Hi, I am Maarten Van Elsen.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maarten-vanelsen/

I am married to Leen. Together, we have 3 lovely teenagers.

I pursue happiness in my professional life & fulfilment outside of work. Hence, I value work-life balance and believe it is possible to achieve fantastic goals in both. It is amazing what a person can accomplish despite only having 24h a day (and I sleep longer than average).

• Career
• Leisure
• Volunteering
• Education
• Personality
• Projects

Career

Before becoming self-employed, I worked for large multinationals, mostly with of focus on continuous improvement and everything related.

I started my career at Procter & Gamble as a project manager for Hand Dish Wash (Fairy & Dreft brand) in CEEMEA. My responsibility was the installation of packaging lines. I was the most expensive traveller. I felt fortunate to work in Saudi Arabia, Egypt & Ukrain. About 1,5 year after my start, I was a co-trainer for reliability engineering and helped to train the hubs in Rakovnic (Czech Republic) and Cairo (Egypt).

Then, I moved to assignment to Pringles, again as project manager. I a most proud of the OCS Checkweigher we developed, removing the major bottleneck and allowing to capture data in a better way.

After being acquired by Kellogg’s, I moved into a continuous improvement role and have continued to work in that area until 2021 (for Terumo, Pfizer & Etex).

In 2021, I founded Ithaki CommV and started to work as a consultant & coach. I obtained my professional scrum master certificate which allows me to support organisations with Lean, Six Sigma and Agile practices and mindset. I have had several assignments in various industries under supervision of iLean.

Leisure

I have never experienced a runners high. I prefer adrenaline when doing sports.

A highlight was an arrangement I made for my father’s 70th anniversary. My brother did the video part.

More recently, I created a similar project for my mum’s 70th anniversary:

Volunteering

Doing something for society is very rewarding and contributes to happiness & life satisfaction

Harlekino vzw

For several years, I was a senior youth leader for Harlekino vzw, organising holidays for children with limited options. The focus was on giving them unforgettable holidays that would take them out of their daily routine.

Oikonde vzw

For 5 years, we we shared a house as foster parents for people with a disability for Oikonde vzw

Busta Move

I coordinated a project to create a new location for free-running in Mechelen.

https://www.hln.be/mechelen/freerunners-volgen-skaters-naar-douanegebouw-sport-is-extreem-populair~ade8132d/

I am coaching the organisation to define a way of working that works for all the volunteers, all the trainers & all the parents.

Vic’s IQ Robotics

At Scheppersinstituut Mechelen, I am supporting the student teams to deliver the greatest team work to build a robot to compete with other teams.

LinkedIn post

My Education

Personality

Projects

Here is a flavour of projects, demonstrating the wealthiness of possibilities.

Flanders Hydraulics (Berchem, BE) – Nov 22 – Current

Agile Team Coach (Freelance via iLean)

Improve reliability

• Cross-functional team (6 developers)
• Intent: become more reliable in serving various customers
• Key Challenges: Legacy systems

Approach & main achievements

• Creation of a Kanban Board
• Improvement of events (daily, planning, review & retrospective)

Barry Callebaut (Wieze, BE) – Apr 23 – Current

Agile Team Coach (Freelance via iLean)

Improve delivery of value

• Process development & improvement team (9 engineers)
• Intent: reduce lead time for innovation projects & improve autonomy of the team
• Key Challenges: hardware & software

Approach & main achievements

• Introduction of Rapid Learning Cycles
  • Install events: weekly, learning session, retrospective
• Definition of stage-gate funnel
  • Define Core hypothesis for all projects
  • Create processes for each stage
• Use visualisation to manage the strategy & work

RMDY (Kontich, BE) – Apr 22 – Jun 22

Agile Team Coach (Freelance via iLean)

Improve Flow

• Small Web team (2 designers & 2 developers) in a SME
• Intent: reduce lead time & improve autonomy of the team
• Key Challenges: collaboration across functions, sales strategy, inheritance

Approach & main achievements

• Transition from Scrum to Kanban
  • Clean up of backlog
  • Mapping & visualisation of the process
• Launch of a customer portal for ticketing & questions
• Creation of a modular manual based on a specific RMDY master theme
• Continuous improvement & simplification

One Life (Sint-Kathelijne-Waver, BE) – Aug 21 – Dec 21

Freelance contributor (part-time)

Launch e-health platform

• Start-up (3 founders & 5 freelancers)
• Intent: launch App used by employees to create self-reliance & connection.
• Key challenges: team dynamics, Project Mgmt, Delivering the USP

Approach & main achievements

• I have set-up Microsoft TEAMs for team collaboration (documents, To-Do’s & Discussions).
• I have created a multi-faceted taxonomy
• I am responsible for creating the Content Management processes

Technical environment & methodologies

• Microsoft SharePoint
• Self-management (cfr Sociocracy / Holacracy)

4D Lean (Sint-Niklaas, BE) – Jun 21 – Oct 21

Freelance contributor (part-time)

Reporting tool 4D Lean Scan

• Start-up
• Intent: Create a reporting tool that enables analysis of multiple scans within an organisation
• Key challenges: Delivering the USP

Approach & main achievements

• I acted as the product owner, gathering input from coaches, organisations & the founder.
• We delivered a 2-level reporting in which the coach would have access to all information and the organization would have access to information disclosed by the coach. This set-up was selected to protect anonymity of employees & to protect the intellectual property of the tool.
• I created a simple demo video intended for training purposes.

Technical environment & methodologies

• Scrum

Etex Building Performance (Tisselt, BE) – Sept 19 – Mar 21

CI & Training Mgr

On-the-job training

• Organisation with aging population & implicit knowledge
• Need for more robust onboarding program for new hires

Approach & main achievements

• Creation of a Skill matrix template (to be used in a department) in line with ISO-9001 requirements
• Creation of a simple work instruction template that serves as training, as checklist & as reference for projects / changes
• Set-up document management in SharePoint
• Link to new salary system (which was conceptually created by myself)

Technical environment & methodologies

• On-the-job training & Training Within Industry
• Microsoft Excel & SharePoint

Optimisation of production proces

• Issues with reliability, quality, speed & cost

Approach & main achievements

• Introduction of Autonomous Maintenance on Filter Press
• Improved documentation at the line & training for operators
• Optimisation of settings of production line
• Follow-up
• Significant improvement in speed, reduction in downtime & reduction in waste

Technical environment & methodologies

• Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) – Autonomous Maintenance (AM)
• SCADA WinCC

ISO-9001 recertification audit

• Regular surveillance and recertification audits as is normal in such production environment.
• Responsible beyond retirement age. Hard to find a good replacement
• Organisation had not fully adopted the new ISO 9001:2015 mindset

Approach & main achievements

• Successful recertification audit (2020) & successful surveillance audit (2021)
• Enjoyed retirement party & successful hand-over to new responsible
• Introduced some change in the governance of ISO 9001

Technical environment & methodologies

• ISO 9001

Increase engagement

• Group requirement to improve & monitor engagement

Approach & main achievements

• I created a program based on “2 second Lean” & “Visual Workplace” tailored to the environment
• I re-established the innovation process in which operators could raise an idea and seek support
• I organised a large 5S cleaning event
• I improved the process for salary administration to speed up the process and reduce the number of payment errors.

Technical environment & methodologies

• Kaizen, “2 second lean”, “Visual Workplace”
• 5S
• Process management

Product status

There were numerous issues with products that could not be found or incorrectly labelled, resulting in several complaints. The issue was both in the production facility as in the warehouse. One of the challenges was hand-overs between 4 departments.

Approach & main achievements

• I created a map of all “movements”, clarifying roles & responsibilities and specifying the single correct action in SAP & on the floor
• We implemented visual management & improved some waste

Technical environment & methodologies

• SAP
• Process Mapping

Pfizer (Puurs, BE) – Oct 18 – Aug 19

Project Lead Six Sigma & Human performance

LabWare LIMS

For harmonization reasons, the group had decided it would be beneficial to transition to LabWare LIMS. Because of obsolescence of some modules, the site in Puurs was selected to be the 2^nd site to transition. The global team had underestimated the complexity of such a large site (which was growing to 13 on-site labs as opposed to the 1 lab in the pilot site). The team for the Puurs’ Project had a headcount of ± 30. Unfortunately, when Covid-19 conquered the world, the program was paused (shortly after I left).

Approach & main achievements

• I created a structure for the team to improve their collaborate (including a glossary, an information model, a better way to capture requirements & needs)
• I engaged with LabWare experts to understand to intended set-up as the team had used some creative work-arounds that had reached their limits.
• I harmonized sample sizes by merging 3 data bases.
• I provided several visual concepts for communication with sponsors that were re-used several times.

Technical environment & methodologies

• LabWare LIMS
• BPM: Functional Analysis, Information model
• PowerPoint & Excel

HR Processes

“Could CI support us to improve our HR processes” – that was the request of the HR manager supported by 3 teams with ±15 HR professionals in total.

In general, there were too many quality issues and the team was very frustrated with the IT tools that were given by head offices. I acted as a coach & consultant for the HR Business partner in charge of this project.

Approach & main achievements

• We created a process for systematically improving process
  • Understand the mission & align on what success means
  • Map a process
  • Create a heat map using dots
  • Select a top-3 issues to focus on
  • Challenge the team look at what is in their area of control, rather than blaming the IT system. Coach the team on how to find (creative) solutions for their problems
• By focusing on what the team could achieve, we turned the complaining into engagement and a feeling of ownership

Technical environment & methodologies

• Process mapping using Pen, Paper, post-its (keeping it very simple & basic)

Terumo (Haasrode, BE) – Jan 18 – Oct 18

Operational Excellence Manager

Production of medical devices (syringes, infuses, …)

Statistics for production

An FDA audit was scheduled, requiring detailed preparation for all requirements. Because of my official certificate as a black belt Lean Six Sigma, I had the authority to write the SOP for statistical methods that covered any statistical technique used in the manufacturing environment, ranging from validation, quality control to verification of effectiveness.

Additionally, there was a certain tension, because the new requirements from the VP of quality systems would resulted in a significant increase in costs.

Approach & main achievements

• Research of best practices.
• SOP for statistical procedures was published. FDA consulted it shortly without having any remarks.
• Reduction of projected QC cost increase from +30% to +5% (through rigorous target setting & optimization of sampling)

Technical environment & methodologies

• Statistics

Reliability Improvement “wings”

The Surflo^TM winged infusion set is produced on a tailor made fully automated production line. Unfortunately, due to an issue with reliability, the equipment required regular intervention of operators.

Approach & main achievements

• Manual OEE tracking using Excel to get a top 3 of issues to work on
• In depth observations to pinpoint the failure mode
• In collaboration with operational team, work out solutions (mostly for improved alignment)

Technical environment & methodologies

• Reliability Engineering – “OEE”

Kellogg’s (Mechelen, BE) – Mar 14 – Dec 17

QA & Material, Process & Delivery Manager

“Orca” – Capacity Increase

Pringles has a wide range of products (different size & different amount of seasoning) produced on several production lines with all their unique capabilities. Historically, fixed speeds had been used.

Approach & main achievements

• Define the exact capabilities in terms of rate of each equipment for all types of products
• Calculate optimal rates per product
• IRR > 3000% (the project was basically an excel that was copied into the recipies of the equipment)

Technical environment & methodologies

• Excel
• Validation

“Copernicus” – Seasoning improvement

Seasoning is one of the main complaint reasons for Pringles (breakage is another important one). Complaints received included both too much and too little seasoning.

Approach & main achievements

• This project was part of a larger seasoning masterplan.
• We used a DMAIC approach. Unfortunately, it did not go as linear as one would wish. We had an Eureka moment when we correlated data of weight variations (from a completely different project) with seasoning. The issue turned out to be the set-up of the recycle system and a problem known as “segregation”.
• I drafted a new functional analysis & requirement for the recycle process which resulted in an adjustment of the principle and an optimization of the PID loop. The result was fully automated hence no impact for operators.
• The result surprised everyone: not only did we have a significant reduction in complaints, it also resulted in a cost saving > 500 k€ / year.
• As an anecdote: on the day of a validation run in which we were supposed to give support, the line run ahead of schedule and at 5AM the team was ready to start. Unfortunately, the support was scheduled as of 6AM. It did not stop the operational team to go ahead without support, which can only be the case if they truly support the project. It made their life easier.

Technical environment & methodologies

• DMAIC
• Automation & control loops

Can Tracing & Cusum feedback loop

Pringles are produced out of a sheet of dough. Unfortunately, such process inevitably has variation between the edge of the sheet and the middle. Although this was known, technology did only allow to work with averages. A first project was a research project in which we printed an invisible UV 2-code on each can and followed it along the production process. And although it was not ready to be used in full production, it gave a huge amount of data that would be used in other projects.

Approach & main achievements

• This project was part of a larger Net Weight Masterplan
• Run an innovation project and analyse data
• Create a model for weight variations
• Design, implement & validate CuSum algorithm
• When rolling out the project to other lines, we used a password because the algorithm had to be validated on each line separately. We discovered that some operators had figured out the password and were using the algorithm already. It indicates we created something that really helped them.

Technical environment & methodologies

• Innovation
• DMAIC
• Statistics

“DeO” – Process Control

Outage (not enough chips in a can) is another common complaint for Pringles. One of the challenges for Pringles is that it uses natural ingredients, potato flour as the most important one. The properties vary seasonally and from supplier to supplier.

Approach & main achievements

• Development of Gross Weight Model
• From a filling point of view, the driving parameter is not chip weight, rather chip density. This also made sense from a sensory point of view
• Adapted and validated process control based on density.
• Significant reduction of outage holds (indicating less variation).
• We could actually reduce the number of tests, as density was a calculated value based on other parameters and to do so we had to modify the test strategy (mainly timing) in which we found an opportunity to optimize the testing protocol as well.

Technical environment & methodologies

• DMAIC
• Quality Control / Process Control

Dry Change Over (DCO) Qualification Matrix

Switching between 2 seasonings can be done in 2 ways: with or without wash-down. Criteria include allergens, colour & taste. Obviously, a dry change-over is faster and cheaper. The following wasn’t a real project.

Approach & main achievements

• After multiple complaints of my team about the performance of an Excel file, I decided to have a look. It was the DCO qualification matrix. I decided I would rewrite it, eliminating the VBA macros embedded. The new file was 10x smaller and would not crash anymore.
• This triggered an increase in use of the matrix.
• We enhanced the file to enable more DCO qualifications. In the next 2 years, we would qualify > 130 extra DCO’s worth 1000 ton / year in volume. As a reference, the year before, we had qualified only 3.

Technical environment & methodologies

• Excel
• Food quality

Mr Popo

Approach & main achievements

• We requested innovation funds from the group to install a NIR camera system at the point of dosing. This allowed to detect changes in the flour properties.
• On result was that it enabled us to confirm that 2 batches from 2 different suppliers indeed resulted in different behaviour of the process, despite their specs being the same.

Technical environment & methodologies

• Innovation
• Process Control
• Analysis of Variance