Volvo Group Operations Graduate Program (Traineeship)

At Trucks Technology & Industrial Division in Ghent, we build around 200 heavy duty trucks per day. Guided by Continuous Improvement, the assembly plant provides a challenging working environment with our Customers’ Success as our number one priority. We are proud to deliver them high quality trucks, built with passion.
 
Next to our Truck Factory we also have the biggest warehouse for Volvo Group worldwide at our site in Ghent. Service Market Logistics is one of the well-respected entities at Volvo Group. At SML, it’s with great pride that we look upon our Ghent Distribution Center? It holds spare parts for multiple brands of the Volvo Group, for example Volvo Trucks, Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Busses, and the marine- and industrial engines. Being successful in the long run, that is our vision! We are proud to deliver, together for our customers, now and in the future. Therefore, next to storage we also offer multiple secondary activities, focusing on delivery precision, service, and efficiency.

We are offering 5 challenging graduate programs for an:
 

• Future Leader Production

As Future Leader, you are responsible for guiding and motivating your team to achieve the production goals together. You develop your employees into professionals who can work efficiently in a dynamic environment where change is the standard. Thanks to your personal approach, they receive the individual coaching they need to get the best out of themselves. 
You find the right balance between empathy, autonomy and hierarchy. You ensure that your team strictly follows the rules regarding safety, quality, ergonomics and the environment, and encourage them to both respect procedures and make suggestions for improvement. 

• Business Data & AI Analyst

You will support the business in leveraging data and AI to improve decision-making, efficiency, and innovation. You will ollect, analyze, and interpret complex datasets to identify trends, patterns, and actionable insights. You will need to translate business challenges into analytical use cases and design data-driven solutions. Collaboration with IT, operations, and business stakeholders is key to ensure data pipelines and models meet business requirements. You will develop and validate predictive models, dashboards, and reports to monitor business performance. You will support the implementation of AI-driven initiatives, such as process automation, demand forecasting, and customer analytics.

• Future Leader warehouse

From day one, you will hold a permanent position as a member of the local leadership team in our Distribution Center in Ghent. Your journey starts by working alongside different operations teams, to truly understand the day-to-day reality and our logistics flow.
By engaging in on-the-job rotations, you will gain valuable insight into domains such as continuous improvement, quality, digitalization, and logistics engineering. To support your development, you’ll receive leadership training and mentoring from experienced Volvo leaders, and participate in group sessions designed to strengthen both your personal and professional skills.
You will deep dive into critical areas of our business, while gaining a broader understanding of our end-to-end supply chain, aftermarket services, and remanufacturing operations. Throughout the program, you’ll contribute to our digital transformation, exploring and applying emerging technologies to help connect and automate processes across the organization. Think AI, data science, machine learning, circular systems, and virtual manufacturing—essential tools in building our fully electric and autonomous products of the future.

• Digital Innovation Analyst

Do you enjoy turning data into actionable insights and using analytics to improve planning and logistics performance? Are you passionate about working with diverse teams to identify opportunities and implement best practices? Would you like to contribute to projects that optimize supply chains and improve production planning and inventory management? Are you excited about driving digitalization and automation initiatives to make processes smarter and more efficient? Do you have a knack for creating clear reports and dashboards that help stakeholders make informed decisions?

• Engineer Digitalization

As a Digitalization Engineer, you are at the forefront of transforming how our factories think, operate, and evolve. Your mission is to accelerate the digital transformation of our industrial and engineering ecosystem by turning real-world manufacturing challenges into innovative, scalable digital solutions. You bridge engineering excellence with data, automation, and cutting-edge digital technologies to enhance efficiency, quality, safety, and sustainability across our truck manufacturing network. This is where engineering meets innovation. Where ideas become reality. And where you don’t just adapt to the future of manufacturing — you help create it.
 

• Can you think outside the box? Do you love to find your own way in processes? Do you like exploring things that are maybe new to the plant?
• You have strong communication skills and feel comfortable in working with a diverse cross-functional team.
• You have an analytical mindset: you are able to perform cost-effectiveness analysis and develop business cases.
• You are action-oriented and result-driven. You enjoy having several tasks in progress at the same time where you can act quickly, and you also participate in long-term projects.
• You are resilient and you challenge the status-quo. You are motivated by constantly developing yourself and your environment.

Required knowledge/experience

• A Bachelor's or Master's degree
• Maximum two years of previous full-time working experience, prior to or after graduation.
• In this truly global program, communication will be in English, hence you need to be fluent in both speaking and writing in English (and also Dutch)
• Knowledge of lean manufacturing
• Experience with data analytics is an advantage