Sam Cooke
Loughborough
Summary
Results-oriented Operations Team Leader with a focus on safety and efficiency in production environments. Led a team of 31 through coaching and mentoring, driving performance improvement and skill development. Supported the integration of innovative operational methodologies to boost productivity and streamline processes.
Overview
4
4
years of professional experience
Work History
Operations Team Leader
PepsiCo
09.2025 - Current
- Facilitate effective line balancing, material flow, and short-term material planning to minimize risk and maximize uptime.
- Engage team to drive continuous performance improvements across safety, quality, delivery, and cost metrics within area of responsibility.
- Since joining adherence to safety has gone up by 65% in KPIs such as near miss reporting; as well as this my rank best for quality metrics such as complaints & product holds.
- Lead a team of 30+ employees in a high-volume manufacturing environment, successfully producing over 35 tonnes of product with a volume fill average of 99% while maintaining strict safety, quality, and efficiency standards.
- I have seen a reduction in controllable waste from 2.09% to 1.83% since taking over the team, as well as driving a combined 50kg per shift reduction in waste across end of line waste and bag maker waste.
- Utilise Lean tools and techniques including SIC, QCDM, RCA & SAP to analyse data and drive data-informed decisions.
- I have utilised key lean tools such as line balancing to reduce line waste across all shifts reducing waste KPIs from 2.1 down to 1.9%.
- As well as this I also created a new standard for SIC meetings to create clear priorities for the next 4 hours which has seen great success in building information for cross shift alignment.
- Conduct regular 1-2-1s and performance/development conversations with team members, ensuring alignment with team goals and individual growth plans.
- Within my team I have held 14 development conversations. 1 operator been AIB food safety trained, 5 operators have joined the site safety team, 1 has been trained to be a shift allergen champ, 2 have become shift trainers for PepsiCos new quality system and 3 have been progressed into step up roles in others absence.
- Covering more than one line ensuring both teams are driven to maximise performance.
- Remain agile to respond to issues in the best way to maintain quality, safety & efficiency.
- To coach & encourage the team to adhere to site GMP standards by creating innovate ways to increase knowledge & attitude towards it.
- I have seen a consistent upwards trend in GMP compliance within my team through coaching and mentoring about the importance to gain buy in from operators.
- Completion of 2 x LSS Yellow belt projects saving a combined £60,000.
- 1 LSS project looked at effective line balancing and I self-taught myself excel coding to create a live line balancing document.
- Another look at bag maker waste where I created clear Poka Yoke to help create new IPS standards.
- 1 x A3 project reducing complaints per million by 15%. This project consisted of creating new IPS standards as well as QSOPs to clean and maintain conveyors.
Ecommerce Operations Associate
Asda
09.2024 - 01.2025
- Ensuring Ecommerce deliveries are completed in time to meet consumer demand & expectations.
- Balancing requirements & responsibilities of when to deliver fresh products versus ambient products to maintain quality levels.
- Maintaining in-store quality customer service.
- Adapted quickly to changing priorities and supported other areas of the store when needed, including stock replenishment and customer service at the shop floor.
Assistant treasurer
Charnwood Choir
08.2024 - 09.2024
- Completing half-year financial reporting (P&L)
- Benchmarking versus other entities to identify opportunities & threats
- Data analytics to spot spending patterns
Commercial Change Placement
PepsiCo
06.2023 - 07.2024
- Project Manager for product changes such as Snack-a-Jack paper multipack helping save 65 tonnes of CO2 each year, Case move from 15 to 18 case helping increase efficiency by 0.5% and saving 13 tonnes of CO2 a year & recipe changes to multiple SKUs to comply with non-HFSS.
- This involved co-operation with trainers, quality, EHS, operations & finance to ensure the new SKUs were seamlessly transitioned into the supply chain.
- Ensuring PepsiCo SC leaders were kept up to date regarding factory capabilities to make changes in response to government legislation.
- Leading 2 production teams for PepsiCos new packaging innovation operations (Snack-a-Jacks Multipack).
- Multi-sourcing material strategies to reduce supply risk as Pepsico moved into paper multipacks.
- Capital project such as introducing new technology to help with stock counts or identify problems in fast-moving machinery.
- Stock counts have now seen a true efficiency uplift by 2% due to the removal of 2 days of non running for stock counts; this project meant they could do stock counts on the run.
- App designer for increased automation & operational ease (Start-up Check sheets, Debris Mapping etc)
- Co-man operations project assistant (In-housing to improve sustainable impact & reduce COGS for Quaker Oats pots).
- Kaizen Yellow belt certification (Waste removal Project – Site wide).
- Ensuring obsolescence of raw materials was kept to a minimum to reduce costs & waste. E.g. running down all snack a jacks plastic film before moving onto paper multipacks.
Customer Assistant
Tesco
06.2022 - 01.2023
- Assisted customers with inquiries and resolved issues effectively.
- Stocked shelves to ensure availability of products for customers.
- Supported new staff in learning processes and best practices.
Education
BA (Hons) Business Management - Operations in Management, Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Commercial Supply Chain
01-2025
A-Levels - Business, Psychology, Physical Education
Ashby Grammar School
01-2021
GCSE’s - Business, PE, Maths, Science x 2, English Language, English Literature, French, Resistant Materials
Ashby Grammar School
01-2019
Skills
- Operational management
- Lean manufacturing
- Quality assurance
- Data analysis
- Forecasting
- Strategic execution
- People Management
- Employee engagement
- Coaching and mentoring
- Motivational leadership
- Written and verbal communication
- Communication skills
Accomplishments
- Kaizen Leader yellow belt certification.
- Snack-A-Jacks paper removing 65 tonnes of CO2 each year & 13 tonnes of CO2 each year from case size increases.
- Captaining rugby & football teams to various trophies at different age ranges.
- AIB Food Safety Trained.
Profiles
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-cooke-3654022b1
Personal Information
Hobbies: Sports have played a vital role throughout my life, having played both football & rugby simultaneously at Leicester Tigers & Derby County., I am now an avid runner & have completed my first half marathon with aspirations to take part in the London Marathon., Aside from running I have also gained a passion for cooking & baking during my spare time.
Timeline
Operations Team Leader
PepsiCo
09.2025 - Current
Ecommerce Operations Associate
Asda
09.2024 - 01.2025
Assistant treasurer
Charnwood Choir
08.2024 - 09.2024
Commercial Change Placement
PepsiCo
06.2023 - 07.2024
Customer Assistant
Tesco
06.2022 - 01.2023
BA (Hons) Business Management - Operations in Management, Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Commercial Supply Chain
A-Levels - Business, Psychology, Physical Education
Ashby Grammar School
GCSE’s - Business, PE, Maths, Science x 2, English Language, English Literature, French, Resistant Materials
Ashby Grammar School