Operations Manager

OPERATIONS MANAGER
Wire & Fencing Manufacturing Site

Reports to: Group Manufacturing Manager
Direct reports: Plant Managers, Procurement Manager, Raw Material / Supply Chain Manager, Maintenance Manager, Scrap Section Manager, Projects
Dotted line: Quality Manager (independent function)

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

• Run the manufacturing site end to end — production, raw material, procurement, maintenance, scrap, and projects
• Own the site P&L and drive cost per ton down year on year
• Actively find and develop opportunities in raw material, consumables and new technology, rather than only managing what already exists
• Understand the full chain — supplier through production through logistics to customer — and manage the site's position in it
• Build a management team that does not depend on any one person

THE JOB IS NOT ONLY PRODUCTION

This role is judged as much on what it finds and changes as on what it keeps running. The person is expected to:

• Continually challenge where raw material and consumables are bought, from whom, and at what real landed cost
• Test and introduce new technology, processes and equipment rather than defending the current way because it is the current way
• Understand supply chain and logistics well enough to see where cost and time are being lost, and to challenge it
• Bring opportunities forward with numbers attached, not just observations

If the site is running exactly the same way in three years, this person has not done the job.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Raw material, consumables and sourcing opportunity

• Own raw material strategy for the site — wire rod, zinc, flux, acid, dies, lubricants, welding and packaging consumables
• Continually evaluate alternative suppliers, grades, origins and specifications — local and imported
• Understand true landed cost, not invoice price: freight, duties, lead time, working capital, yield, and processing cost
• Run trials on alternative material and consumables properly, with Quality involved, before committing
• Manage the tension between price and yield — cheap rod that breaks in drawing is not cheap
• Build relationships with suppliers and mills directly, not only through procurement
• Bring sourcing opportunities to group with a costed case

2. New technology and process development

• Stay current on developments in wire drawing, galvanising, and wire-formed product manufacture
• Identify equipment, process and automation opportunities that improve cost, quality, throughput or safety
• Evaluate technology properly — visit sites, talk to users, understand the failure modes, not just the brochure
• Build business cases and motivate capex to group
• Lead trials, implementation and commissioning, and make sure the promised benefit is actually delivered

3. Supply chain and logistics

• Understand and manage the site's raw material inbound chain — lead times, stock cover, reliability
• Balance stock holding against working capital: no stockouts, no dead stock, no surprises
• Work with logistics on outbound flow — despatch, load planning, delivery performance
• Identify where cost and time are being lost in the chain and act on it
• Manage the site's exposure to supply disruption

4. Production and delivery

• Set and drive production targets across the plants
• Balance capacity and resolve conflicts over shared resources
• Own site delivery performance to customers — on time, in full
• Hold Plant Managers accountable for output, quality, safety and cost
• Escalate genuine capacity constraints to group before they become customer failures

5. Financial and commercial

• Own the site operating budget and P&L
• Drive conversion cost down — labour, energy, zinc, consumables, maintenance, scrap
• Own cost per ton as a headline measure and know what moves it
• Control spend within delegated authority
• Build and motivate the annual capex budget
• Report site financial performance honestly to group

6. Procurement

• Oversee site procurement — buying to spec, on time, at the right price
• Approve suppliers and manage supplier performance
• Enforce procurement governance: no unjustified single-sourcing, no unauthorised spend, no cosy supplier relationships
• Drive cost reduction through negotiation, alternative sourcing and specification change

7. Maintenance and asset management

• Ensure plant and equipment is maintained, not run to failure
• Drive the shift from breakdown maintenance to planned preventative maintenance
• Own equipment availability and uptime
• Prioritise maintenance spend against production risk
• Manage critical spares holding

8. Scrap, yield and recovery

• Own site yield — what came in versus what went out as saleable product
• Drive scrap generation down at source; scrap is a production problem, not a scrap yard problem
• Ensure scrap is segregated, recorded, valued and recovered properly
• Ensure scrap sales and disposals are controlled and above board

9. Quality and compliance

• Support the Quality Manager and protect their independence — quality does not report to production for a reason
• Back the Quality Manager when they stop a line, and deal with the production consequences afterwards
• Ensure the site holds its ISO certification and passes external audits
• Ensure environmental compliance — water use licence, effluent discharge, hazardous waste

10. Health and safety

• Take ultimate site responsibility for safety
• Ensure OHS Act compliance, including statutory appointments
• Build a culture where stopping unsafe work is expected, not punished
• Own incident investigation and closeout
• Report serious incidents to group immediately

11. Projects

• Own the site project portfolio — capex, expansions, new lines, upgrades
• Manage scope, budget, timeline and commissioning
• Ensure projects deliver the benefit that was promised in the motivation

12. People and leadership

• Lead and develop the site management team
• Build succession depth — every key role should have a named successor in development
• Manage IR and union relationships at site level
• Set the standard for how people are managed on this site

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• BEng / BTech / National Diploma in Engineering — Metallurgical, Mechanical or Industrial
• Business or management qualification an advantage
• 10–15 years in manufacturing, at least 5 in senior management
• Has run a plant. This is not a first management job
• Wire, steel or heavy manufacturing background essential
• Working understanding of wire drawing and galvanising
• Has owned a P&L and delivered against it
• Has managed procurement, supply chain or raw material sourcing — not only production
• Has delivered capital projects and introduced new equipment or process
• Sound knowledge of the OHS Act and environmental compliance requirements
• Understands ISO 9001 and how a quality system is actually run

KEY COMPETENCIES

• Commercially minded — sees the site as a business inside a chain, not a factory in isolation
• Curious and outward-looking. Reads, visits, asks, and keeps up with what the industry is doing
• Willing to change things that currently work, if something better exists
• Rigorous about evaluating opportunities — brings numbers, not enthusiasm
• Strong enough technically to know when a supplier, a plant manager, or an equipment vendor is telling a story
• Financially literate — reads a P&L, builds a business case, understands working capital and landed cost
• Will protect the Quality Manager's independence even when it costs output this month
• Builds people and gives them room rather than doing their jobs for them
• Handles IR and union pressure without caving or escalating unnecessarily

Work Location: In person