Production Manager

Purpose of the Production Manager Position
• Lead the Gateshead manufacturing operation to deliver on time, at lowest cost, safely.
• Manage the Production Leadership Team, Production Planner and Despatch
Supervisor, ensuring that they are engaged and high performing with a focus on
improved performance through teamwork & problem solving.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Production Manager

Production Planning
- Ensure work is scheduled in a timely manner, controlled throughout the operation,
and expedited to meet deadlines.
- Manage Scheduling as the entry point to Production and primary interface for
Projects and Installation teams. Ensure that communication levels with internal
customers are excellent, and that conflicts and delays are promptly escalated and
resolved.

Team Leadership
- Ensure that direct reports are fully engaged, effective, and operating as a cohesive
team.
- Manage team and individual performance, attendance and HR matters.
- Deliver formal Performance Reviews in accordance with the annual review cycle.
- Maintain high levels of communication with the shopfloor, placing a high level of
focus on morale, and driving a culture of inclusion and teamwork.

Continuous Improvement
- Champion the implementation of Lean tools and drive Lean practices into daily
operations.
- Take every opportunity to reinforce and drive a culture of continuous improvement,
and fact-based problem solving.

Cost Reduction
- Seek to continually improve Production efficiency.
- Ensure that shopfloor operations are organised as efficiently as possible, and that
work flows effectively through the factory.
- Use job costing data and shopfloor analyses to target underperforming work and
drive down the cost of manufacture.
- Manage Production capacity, ensuring that headcount and skills are appropriate, and
that subcontract decisions are made as early as possible.
- Champion structured problem solving and continuous improvement tools to reduce
the cost of poor quality, ensuring that non-conformances and failures are root-cause
analysed and eliminated promptly through effective preventative measures.

Despatch
- Ensure that communication from the Despatch Team to all internal customers and
stakeholders is exemplary, and that all concerns are escalated and addressed
promptly.
- Maintain a high focus on processes, to ensure that Despatch performance is tightly
controlled, and improved at every opportunity.
- Drive a culture of root cause analysis to eliminate the causes of delays and losses.
Safety
- Ensure that all work is carried out safely and that company safety procedures are
adhered to at all times.
- Promote and develop a strong safety culture, ensuring that hazards, unsafe practices
and accidents are investigated, counter-measured and reduced.
- Ensure all individuals have involvement in, and understand, all risk assessments
relating to their area of work.

Key Competencies of the Production Manager
1. Strong leadership skills and the ability to lead / coach / motivate a team.
2. Good knowledge of manufacturing methods and materials.
3. Highly organised and structured in approach, whilst dynamic and adept at managing
effectively in a client-responsive and reactive environment.
4. Working knowledge of MS Office package and MRP / ERP.
5. Excellent communicator at all levels of the business.
6. Ability to implement and effect sustained change to improve performance.
7. Excellent working knowledge of Lean tools and continuous improvement techniques.

Key Performance Indicators of the Production Manager
1. On-time delivery and schedule adherence.
2. Quality non-conformances.
3. Job costing.
4. Accidents.
5. Adherence to annual Performance Review process.
6. Shopfloor engagement levels & morale.

Should you have the desired skillset then please apply today for the Production Manager position.