Job Purpose
The Plant Manager is responsible for the overall management and performance of the manufacturing plant, ensuring safe, efficient, and cost-effective operations while achieving production, quality, service, and financial targets. The role leads cross-functional plant teams and drives operational excellence, continuous improvement, food safety, and manufacturing efficiency. The Plant Manager also leads the planning, execution, and commissioning of the new plant project, ensuring it is delivered on time, within budget, and to the required operational and food safety standards.
Key Responsibilities
Plant Operations
- Oversee end-to-end operations of the manufacturing plant, ensuring achievement of production, quality, cost, and delivery objectives.
- Develop and execute the plant’s operational strategy in alignment with the company’s business objectives.
- Ensure production plans and customer demand are met while maintaining optimum capacity utilization.
- Lead and manage cross-functional teams including Production, Quality, Maintenance, Engineering, Warehouse, Utilities, and HSE.
- Monitor key plant KPIs including OEE, yield, productivity, waste, downtime, conversion cost, labor efficiency, and capacity utilization.
- Drive initiatives to improve plant efficiency, productivity, cost optimization, and overall equipment effectiveness.
- Ensure effective utilization of raw materials, manpower, machinery, utilities, and other resources.
- Work closely with Supply Chain, Planning, Procurement, Commercial, and Finance teams to ensure smooth plant operations.
- Review production performance, identify operational gaps, and implement corrective and preventive actions.
New Plant Project
- Lead the new plant project from planning through execution, commissioning, and ramp-up, acting as the primary point of accountability for its delivery.
- Develop the project timeline, budget, and resource plan, and track progress against key milestones.
- Coordinate with engineering, contractors, equipment suppliers, and internal stakeholders to ensure the plant is designed, built, and equipped to meet production, quality, and food safety requirements.
- Oversee installation, testing, and commissioning of new equipment and utilities, ensuring readiness for production start-up.
- Manage project risks, resolve delays or technical issues, and escalate critical decisions to senior management as needed.
- Ensure the new plant is compliant with GMP, HACCP, food safety, health & safety, and environmental standards prior to go-live.
- Lead workforce planning, recruitment, and training for the new plant to ensure operational readiness at start-up.
- Report regularly on project status, budget utilization, and risks to senior management.
Quality, Food Safety & Continuous Improvement
- Ensure compliance with GMP, HACCP, food safety, quality, health & safety, and environmental standards.
- Establish and maintain high standards of hygiene, housekeeping, and food safety across the plant.
- Partner with Quality to ensure product quality, process compliance, and effective resolution of deviations and customer complaints.
- Lead root-cause analysis for major operational, quality, and production issues.
- Lead Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement initiatives across the plant.
- Drive reduction of production losses, material waste, energy consumption, and operational costs.
- Support new product development, product trials, line commissioning, and capacity expansion projects.
- Ensure plant readiness for internal, external, regulatory, and customer audits.
Maintenance & Assets
- Oversee preventive and corrective maintenance strategies to maximize equipment reliability and minimize unplanned downtime.
- Ensure production equipment, utilities, and facilities are maintained to required operational and food safety standards.
- Identify opportunities for CAPEX investments, automation, technology upgrades, and process improvements.
Financial & People Management
- Develop annual operating budgets and monitor plant expenses against approved budgets.
- Ensure compliance with all applicable legal, regulatory, environmental, and occupational health and safety requirements.
- Establish a strong performance-management culture and develop the capabilities of plant leadership and operational teams.
- Prepare and present regular plant performance reports and improvement plans to senior management.
Required Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Food Science, Dairy Science, Food Technology, or a related field.
- 12–15+ years of experience in Food/Dairy/FMCG Manufacturing, with at least 5 years in a Plant Manager or equivalent senior operations role.
- Strong hands-on experience managing a large-scale manufacturing plant.
- Experience leading a greenfield plant setup, plant expansion, or major capital project is highly preferred.
- Dairy manufacturing experience is highly preferred/mandatory, depending on the plant’s production requirements.
- Strong knowledge of dairy/food processing, filling, packaging, cold-chain requirements, and manufacturing operations.
- Excellent knowledge of GMP, HACCP, Food Safety Management Systems, and Quality Standards.
- Strong experience managing cross-functional manufacturing teams.
- Proven track record in cost reduction, productivity improvement, OEE improvement, waste reduction, and operational excellence.
- Strong understanding of Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, TPM, and root-cause analysis.
- Experience managing CAPEX, budgets, utilities, maintenance, and plant projects.
- Strong leadership, strategic thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
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