Head of Production

About the job

A leading printing company is looking to for an outstanding candidate, respected and recognised as a leader and motivator of people, to head up its production team. Our client works with many esteemed clients, producing time sensitive campaigns, so we are looking for someone who is flexible in their approach, able to cope under pressure, and who can manage multiple projects at one time.

The role of Head of Production is a critical position and influences both on the customer experience, and on bottom line performance of the business. The role manages, leads, and motivates the production environment to ensure that the highest standards are achieved and maintained.

Responsibilities:

1. Manage the output across the production department 
2. Manage, lead, motivate and support the team within a time-sensitive and demanding environment. This will include development plans for all direct reports, including production management and department managers. 
3. Build and maintain relations with agency providers and temporary employees  to ensure continuity. 
4. Lead the day to day operations of all production units to include; scheduling, print, despatch, warehousing
5. Maintain health and safety standards within production. 
6. Manage metrics and time to achieve productivity targets, continuous improvments, increase accuracy and deliver excellent customer service. 
7. Ensure that all production departments operate within agreed budgets. 
8. Work closely with support teams (HR, Financial, IT) on staffing plans, schedules and performance levels. 
9. Drive continuous process improvement.
10. Implement change and lead cross-functional improvement initiatives 
11. Develop business plans and cases to supprt capex related investments. 
12. Regularly review and advise on production/ commercial risks, and have a solutions orientated approach
13. Ensure that the business is operated to the highest standards in line with our accreditations. 
14. Implement systems for reviewing all operating costs to ensure that they are consistently in line with revenue 
15. Ensure that all agreed control procedures are followed through in each department
16. Agree objectives in line with business strategy and values

Skills & Attributes:

• Drives production and commercial optimisation
• Respected and recognised as a leader and motivator of people
• Customer management at board and operational level
• Thinks smart
• Indepth knowledge or ability to quickly understand Digital print and Litho print 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• The ability to deal with ambiguity and to work well with all levels of employees
• Ability to implement and enhance improvement processes (Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizan)
• An excellent negotiaton
• Experience of operational structuring

Experience:

• Have experience in managing and leading large and diverse teams in a print production-based environment. 
• Ability to demonstrate production operations excellence, with an impressive people and metrics lead track-record in a fast-paced production, manfacturing, print or logistics based environment.
• Proven aptitude for commercial capability.                                
• Have the ability to achieve results and drive print production through efficiency and process improvement.
• Ability to manage detail, establish root cause and be able to extract and analyse data. 
• Must be able to demonstrate effective problem-solving and analytical capability.
• Thrive on change, inclined to operate with flexibility and commit the time required to get the job done. 
• Able to demonstrate a pragmatic approach to problem solving.
• Knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma and Kaizen methodologies would be highly advantageous.