all levels of seniority in many different industries. Over the past ten years, this program grown and we are extremely excited to have it now in the Netherlands.
What does it mean being a consultant in the Operations Excellence Program?
During your time in Operations Excellence Program you will work on client engagements, like any other McKinsey consultant, and develop core consulting skills. You will play an active role in problem solving for clients: identifying issues, forming hypotheses, designing and conducting analyses, synthesizing conclusions into recommendations, and helping to implement change. In addition, you will gain operations and change management/transformation skills, primarily through on-the–job coaching as you work alongside other consultants, complemented by the structured capability building program. Along with other members, you will dedicate considerable time to functional training and knowledge development under the leadership of our operations experts.
Who typically joins the Operations Excellence Program?
If you are looking to apply your skills, experience, and passion to real problems in a challenging and highly varied environment, consulting might be the right step for you. We are looking for Dutch–speaking candidates who are passionate about operational excellence, who have initial professional experience in operations (capital productivity, manufacturing, product development, purchasing, service operations, or supply chain management) and who demonstrate outstanding analytical and conceptual skills, initiative, and creativity. An excellent university degree with a technical or business specialization rounds off our ideal candidate.
What tip/advice would you give to junior professionals considering joining the Operations Excellence Program?
For those considering joining the OEP I would have a few suggestions. First, get more information on our website. Second, have informal chats with one of our recruiters and former participants by joining one of our events like going 4.0-ward. When you hear what others have learned from the program, you’ll know if it’s right for you.
About Jan
My role in McKinsey is partner in our Capital Productivity & Infrastructure practice and in this capacity I help clients on topics ranging from capital portfolio management, optimizing individual project designs to leaning project construction. More days wearing a hard hat, fewer days wearing a suit...Whenever I do not have to travel for work, I travel the world for fun.