Nikolett Aranyi

• Managing Change: Actively managing the difficult but necessary process of reducing headcount; ensuring we keep the right skills in the business while treating everyone with the fairness and respect.
• Health & Safety: Taking a real lead on Health & Safety and making sure our protocols actually work for the people on the floor to keep everyone safe.
• Team Morale: Focusing on the heart of the business: the people. Team morale is vital and creating an environment where everyone feels supported and heard.
• Workplace Standards: Leading a reorganization of the department, I believe a tidy space makes for a safer and much more efficient shift.
• Operational Efficiency: Keeping a close eye on our daily efficiency and finding ways to hit our targets.
• People Development: Prioritizing training and development for the team, helping people grow their skills and gain confidence in their roles.
• Process Improvement: Constantly looking for ways to improve the ordering process from production rooms, aiming to establish a new way of working that suits both the production teams and the Digital Fulfilment department. Also foscuing on executing a project that focus is reducing card board usage between departments.

Croatia Manufacturing Support | 2025

Finished Goods Warehouse

• Aligning with UK Standards: Led a full process review and reorganization of all warehouse areas to bring them in line with UK standards, ensuring global consistency across incoming stock, picking, and stock takes.
• Structural & Cultural Leadership: Helped establish a new structure from the ground up. By focusing on team engagement, through regular meetings, daily check-ins, and RAKs, I successfully built trust and shifted the local perception of the UK team for the better.

Body Sprays & Perfume Units

• New Unit Setup: Spearheaded the setup of the new unit and drove overall process improvements across the department.
• Operational Success: Established the core processes for stock organization, receiving goods, and picking. The success of these changes was proven by the immediate improvement in fulfilment.

Digital Fulfilment Department

• Department Launch: Helped launch the brand-new Digital Fulfilment area from scratch, providing the operational support needed to successfully navigate the first full season.

Overall Manufacturing Support

• Strategic Hiring: Supported the interview and selection process to build the management teams for several key units, including Dairy, Soaps & Massage, and Fresh.
• Site-Wide Planning: Provided production planning and operational support across all production rooms during my 6-months placement.
• German Market Expansion: Prior to the Croatia placement, I supported both Ballistics and Fresh during the Germany market take-over.
• Adaptability & Vision: This experience pushed me to deliver results in areas where I had no prior experience. It gave me a view of manufacturing from start to finish, helping me deeper understand and have the 'Big Picture' across the entire business.

• New Unit Setup: Set up and managed a brand-new manufacturing unit from scratch, focusing on finding the best ways to improve our efficiency and keep our product quality at the highest standard.
• Centralizing Production: Led the challenge of bringing all production room exclusive ranges under one roof. While it had its challenges, it offered a huge amount of learning for the entire team and streamlined how we handle these unique products.
• Expanding Expertise: Used this as an opportunity to extend my manufacturing experience, pivoting from bath bombs to all other ranges including Dairy, Soaps, Massage and Bubbles.

From Seasonal Temp to Department Manager: A 12-year journey of hands-on leadership.

• The Full Journey: I’ve spent the majority of my Lush career here. I started as a Christmas temp and worked my way through every single role, which gave me a deep respect for the hard work that happens on the floor.
• Presser & Packer: I took real pride in the craft, I even won "Presser of the Year" for hitting the highest numbers on Intergalactic.
• Team Leader: I mainly supported the Twilight shift and helped train new Managers-in-Training with Ballistics-specific knowledge. I was responsible for training new starters to make sure they hit our quality and quantity goals.
• The First Woman Compounder: I became the first woman compounder in Ballistics. I loved the challenge of the physicality of the job, also learning about materials and the basics of creating something out of all the beautiful ingredients.
• Room Buyer & Stock Support: I supported two Room Buyers, focusing on quality control of incoming materials and investigating system discrepancies. I supported with stock checks, department transfers and managing powder usage to keep things accurate.
• Production Planner: I was the first person to combine the planning for Compounding, Pressing, and Packing areas. I moved us toward smaller, more frequent runs, which helped reduce scrap and kept our finished goods as fresh as possible.
• Head of Production: My mix of stock control and planning experience helped me lead a team focused on smooth production across multiple locations. I’m proud to have trained several people who are now key players in UK Manufacturing.
• Manager-in-Training (MIT): Running a busy night shift was a huge learning curve. With no immediate support, I had to learn to think on my feet, managing staff and finsing solutions for any unforeseen event. It gave me the confidence I needed to step up to Department Manager.
• Department Manager: During my time as Co-Manager, I led a peak team of 450 staff and hit our target of 14 million bath bombs.
  Resilience through COVID-19: Leading through the pandemic was incredibly challenging, but we kept the department moving while keeping everyone safe.
  Culture & Talent: We worked hard to change the perception of Ballistics, creating a much more welcoming environment and improving staff retention. I’ve loved spotting and nurturing talent, many of the people I mentored have now become part of the wider UK Manufacturing Management teams.
  The Manager I am today: Ballistics taught me how to work under extreme pressure and made me the resilient, flexible leader I am today.