Plant Head - CV Precision Components Plant

The Hi-Tech Gears Ltd.

Bhiwadi Plant

Function: Plant Operations & Commercial - Bhiwadi

Reporting To: Managing Director

Location: Bhiwadi, Rajasthan

Level: AGM or GM Senior Leadership

Works With: Production Head (Reports to this role), Purchase and Commercial Teams

Company Overview: The Hi-Tech Gears Ltd. (NSE/BSE listed) is one of India's leading auto component manufacturers, specialising in high-precision powertrain solutions - transmission gears and shafts, driveline components, engine gears, and power take-off components. With fully integrated manufacturing capabilities from forging through to finished sub-assemblies, the company serves OEMs across passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and off-highway segments in India and globally. The Bhiwadi facility is one of Hi-Tech Gears' key manufacturing locations, producing commercial vehicle transmission components with a highly export-oriented customer base.

The Mandate:

- The Bhiwadi plant is a technically complex, export-heavy operation - a significant contribution of its output serves international customers. Despite its strategic importance and strong product capabilities, it requires a focused intervention on both the operational and commercial fronts.

- A Production Head is already in place managing day-to-day operations. What is needed now is a senior turnaround leader - a professional who can work with the Production Head with a singular, time-bound mandate: restructure the plant operationally and commercially and return it to profitability within a defined timeframe.

- This is not a steady-state management role.

- It is a high-accountability, high-complexity turnaround assignment that requires someone who can diagnose problems quickly, act decisively, and drive change across manufacturing processes, cost structures, and customer contracts simultaneously - all without disrupting the plant's ability to serve its existing customer commitments.

- This role is designed for a leader who thrives on complexity, has done this before, and is energised by the challenge of turning a capable operation into a profitable one.

Operational Turnaround:

- Conduct a rapid and rigorous diagnostic of the plant's operational performance - identifying the root causes of current losses across cost, capacity, productivity, and process.

- Develop and execute a structured turnaround plan with clear milestones, accountability, and a realistic path to profitability.

- Ensure fulfilment of all existing customer demand commitments without disruption during the turnaround period - maintaining delivery reliability as a non-negotiable baseline.

- Identify and eliminate waste across manufacturing processes - applying lean and Theory of Constraints thinking to unlock capacity and reduce cost.

- Fully utilise existing plant capacity - addressing current underutilisation as an immediate priority and building a plan to sustain full utilisation going forward.

- Strengthen shopfloor discipline - 5S, visual management, daily management systems, and shift-level accountability structures.

Manufacturing & Quality Excellence:

- Lead with the Production Head to drive delivery performance, OEE improvement, and zero-defect quality standards across CV and off-highway product lines.

- Champion TPM across the plant - establishing pillar-based implementation, building ownership at the shopfloor level, and working towards JIPM recognition as a long-term marker of operational maturity.

- Drive a First Time Right (FTR) philosophy across all manufacturing processes - from design and process engineering through to production and dispatch - reducing rework, rejections, and customer returns at their root cause rather than managing them at inspection.

- Own the reduction of customer PPM levels as a strategic priority - setting ambitious targets per product line, building real-time visibility of defect data, and ensuring quality issues trigger structured corrective action rather than short-term fixes.

Cost Reduction & Manufacturing Efficiency:

- Build a detailed cost structure analysis - understanding fixed, variable, and avoidable costs across the plant P&L.

- Drive systematic cost reduction through manufacturing process improvements, scrap reduction, rework elimination, and energy efficiency.

- Identify and implement value engineering opportunities in partnership with the product and engineering teams.

- Establish a culture of cost ownership at every level of the plant - ensuring managers and supervisors are accountable for their cost lines.

Commercial Turnaround:

- Work in close partnership with the commercial teams to lead renegotiation of pricing with existing export and domestic customers.

- Build a clear picture of the commercial drivers of the plant's loss - identifying which contracts, customers, and product lines are margin-dilutive and why.

- Represent Hi-Tech Gears credibly in senior customer conversations, holding commercial positions firmly while maintaining long-term partnership intent.

- Ensure that new commercial terms negotiated are sustainable and supported by the plant's actual cost structure.

Stakeholder Management & Reporting:

- Provide the MD with a clear, regular, and honest view of turnaround progress.

- Build a constructive and trust-based working relationship with the Plant Head, ensuring the turnaround agenda is jointly owned.

- Engage the broader Hi-Tech Gears leadership team where the plant's agenda intersects with their mandates.

- Manage relationships with key export customers during the transition, ensuring confidence in Hi-Tech Gears' commitment to their business is maintained.

Transition & Capability Building:

- Ensure that the turnaround is not dependent on the continued presence of this role: Build processes, systems, and capabilities that will sustain the plant's performance after the engagement closes.

- Develop the Production Head and senior plant team's capability to manage a profitable, high-performance operation independently.

- Document the turnaround playbook - so that the learning from this engagement is institutionalised within Hi-Tech Gears.

Experience & Background:

- Years of experience in manufacturing operations, with demonstrated experience in plant turnarounds or operational transformation mandates.

- Strong working knowledge of TPM and experience in handling all TPM pillars.

- Strong background in precision components manufacturing, experience in auto components, transmission systems, or similarly complex engineered products strongly preferred.

- Prior exposure to export-oriented manufacturing environments, familiarity with international customer expectations, quality standards, and commercial dynamics.

- Track record of delivering measurable cost reduction and productivity improvement in a manufacturing setting.

- Comfortable operating at the intersection of operations and commercial, has either led or worked closely with customer-facing commercial negotiations.

Leadership & Personal Characteristics:

- Structured and logical thinker - diagnoses problems systematically, builds clear plans, and works through options and scenarios before acting.

- High drive and energy - operates with an owner's mindset and takes full personal accountability for the turnaround outcome.

- Anticipates obstacles and prepares contingency plans - does not wait for problems to surface before thinking through responses.

- Strong prioritisation ability - can manage a high-complexity, multi-workstream turnaround without losing focus on the critical path.

- Balances data with intuition - draws on both rigorous analysis and seasoned manufacturing judgement.

- Affable and collaborative - works with and through the Plant Head and the broader team; does not bypass or undermine existing leadership.

- High integrity - trusted by customers, the MD, and the plant team; consistent and transparent under pressure.

- Strong dealmaker - able to construct and hold commercial positions in customer negotiations while preserving the relationship.

Education:

- B.E. / B.Tech in Mechanical, Production, or Industrial Engineering - essential for this role.

- MBA or equivalent management qualification - an advantage but not mandatory given the primacy of operational and commercial experience.

Measures of Success:

- Plant Profitability: Movement towards EBITDA-positive - trajectory and timeline agreed at onboarding.

- Cost Reduction: Reduction in plant cost base through manufacturing interventions and process improvements.

- Capacity Utilisation: Improvement in utilisation of installed capacity.

- OEE Improvement: Measurable improvement in Overall Equipment Effectiveness across key production lines.

- Customer PPM: Reduction in customer-reported defects across CV transmission product lines.

- TPM Maturity: Progress on renegotiation of loss-making customer contracts in partnership with President - Commercial.

- Scrap & Rework: Progress against TPM pillar implementation and improvement in equipment reliability.

- Capability Development: Plant team capability to sustain performance independently.