ADF - General Manager - R&D & QA

General Manager - R&D & QA

Quality:

Good understanding of GLP (Good Laboratory Practices): Proven Experience in and as Head of Analytical Laboratory of recognized food company / government laboratory / private laboratory. Has taken a laboratory to NABL authorization / accreditation.

Problem solving & Troubleshooting: Demonstrated ability to remove quality defects through diagnosing root cause and effective action

Food safety: Hands on understanding of building / improving a Food safety program including HACCP, FSMS and other risk assessment methodologies

Auditing: Working knowledge of auditing: Quality systems, Process Audits, Vendor audits, Shopfloor and Warehouse audits, Social audits, etc

Defect classification and Quality performance measurement: Well aware of industry measurables within FMCG and Food industry about quality defect classification, and setting quality targets / KPI's

Traceability: Is fully operational on deploying product traceability systems eg., batch numbering system, bar coding / QR coding, RFID tagging

Outsourced manufacturing quality: Skilled in selecting and improving quality of outsourced products.

Supplier quality performance management: Skilled in supplier quality performance management and improvement.

Quality management systems and accreditation: Is well aware of ISO, BRC, NABL and similar certification / accreditation

R&D:

Good understanding of Food ingredients and Food processing: Proven experience as senior manager (or above) in R&D of renowned, multiproduct food companies with revenue above Rs 300 cr

New Product Development: Experience in developing new products in culinary frozen and shelf stable range

Regulatory: Good understanding of Regulatory requirement of importing countries, viz., US, UK, EU as well as India (FSSAI, Legal metrology etc)

Packaging & Labelling: Working knowledge of various packaging, and their suitability for different food items, nutritional and other labelling regulations

Sensory analysis: Knowledgeable in theory and practical deployment of sensory evaluation.

Competition benchmarking: Has carried out competitor sample analysis routinely to benchmark own performance vs competition

Formulation value engineering: Lead Formulation value engineering, viz., ingredient substitution from market scan to commercial scaleup.

Common:

Document and Change management: Is adept on document management of all forms in Quality Assurance and R&D, and Change management practices from procedure development, deployment and execution

Training and Capability Building: Conceives and executes Learning and Capability Building for department members.

Project Management: Have proven ability to manage end to end projects, viz., new product development / formulation value engineering / Process improvement / Digitization, etc

Consumer Orientation: Timely and Correct response to consumer and customer complaints, able to participate with marketing function in product design and improvement.

Other skill sets:

Proven experience of leading a Quality Assurance and R&D team: has worked in both quality assurance and R&D functions with at least 5 years in either

- Understanding of consumer, competition and industry.

- Hands on with IT tools, like excel, powerpoint

- Hands on with ERP wrt Quality Management System and Product Development procedures

- Effective Leadership capabilities

Job deliverables:

- Sets up / improves the laboratory for Quality Assurance and R&D function at all sites

- Sets up the appropriate organisation within R&D and QA involving restructuring or recruitment as needed

- Is able to standardize daily tasks for individuals working within quality function and ensure their implementation.

- Is able to simplify processes to build 'Quality By Design'.

- Is able to set up a verifiable working, transparent system of day to day delivered quality, based on monitoring of leading and lagging indicators

- Is able to improve products in rapid turnaround time based on objective feedback

- Is able to scan the market to build the innovation pipeline