Production Manager

Role Purpose

To plan, lead and actively oversee day‑to‑day production operations, ensuring products are manufactured safely, efficiently, and to specification. This is a hands‑on production leadership role within a small manufacturing environment, with strong accountability for output, quality and productivity.

Key Responsibilities

Production Operations

• Plan and manage daily production schedules to meet customer demand and delivery commitments.
• Allocate labour and resources to maintain smooth workflow and minimise downtime.
• Work alongside the production team on the shop floor to maintain pace, standards and output.

Quality & Compliance

• Carry out in‑process quality checks and ensure products meet specification prior to release and industry standards.
• Reduce defects and rework through root‑cause analysis, coaching and preventative actions.
• Ensure production activities comply with health, safety and housekeeping standards.

People and Team Leadership

• Lead by example, setting clear expectations and maintaining consistent standards.
• Monitor performance, provide clear feedback and develop team capability through coaching.
• Build flexibility and resilience across the production team.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify practical improvements to processes, layout and methods to increase efficiency.
• Support the introduction of simple systems for production tracking and reporting.

Reporting & Communication

• Produce accurate daily and weekly production reports, reporting to the directors each week.
• Escalate issues promptly and work collaboratively with warehouse, sales, purchasing and other management colleagues.

Success Measures

• Production efficiency consistently at or above 95%
• Defect or rework rate at or below 0.5%
• Zero lost‑time accidents within production
• Well‑organised, safe and productive shop floor

Experience & Skills

• Proven experience supervising or managing production in a manufacturing or SME environment
• Proven experience of continuous improvement techniques
• Strong working knowledge of health and safety requirements
• Practical, organised and confident decision‑maker
• Experience using basic ERP or production tracking systems desirable

Person Specification

Essential Experience and Skills

• At least three years in a supervisory or management role in production operations.
• Experience with production planning and reporting.
• Strong organisational skills and ability to prioritise in a busy SME environment.
• Knowledge of health and safety procedures and compliance standards.
• Clear and confident communicator and effective problem solver.
• Straightforward, dependable and able to gain respect without micromanaging.
• Demonstrated ability to coach and develop staff.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary with performance bonus.
• Small, supportive team environment where your impact is visible.
• Hands-on leadership role with scope to shape processes and people.
• We offer steady weekday hours (Monday to Thursday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, and Fridays finishing at 3 pm), giving you evenings and weekends free.
• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays.
• Pension scheme and staff discount.
• Free on site parking.