Operations / Production Head

Role & responsibilities

1. Operational P&L Ownership

• Take ownership of the manufacturing/operational P&L and drive profitability.
• Improve contribution through productivity, cost reduction, capacity utilization and operational efficiency.
• Monitor actual performance against budget and operational targets.
• Identify major cost and profitability gaps and drive corrective actions.

2. Overall Manufacturing & Operations Leadership

• Own the overall manufacturing and plant operational performance.
• Ensure accountability for Productivity, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Capacity and Safety.
• Identify operational inefficiencies and establish measurable corrective and improvement actions.
• Build a culture of manufacturing discipline, ownership, productivity and continuous improvement.

3. Manufacturing Efficiency & Productivity Improvement

• Improve overall manufacturing efficiency, productivity and throughput.
• Optimize manpower, machine utilization, cycle time, material consumption and process flow.
• Eliminate bottlenecks, idle time, waiting, unnecessary movement, rework and other operational losses.
• Improve machine utilization, line efficiency, OEE and shop-floor productivity.

4. Cost Efficiency & Manufacturing Cost Reduction

• Own manufacturing cost performance and drive sustainable cost reduction.
• Reduce material wastage, scrap, labour cost, processing cost, energy cost and manufacturing overheads.
• Improve material yield, process efficiency and resource utilization.
• Drive cost competitiveness without compromising quality or delivery.
• Work with Engineering and Costing teams on value engineering and design-to-cost opportunities.

5. Delivery & Customer Commitments

• Take overall responsibility for manufacturing delivery performance.
• Align production plans and capacity with committed customer delivery dates.
• Identify production and capacity constraints early and implement recovery actions.
• Improve On-Time Delivery (OTD), schedule adherence and manufacturing responsiveness.
• Ensure realistic delivery commitments through close coordination with Planning, Sales and Order Management.

6. Process & Manufacturing Improvement

• Review existing manufacturing processes and continuously improve process flow, methods and standards.
• Identify opportunities for automation, tooling, fixtures, jigs and improved manufacturing methods.
• Work closely with Engineering on Design for Manufacturing (DFM).
• Standardize best practices and establish scalable manufacturing processes.

7. Capacity Planning & Machine Utilization

• Assess current and future capacity requirements based on business growth.
• Optimize machine, manpower, tooling and infrastructure utilization.
• Identify capacity constraints and prepare improvement/expansion plans.
• Recommend Capex based on capacity requirements, productivity benefits and ROI.
• Improve production loading and overall asset utilization.

8. Quality & Process Excellence

• Reduce rejection, rework, defects and customer complaints.
• Establish strong process controls and quality-at-source practices.
• Drive Root Cause Analysis (RCA), CAPA and preventive actions.
• Ensure manufacturing processes consistently meet customer and internal quality requirements.

9. Lean & Continuous Improvement

• Drive Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, 5S, Visual Management and Standard Work.
• Identify and eliminate manufacturing waste and non-value-added activities.
• Implement improvement projects with measurable productivity, cost and quality benefits.
• Ensure improvements are standardized and sustained.

10. Production Planning & Cross-Functional Coordination

• Align manufacturing plans with customer demand, business priorities and delivery requirements.
• Work closely with Engineering, Costing, Production Planning, Purchase, Stores, Quality, Sales, Order Management, Supply Chain and Finance.
• Ensure timely resolution of material, capacity, quality and production constraints.
• Provide management with clear visibility of operational performance, risks and recovery plans.

11. Manpower & Organization Development

• Lead, develop and strengthen the manufacturing organization.
• Plan manpower requirements and improve workforce productivity.
• Set clear roles, targets, responsibilities and accountability across the manufacturing team.
• Develop supervisors and shop-floor leaders and build a performance-driven culture.

Preferred candidate profile

• Strong hands-on experience in manufacturing and shop-floor operations.
• Experience in sheet metal, press work, fabrication, welding, machining, assembly or similar engineering manufacturing environments.
• Strong understanding of productivity improvement, process optimization, capacity planning, quality, cost and delivery.
• Demonstrated experience in manufacturing cost reduction and operational efficiency improvement.
• Strong people leadership, problem-solving and cross-functional coordination skills.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing / Kaizen / continuous improvement is an advantage.
• Elevator components / precision engineering manufacturing experience is an advantage.