Role Purpose:

The Assistant Plant Head will support the Plant Head in managing the overall plant operations, ensuring safe, efficient and cost-effective production while maintaining quality, delivery commitments and regulatory compliance.

The role will be responsible for driving production performance, operational discipline, resource optimization, cost control, procurement and logistics coordination, employee productivity, customer coordination and stakeholder management, while ensuring a safe and positive work environment.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Production & Operations:

- Plan, monitor and control daily/monthly production in line with customer requirements and business targets.

- Ensure optimum utilization of plant capacity, machinery, manpower and other resources.

- Monitor production schedules, output, productivity, downtime, rejection and rework.

- Identify bottlenecks and implement corrective actions to improve throughput.

- Ensure adherence to SOPs, process parameters, quality standards and production plans.

- Drive continuous improvement and operational excellence initiatives.

- Coordinate with Production, Maintenance, Quality, Stores and Dispatch teams to ensure smooth plant operations.

2. Health, Safety & Environment:

- Ensure strict adherence to plant safety policies, statutory requirements and safe operating procedures.

- Promote a strong safety-first culture across the plant.

- Conduct regular safety reviews, inspections and risk assessments.

- Ensure PPE compliance and safe handling/storage of raw materials and chemicals, wherever applicable.

- Ensure timely reporting, investigation and closure of incidents, near misses and unsafe conditions.

- Coordinate emergency preparedness, fire safety, mock drills and other HSE initiatives.

- Monitor environmental compliance, waste management and housekeeping standards.

3. Purchase, Stores & Logistics:

- Coordinate with Purchase to ensure timely availability of raw materials, consumables, spares and other requirements.

- Monitor inventory levels and ensure optimum stock without unnecessary working capital blockage.

- Coordinate with Stores for accurate inventory management, FIFO/FEFO where applicable and proper material handling.

- Work with logistics/dispatch teams to ensure timely and cost-effective movement of finished goods.

- Coordinate with vendors, transporters and suppliers to resolve supply and delivery issues.

- Support vendor evaluation and development based on quality, cost, delivery and reliability.

4. Cost & Budget Management:

- Prepare and monitor plant operating budgets in coordination with the Plant Head and Finance.

- Monitor production costs, conversion costs, energy consumption, material wastage and overheads.

- Identify opportunities for cost reduction without compromising safety or quality.

- Monitor actual versus budgeted expenditure and initiate corrective action for significant variances.

- Drive reduction in wastage, rework, downtime and avoidable operating costs.

- Ensure effective utilization of working capital and plant resources.

5. Resource Utilization:

- Ensure optimum utilization of manpower, machinery, materials, utilities and plant infrastructure.

- Review manpower deployment against production requirements and identify productivity gaps.

- Monitor machine utilization, downtime and maintenance-related losses.

- Ensure effective planning of shifts and manpower allocation.

- Identify underutilized resources and develop corrective action plans.

- Drive initiatives to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), where applicable.

6. Team Leadership, Motivation & Productivity:

- Lead, motivate and develop plant teams to achieve production, quality, safety and productivity objectives.

- Set clear goals and performance expectations for functional teams.

- Monitor individual and team productivity and address performance gaps.

- Build a culture of ownership, accountability, discipline and teamwork.

- Identify training and skill-development requirements and coordinate with HR.

- Recognize good performance and create mechanisms to improve employee engagement and morale.

- Resolve shop-floor issues and employee concerns in coordination with HR and functional heads.

- Develop second-line leadership and ensure continuity of critical plant functions.

7. Quality & Process Improvement:

- Work closely with Quality to ensure consistent product quality and adherence to specifications.

- Monitor customer complaints, internal rejections and process deviations and ensure root-cause analysis.

- Drive corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).

- Promote Lean/Kaizen/5S or other continuous improvement initiatives as relevant.

- Ensure standardization of processes and documentation.

8. Customer Coordination:

- Coordinate with Sales/Customer Service and customers on production status, delivery schedules and operational issues.

- Ensure commitments made to customers are realistically planned and executed.

- Support resolution of customer complaints related to production, quality or delivery.

- Provide timely updates on production schedules, delays, constraints and recovery plans.

- Develop a customer-oriented approach within the plant team.

9. Stakeholder Management:

- Maintain effective coordination with Plant Head, Management, Sales, Finance, HR, Purchase, Quality, Maintenance, Stores and Logistics.

- Coordinate with external vendors, contractors, transporters and service providers.

- Liaise with statutory authorities, auditors, inspectors and other external stakeholders as required.

- Ensure timely escalation of critical operational, financial, safety or people-related issues to management.

- Build strong cross-functional relationships to ensure seamless plant functioning.

10. Administration & Plant Discipline:

- Oversee overall plant administration, housekeeping, security and infrastructure upkeep.

- Ensure discipline and adherence to company policies, procedures and plant rules.

- Monitor attendance, shift discipline and manpower deployment in coordination with HR.

- Ensure proper maintenance of plant records, registers, licenses, statutory documentation and operational reports.

- Ensure effective management of contractors and outsourced manpower.

- Maintain high standards of cleanliness, 5S and workplace organization.

11. MIS & Management Reporting:

- Prepare/monitor daily, weekly and monthly plant performance reports.

- Track key metrics relating to production, productivity, quality, safety, inventory, costs and delivery.

- Analyze variances against targets and provide corrective action plans.

- Present operational updates and key issues to the Plant Head/Management.

- Ensure accuracy and timeliness of plant data and reports.