Production Manager - Foundry (Investment Casting/Lost Wax Casting)

Role & responsibilities

• To plan, manage and control end-to-end production operations of the investment casting foundry, ensuring achievement of production targets, product quality, delivery schedules, cost efficiency, productivity and workplace safety.

• The role will drive process discipline, effective utilisation of manpower and equipment, reduction of rejection and rework, and continuous improvement across all stages of investment casting.

• The Production Manager will ensure seamless coordination with Quality, Maintenance, Tool Room, Purchase, Stores, Planning and Dispatch to meet customer requirements and business objectives.

• Develop daily, weekly and monthly production plans in line with customer orders, delivery commitments and available capacity.

• Plan and monitor production across the investment casting process, including wax pattern production, shell making, dewaxing, shell firing, metal melting and pouring, knockout, cut-off, fettling, heat treatment and finishing, as applicable.

• Ensure optimum utilisation of plant capacity, machinery, equipment, manpower and production resources.

• Monitor production against plan, identify bottlenecks and take corrective action to meet delivery schedules.

• Ensure proper shift planning, allocation of work, and deployment of operators and supervisors.

• Coordinate with PPC / Planning, Stores and Purchase to ensure timely availability of raw materials, consumables, dies, wax, ceramic shell materials and other production inputs.

• Ensure adherence to approved process parameters, operating procedures, work instructions and control plans at every stage of production.

• Monitor critical casting parameters, including wax pattern quality, shell integrity, mould temperature, metal chemistry, melting and pouring temperature, pouring practices and solidification-related defects.

• Work closely with Quality to reduce casting defects such as porosity, shrinkage, inclusions, misruns, cold shuts, dimensional deviations and surface defects.

• Analyse rejection, rework and scrap data and implement corrective and preventive actions.

• Ensure compliance with customer-specific requirements, drawings, specifications, inspection plans and traceability requirements.

• Participate in root-cause analysis for internal and customer complaints and ensure timely closure of corrective actions.

• Monitor production yield, metal recovery, material consumption, cycle time, labour productivity and conversion cost.

• Drive initiatives to reduce rejection, rework, scrap, energy consumption and avoidable process losses.

• Improve throughput and equipment utilisation through better planning, process standardisation and bottleneck elimination.

• Ensure optimum consumption of wax, ceramic shell materials, alloys, fuel, power and other consumables.

• Review actual production costs against budgets and recommend cost-reduction initiatives without compromising quality.

• Lead production supervisors, engineers, technicians and shop-floor operators.

• Establish clear shift-wise targets, responsibilities and performance expectations.

• Train employees in process requirements, defect prevention, safe operating practices and quality standards.

• Monitor attendance, discipline, productivity and skill development of production personnel.

• Build a performance-oriented culture focused on accountability, teamwork, quality and delivery.

• Coordinate with Maintenance to ensure preventive maintenance of furnaces, wax injection machines, shell-making equipment, dewaxing/autoclave systems, heat-treatment equipment and finishing machinery, as applicable.

• Monitor equipment breakdowns, downtime and recurring failures.

• Ensure timely maintenance interventions and availability of critical spares.

• Drive improvement in equipment availability and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), wherever measurable.

• Ensure compliance with EHS requirements, PPE usage, safe material handling and prescribed operating procedures.

• Maintain safe practices around molten metal, furnaces, hot shells, chemicals, ceramic materials and material-handling equipment.

• Ensure good housekeeping, 5S and orderly storage of materials and finished products.

• Report incidents, unsafe conditions and near misses, and implement corrective actions.

• Ensure compliance with applicable statutory and internal requirements relating to production operations.

• Conduct daily production reviews and periodic performance reviews with the production team and cross-functional stakeholders.

• Analyse production data and implement initiatives using Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, 5S, root-cause analysis and other appropriate improvement techniques.

• Maintain accurate production records, shift reports, rejection reports, downtime data and material-consumption records.

• Provide periodic reports on production performance, delivery achievement, quality, cost and manpower productivity to the reporting manager.

Preferred candidate profile

• Qualification: B.E./B.Tech in Mechanical, Metallurgical, Production or Foundry Engineering; alternatively, a relevant diploma with strong, demonstrable investment casting experience may be considered.

• Experience: 1012 years of experience in manufacturing, with substantial hands-on experience in investment casting and preferably prior responsibility for production teams.

• Experience in stainless steel, Copper /Bronz alloy steel investment casting materials will be a preferred.

• Experience from Shell Moulding Foundry, Centrifugal Castings and Sand Casting also will be considered.

• Practical exposure to casting defect analysis, process optimisation, production planning, yield improvement and foundry safety is essential.

• Familiarity with ERP/MRP systems, production MIS, Lean Manufacturing, 5S and continuous improvement practices is desirable.