Reporting to the Head of Manufacturing, the Manufacturing Support Manager is expected to lead the transformation towards Lean Operations, to mentor, coach and guide the development of the workforce through effective skill development plans, and to spearhead the optimisation and automation of data and office workflows within the manufacturing department. The MSM role is for forward thinking individuals that are able to demonstrate management, motivation and leadership skills to support the business unit. The role involves working in a fast-paced environment and is focused on supporting the manufacturing team through talent development programs, workflow data analysis and optimisation. The MSM possess a good understanding of quality, technical, production and engineering issues that can arise from a fast-paced manufacturing environment, and has a major inter-departmental impact on the organisation. 

Key Accountabilities:

People and Talent Development

• Implementation of a structured and documented talent development program within the Manufacturing department in line with present and future people and skill requirements.
• Oversee all on boarding, training and talent development activities.
• Pro-actively identify skill gaps within the organisation and drive the required training and talent development initiatives to meet both present and future organisational needs.
• Direct interaction with organisational teams to align training and talent development plans. 
• Develop and review documented site and equipment procedures for processes across all sites.
• Regular team reviews to share knowledge, discuss activities, priorities, progress, and challenges.

Efficient and Lean Manufacturing

• Execution of the Lean Manufacturing Strategy, through analysis and action planning to achieve the departmental KPIs and strategic objectives set by HOM. 
• Identify, assess, and analyse opportunities for achieving the established operational excellence levels to drive tangible and sustainable performance improvements. 
• Optimisation of all manufacturing functional units activity-based movements and actions to drive the implementation of the Lean Manufacturing Strategy, particularly with respect to labour utilisation and variance.
• Utilisation of Lean and Kaizen methodologies include 5S, visual factory techniques, problem-solving, standardisation, process improvement and value stream mapping.
• To lead and facilitate the adoption of lean manufacturing techniques and nurture a culture of continuous improvement towards achieving higher levels of operational excellence
• Define, overcome, and if necessary, escalate any blockages to continuous improvement 
• To always act and behave in a way compliant with all company guidelines and policies, especially those relating to Environmental health and safety, ethics and codes of conduct.

Process & System Workflow Optimisation

• Elimination of non-value-added manual data collection and data processing activities through office automation and system driven workflows.
• Digitisation and optimisation of data collection workflows ERP integration, data visualisation, and ease of interpretation to provide timely fact-based decision making.
• Optimisation of functional units activity-based drivers to fulfil the implementation of the Lean Manufacturing Strategy.
• Lead data and system integration projects withing the manufacturing department 

Freedom to Act

• Independence within budget, plans, policies, and precedents.

Ideal Candidate Profile

Education

• Masters level of education in Operations, Supply chain or a related field .  

Experience

• Minimum 15 years’ experience with at least 3 years’ senior management experience in the field of production planning and supply planning within the food sector or a related manufacturing industry
• Strategic Leadership experience in leading leaders 

Technical Skills

• Experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience with development of KPI's and efficiency measurement.
• Knowledge of operational excellence in supply chain and 5S methodology.
• Lean / Six Sigma credentials will be considered an asset.
• Ability to easily handle figures, tables, and databases.
• Development of procedures
• An adaptive thinking process required to bring significant evaluative judgement and innovative thinking to analyse, evaluate and arrive at conclusions

Competencies

• Leadership and HR skills that are critical in changing behaviours of others 
• Planning and Organizing
• Root Cause Analysis
• Analytical thinking and problem solving
• Drive for results
• Customer Service Orientation
• Verbal and written communication
• Programme and project Management