Reporting To: Head of Manufacturing

Experience: 6-9 years

Location: Mumbai

Work Mode: On-site (not a remote role)

Role Overview:

The SUIT Manager will own manufacturing readiness, innovation landing, technology deployment, and capacity planning for the sourcing unit. This role ensures that new products, process improvements, and technology upgrades are delivered on time, at optimal cost, and with consistent quality across in-house and third-party manufacturing.

The role acts as a critical bridge between R&D, sourcing, manufacturing, and quality, ensuring that innovation is reliably executed at scale in a complex, fast-growing FMCG environment.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Innovation & Manufacturing Readiness:

- Own end-to-end manufacturing readiness for new product launches, reformulations, and packaging changes.

- Translate bench-scale R&D formulations into scalable, commercial manufacturing processes while maintaining product integrity (taste, texture, stability).

- Partner with R&D, Quality, Regulatory, and Supply Chain teams to plan and execute innovation rollouts.

- Define trial strategies, scale-up plans, and go-live readiness criteria.

- Ensure smooth transition from pilot trials to commercial production.

2. Capacity Planning & Expansion

Own capacity assessment for in-house plants and third-party manufacturing partners.

Identify capacity bottlenecks and lead debottlenecking or expansion initiatives.

Prepare CAPEX proposals, business cases, and ROI justifications for new equipment or line upgrades.

3. Technology & Process Leadership:

- Identify, evaluate, and deploy new technologies, automation, and process improvements.

- Provide technical leadership on packaging machinery such as VFFS, HFFS, multi-head weighers, and labeling equipment to optimize machine-material interaction and reduce waste.

- Lead equipment sourcing, FAT/SAT, commissioning, and stabilization phases.

- Drive co-development initiatives with OEMs and suppliers to design customized machinery solutions beyond standard off-the-shelf equipment.

4. Cost, Productivity & Continuous Improvement:

- Own the technical definition of OEE denominators, including ideal cycle times, rated speeds, and availability assumptions.

- Lead cost reduction, value engineering, and productivity improvement initiatives.

- Improve throughput, yield, and line efficiency across manufacturing operations.

- Apply lean manufacturing, TPM, or continuous improvement methodologies.

5. Vendor & Stakeholder Management:

- Own relationships with key third-party manufacturers and equipment suppliers.

- Collaborate technically with engineering vendors to retrofit or enhance existing assets.

- Act as the escalation point for innovation-related manufacturing challenges.

- Work closely with Procurement, Quality, Production, and Planning teams.

6. Quality, Safety & Compliance:

- Ensure all innovations comply with GMP, food safety, and regulatory standards.

- Partner with Quality teams to define SOPs, process controls, and critical control points (CCPs).

- Ensure safety-by-design principles are embedded in all technology and process changes.

Skills & Competencies:

Strong problem-solving and systems-thinking capability

Ability to balance cost, quality, speed, and scalability

Data-driven decision-making mindset

Strong cross-functional leadership and stakeholder management

High ownership with an execution-focused approach