1. Manufacturing & Production Operations:

- Lead end-to-end manufacturing operations across plants and production facilities.

- Ensure achievement of production targets, delivery schedules, productivity, and operational KPIs.

- Optimize plant capacity utilization, production planning, line efficiency, and manpower productivity.

- Drive improvements in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), reduce downtime, and minimize production losses.

- Establish standardized operating procedures and ensure consistent execution across production lines.

- Plan and execute capacity expansion, automation, and manufacturing improvement initiatives.

2. Supply Chain & Planning:

- Oversee production planning, material availability, inventory management, warehousing, and distribution coordination.

- Align manufacturing plans with sales forecasts, demand fluctuations, and business requirements.

- Ensure optimal inventory levels for raw materials, packaging materials, and finished goods.

- Improve forecast accuracy, order fulfilment, and on-time-in-full (OTIF) delivery performance.

- Collaborate with procurement, sales, finance, and logistics teams to ensure uninterrupted operations.

3. Quality Assurance & Food Safety:

- Ensure compliance with applicable FSSAI requirements, food safety standards, and relevant regulatory guidelines.

- Work closely with Quality Assurance and Quality Control teams to maintain product consistency and safety.

- Drive compliance with HACCP, GMP, hygiene, sanitation, traceability, and audit requirements.

- Minimize customer complaints, product rejections, wastage, and quality-related losses.

- Strengthen systems for product recalls, corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), and risk management.

4. Cost Optimization & Profitability:

- Develop and implement initiatives to reduce manufacturing costs and improve operating margins.

- Optimize raw material consumption, packaging costs, energy utilization, manpower costs, and production yields.

- Monitor plant operating expenses and capital expenditure against approved budgets.

- Drive waste reduction, yield improvement, and resource utilization initiatives.

- Partner with Finance to establish cost controls and improve operational profitability.

5. Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement:

- Implement Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, 5S, Six Sigma, and other continuous improvement methodologies.

- Establish operational dashboards and performance management systems.

- Identify process bottlenecks and implement corrective measures to improve throughput and efficiency.

- Drive automation, digitization, and technology-led improvements across manufacturing and supply chain operations.

- Build a culture of accountability, problem-solving, and performance-driven execution.

6. Procurement, Inventory & Vendor Coordination:

- Coordinate with procurement teams to ensure timely availability of ingredients, packaging materials, and other production inputs.

- Support vendor development, supplier performance monitoring, and material quality improvement.

- Improve inventory turnover, reduce slow-moving and obsolete stock, and minimize material wastage.

- Develop contingency plans for critical raw materials and supply chain disruptions.

7. People & Team Leadership:

- Lead plant heads, production managers, supply chain teams, engineering, and other relevant operational functions.

- Build a high-performance operations team through capability development and succession planning.

- Establish clear KPIs, review mechanisms, and accountability across operational functions.

- Ensure compliance with workplace safety, labour requirements, and company policies.

8. Strategic Planning & Business Partnership:

- Work closely with senior leadership to align operational strategy with business growth objectives.

- Develop annual operating plans, capacity plans, budgets, and productivity improvement roadmaps.

- Support new product launches, product scale-up, and commercialization in coordination with R&D, Quality, and Marketing.

- Evaluate manufacturing network requirements, expansion opportunities, and make-versus-buy decisions.