Factory Manager - Centurion at RCL Foods

Job Description    
We are seeking an experienced Factory Manager to oversee operations across our three plants on the Centurion site: Dessert Plant, Ambient Plant, and Long-Life Plant. This role involves managing site operations, engineering, risk, and continuous improvement teams, ensuring machinery and materials are efficiently utilized, and driving process optimization.

Minimum Requirements    

• Degree / diploma in Production Management / Engineering
• 10 years’ experience in an FMCG manufacturing environment (of which 7 years should be in a management capacity, with planning and strategic aspects)

Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic Input

• Provide input into the broader Processing strategy based on a 5 year view of requirements for the site.
• Drive the short, medium and long-term strategy and determine operational capacity requirements.
• Plan asset utilization and capex requirements while considering local conditions and competitor activity.
• Identify growth and investment opportunities through collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the business.
• Advise on tactics to maximize delivery on key strategic targets specifically, product volumes and quality.
• Set key performance indicators for the plants against which output will be measured.
• Drive a culture of commitment to key performance indicators by creating awareness and providing recognition for the attainment of KPI’s within the team.
• Ensure operational targets are aligned cross-functionally, as well as to the overall business strategy.

Operations Management

• Ensure optimal production and delivery of quality products.
• Implement best practices, minimize costs, and enhance process efficiency.
• Drive production targets, ensuring minimum wastage of raw materials, ingredients and packaging materials, and minimizing downtime.
• Work closely with suppliers to develop solutions that are best for customer needs, and plant and equipment capabilities.

Maintenance

• Manage the formulation of a maintenance plan that is aligned to the Production Plan across all 3 plants.
• Manage the maintenance team and ensure that planned maintenance programs are implemented to enable optimal asset utilization.
• Ensure that the maintenance practices and procurement processes are aligned to business standards.

Safety, Health, Risk, Environment and Quality Management

• Establish and manage the execution of systems and sound practices to ensure compliance with legislation.
• Guide the various business functions on site to ensure that all legislative and industry standards are achieved and timeous action is taken where required to ensure that there are no areas of non-compliance.
• Ensure that security is maintained and that appropriate investigations take place when incidents occur.
• Drive the adherence and maintenance of ISO 22 000/14 000/ 18 000 standards across the site.
• Ensure that the Total Quality Management System is maintained and applied consistently throughout the units.
• Drive inbound, outbound and in–process quality control in line with supply chain and customer requirements.
• Manage the implementation of, and measure environmentally sustainable practices.
• Proactively identify initiatives to optimise and/or conserve resources (water, electricity and gas).

Technical Expertise and Training

• Ensure training is provided to build a talent pool with the required capacity for the long- term.
• Provide technical guidance, contribute to training programs, and ensure knowledge transfer.

Financial Management

• Assist the commercial function to manage and optimize the budgeted costs for the site, authorizing expenditure, and monitoring spending activity within teams.
• Manage costs to ensure lowest cost production, profitable product mix, and the optimal utilisation of assets and resources.
• Drive sustainable asset care across the site through planned maintenance and management of Capex spend.
• Implement planned maintenance for optimal asset utilization and manage facility renovations/expansions, raw materials, and finished goods to address stock variances and losses.

Customer Service Management

• Ensure production is aligned to the customer production plan and to changing market segments, placing contingency plants in place to prevent delays and enhance the customer experience.
• Drive continuous improvement as an important element of service delivery.
• Identify trends / patterns in customer requests and share with Customer Exec to improve service delivery.
• Provide technical solutions to customers during plant visits, solve problems with existing products and the development of new products.

Data Management and Reporting

• Use relevant information from IT systems to conduct trend analysis and inform decision making for the site.
• Analyse management information on a daily basis to ensure production targets and standards are being met.
• Suggest system changes to ensure the ongoing relevance and accuracy of information.
• Share relevant data with the senior management team to enable reliable business decision-making.

Contract Management

• Manage external supplier relationships and contracts in collaboration with Procurement to ensure agreed service levels are met. Assist Procurement in defining the spec to procure goods and services.

Leadership

• Lead the site operations management team towards meeting strategy and targets – through regular communication and utilisation of full organisational talent management tool set.
• Manage the site’s operations succession plans to enable the development of a future leaders and specialists.
• Implement the Group’s diversity strategy as required by the business at all levels and that statutory targets and requirements are met under section 24 of the Employment Equity Act.
• Utilise available training opportunities and contributing to the development of new training solutions in collaboration with regional and national training specialists.
• Conduct regular performance appraisals and ensure that the process is cascaded throughout the site.
• Manage the employee relations climate and ensure corrective action is taken where required
• Chair or initiate disciplinary hearings as needed according to RPM standards.