Job description

• 3. JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

  1. Production Planning & Execution Oversee the daily and weekly production plans across all three streams: Table Dates, Confectioneries, and Functional Ingredients, ensuring targets are met in alignment with customer demand and inventory requirements. Monitor output performance across all production sections, including sorting, washing, packaging, confectioneries, syrup, powder, coffee seed, and paste lines. Coordinate resource allocation — manpower, materials, and equipment — to maintain uninterrupted and efficient production flow. Identify and resolve production bottlenecks in a timely manner, escalating issues to the line manager when required. Collaborate with the Resource Planning Manager to align production schedules with raw material availability, packaging stock, and logistics timelines. Manage seasonal production ramp-up and off-season transition planning, ensuring workforce, equipment, and material readiness are aligned with the dates harvest cycle and anticipated demand peaks. Oversee the deployment, performance, and compliance of outsourced production crew, ensuring contractor headcount aligns with operational demand and that all crew members adhere to NDIC safety, hygiene, and quality standards. Lead the operational readiness process for New Product Introduction (NPI), assessing line capacity, equipment requirements, and SOP development to ensure smooth transition from product development to commercial production. Champion the adoption and utilization of digital operations systems including Odoo ERP, ensuring accurate production data entry, process digitalization, and system-driven operational decision-making across all production function. Identify and drive automation opportunities across production and packaging lines to improve throughput, reduce manual dependency, and lower cost per unit, coordinating CapEx proposals with the line manager for approval.   2. Equipment Reliability & Maintenance Coordination Coordinate with the Engineering & Maintenance team to ensure preventive maintenance schedules are aligned with production plans, minimising unplanned downtime and ensuring equipment availability across all three streams. Escalate production equipment faults and recurring failures to the Maintenance team promptly, providing operational context and priority input to ensure timely resolution and minimal production impact. 3. Production Supply & Cross-Functional Coordination Own the end-to-end follow-up of all production-related procurement requests, from material requisition to delivery, coordinating with the Procurement department to ensure timely sourcing of raw materials, packaging materials, ingredients, and production consumables without creating line stoppages. Raise and track material purchase requests (PRs) in the ERP system (Odoo), ensuring all requests are accurately described, correctly coded, and submitted within lead time windows to prevent supply gaps. Review and evaluate supplier quotations for production-related materials and services, providing technical and operational input on specifications, quantities, lead times, and supplier suitability to support informed procurement decisions. Coordinate with the Finance department to follow up on pending supplier payments related to production inputs, ensuring that overdue payables do not disrupt supplier relationships or result in material delivery holds that impact production continuity. Monitor the status of open purchase orders for production materials and proactively escalate delays, discrepancies, or quality concerns upon receipt to the relevant departments (Procurement, Finance, QA/QC, logistic or others) to prevent accumulation of unresolved supply issues. Serve as the primary production representative in cross-functional meetings covering supply planning, material coverage reviews, and procurement committee sessions, ensuring production priorities and constraints are clearly communicated and reflected in decisions. Coordinate directly with suppliers on delivery schedules, shipment status, documentation requirements, and material specifications, acting as the operational point of contact to resolve supply issues before they impact the production floor. Communicate production quality or specification non-conformances to suppliers in coordination with QA/QC, following up to ensure corrective actions are committed to and implemented within agreed timelines. Maintain an active log of all open procurement and supply actions related to the production cycle — including pending PRs, outstanding deliveries, unresolved supplier issues, and pending payments — and report status in the monthly operational report. Coordinate with the Sales team on demand requirements, order priorities, and finished goods readiness, ensuring production plans reflect confirmed sales commitments and that any delays, shortfalls, or schedule changes are communicated to Sales in a timely and structured manner.             4. Budget Management & Cost Control  Develop and manage the Production operational budget, ensuring expenditure remains within approved limits. Identify and implement cost-saving opportunities in maintenance spend, production materials usage, and resource utilization. Monitor actual vs. budgeted costs on a monthly basis and provide variance analysis and corrective action plans to the Director. Maintain visibility over product-level cost of production, tracking cost per ton across all streams and identifying drivers of cost variance to support competitive pricing, margin protection, and informed make-vs-buy decisions. Manage and reduce direct production costs including raw material consumption, packaging material usage, and ingredient costs per unit, tracking actuals against standard cost benchmarks and initiating corrective actions when variances exceed acceptable thresholds. Drive labour cost efficiency by optimising headcount deployment across production lines, monitoring output per labour hour, identifying overstaffing relative to production load, and implementing structured plans to reduce direct labour cost without compromising output quality or safety standards. Monitor and improve production line utilisation rates across all three streams, identifying root causes of low utilisation — including unplanned downtime, changeover losses, and demand gaps — and implementing corrective actions to maximise throughput and asset productivity.   5. Team Leadership & Development Provide strategic direction and day-to-day leadership to the Production Team Lead, setting clear performance expectations and accountability frameworks. Conduct regular one-on-one check-ins, performance reviews, and coaching sessions to develop the capability of direct reports and their teams. Support the professional development of team members through structured training plans, certifications, and skills enhancement programs. Foster a culture of accountability, operational discipline, continuous improvement, and cross-functional collaboration across both departments. Manage workforce planning, shift scheduling, and attendance within the Operations function.   6. Health, Safety & Environmental Compliance Champion a zero-incident culture across all operational areas, ensuring full compliance with HSE regulations applicable to food processing and industrial manufacturing environments. Enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) and safe work practices across all production areas. Conduct and oversee regular safety inspections, risk assessments, and toolbox talks within the Operations department. Collaborate with the HSE function to investigate incidents, implement corrective actions, and drive proactive safety initiatives. Ensure food safety requirements and GMP standards are upheld across all production areas.   7. Quality & Continuous Improvement Collaborate with the QA/QC function to monitor product quality and drive first-time quality rates across all production streams. Lead operational continuous improvement initiatives using Lean manufacturing principles, root cause analysis, and data-driven problem-solving methodologies. Identify opportunities for process optimization, waste reduction, and yield improvement across production and maintenance activities. Participate in the Product Development Committee as an operational subject matter expert, providing input on production feasibility and line readiness for new products.   8. Reporting & Operational Intelligence Prepare and submit accurate monthly operational reports to the Resource Planning Manager covering production output, equipment performance, maintenance activity, and downtime analysis. Analyse operational data to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities, presenting findings and recommendations to the line manager. Ensure data integrity across production tracking systems and operational reporting platform. Carry out any other activities as and when required by the reporting manager.

  5. QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE:

  Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Agriculture Engineering, Operations Management or any related field. A postgraduate qualification is an advantage. Experience Minimum 8 years of progressive experience in industrial or food manufacturing operations, with at least 2 years in a managerial or senior leadership capacity. Demonstrated experience managing multi-line production operations within a manufacturing environment. Prior experience in dates processing, food manufacturing, or FMCG production is a strong advantage. Experience managing outsourced production crew and third-party operational service providers. Competencies Technical Competencies Solid understanding of production planning, scheduling, and workflow optimization principles. Familiarity with ERP/production management systems including Odoo. Knowledge of Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, or equivalent continuous improvement frameworks. Understanding food safety regulations, GMP standards, and HSE compliance in a food processing context. Leadership & Behavioral Competencies Strong people leadership skills with the ability to motivate, develop, and hold accountable a multi-disciplinary operations team. Results-driven with a strong bias for action, operational discipline, and accountability. Excellent analytical and problem-solving capabilities with a data-driven approach to decision-making. Effective communicator with the ability to translate operational complexity into clear reporting and actionable insights for senior management. High adaptability and capacity to manage competing priorities across multiple production streams and value chains. Collaborative mindset with the ability to work across functions including Resource Planning, QA/QC, Maintenance, Logistics, Procurement, Finance and HR.