Role Purpose
To plan, lead and actively oversee day-to-day production operations, ensuring products are manufactured safely, efficiently, and to specification. This is a hands-on production leadership role within a small manufacturing environment, with strong accountability for output, quality and productivity.
Key Responsibilities
Production Operations
* Plan and manage daily production schedules to meet customer demand and delivery commitments.
* Allocate labour and resources to maintain smooth workflow and minimise downtime.
* Work alongside the production team on the shop floor to maintain pace, standards and output.
Quality & Compliance
* Carry out in-process quality checks and ensure products meet specification prior to release and industry standards.
* Reduce defects and rework through root-cause analysis, coaching and preventative actions.
* Ensure production activities comply with health, safety and housekeeping standards.
People and Team Leadership
* Lead by example, setting clear expectations and maintaining consistent standards.
* Monitor performance, provide clear feedback and develop team capability through coaching.
* Build flexibility and resilience across the production team.
Continuous Improvement
* Identify practical improvements to processes, layout and methods to increase efficiency.
* Support the introduction of simple systems for production tracking and reporting.
Reporting & Communication
* Produce accurate daily and weekly production reports, reporting to the directors each week.
* Escalate issues promptly and work collaboratively with warehouse, sales, purchasing and other management colleagues.
Success Measures
* Production efficiency consistently at or above 95%
* Defect or rework rate at or below 0.5%
* Zero lost-time accidents within production
* Well-organised, safe and productive shop floor
Experience & Skills
* Proven experience supervising or managing production in a manufacturing or SME environment
* Proven experience of continuous improvement techniques
* Strong working knowledge of health and safety requirements
* Practical, organised and confident decision-maker
* Experience using basic ERP or production tracking systems desirable
Person Specification
Essential Experience and Skills
* At least three years in a supervisory or management role in production operations.
* Experience with production planning and reporting.
* Strong organisational skills and ability to prioritise in a busy SME environment.
* Knowledge of health and safety procedures and compliance standards.
* Clear and confident communicator and effective problem solver.
* Straightforward, dependable and able to gain respect without micromanaging.
* Demonstrated ability to coach and develop staff.
What We Offer
* Competitive salary with performance bonus.
* Small, supportive team environment where your impact is visible.
* Hands-on leadership role with scope to shape processes and people.
* We offer steady weekday hours (Monday to Thursday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, and Fridays finishing at 3 pm), giving you evenings and weekends free.
* 25 days holiday plus bank holidays.
* Pension scheme and staff discount.
* Free on site parking.