Operations Manager
Job title \- Operations Manager
Reports to \- Operations Director
Direct reports \- Supply Chain Coordinator, Goods\-in / Goods\-out team, Quality Manager, Production Manager.
Location \- Sachet Factory Congleton \- on site.
Hours \- Full time, 37\.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday
Contract \- Permanent
Salary \- Dependent on experience
Key systems \- Unleashed (ERP Software), Xero, Google Sheets, Microsoft applications – Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint
ABOUT SACHET FACTORY LIMITED
Sachet Factory Limited is a UK contract packer specialising in sachet filling and packing. In two years we have grown from a standing start to more than 100 customers, in a very popular and fast growing space.
The business is growing rapidly, and the operations function needs to grow with it. Volumes, customer numbers and production complexity have all increased, and the processes that carried us to this point now need to be rebuilt properly for the next stage of investment and growth. This is a business where operational infrastructure needs to be solid \- ensuring cross\-functional departments are pulling together harmoniously.
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
This is a new and exciting role, created because of the pace of growth. Working closely with the Operations Director, you will take responsibility for the day\-to\-day running of the processes that sit between what our customers order and what's delivered \- from the moment a customer order is received to the moment finished goods leave the secondary packer.
Your job is to ensure that there are clear processes and workflows that ensure every order is fully understood, every material is bought and on site in time, the production plan is realistic, and everyone in the business sees the same picture of where each order stands. When that works, the account managers can manage customers instead of chasing orders, and Production can run to a plan it trusts.
Procurement, goods\-in and goods\-out, quality and facilities will report into you, together with the Production Manager, who remains responsible for production output, the production team and output reporting. You will support them on production planning and make sure the plan is built on confirmed orders and confirmed materials.
A large part of the role is building things that do not yet exist properly: mapping how work actually flows across departments, deciding what lives in Unleashed and what does not, and putting in the processes, controls and reporting that will carry the business through its next stage of growth. It is hands\-on, and it suits someone who is as comfortable fixing today's problem as designing the process that stops it happening again.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
1\. Order\-to\-dispatch control
- Own the end\-to\-end flow of every customer order: order confirmation, blend and laminate purchasing, goods\-in and quality release, filling, transfer to the secondary packer, packing and dispatch.
- Make sure every order is captured with its full scope before it is released: blend, laminate and artwork version, fill weight, sachet quantity, pack format, secondary packing specification, delivery requirements and agreed dates.
- Provide a single, reliable view of order status that the account management team can use to answer customers without chasing each stage themselves.
- Run a regular operations meeting with Sales, Production, Procurement and Quality to agree priorities, timeframes and trade\-offs, and make sure decisions are recorded and acted on.
- Manage exceptions early: late blends, laminate or print issues, quality holds and capacity clashes. Agree a recovery plan and communicate revised dates to Sales before the customer has to ask.
- Work with the Production Manager to build and maintain a rolling production plan across the five production rooms, based on confirmed orders, customer forecasts and material availability.
- Make sure runs are only scheduled once blend and laminate are confirmed on site and released, so the floor is not planning blind.
- Balance the plan against machine capability, changeovers, labour and the capacity and booking slots of the secondary packer.
- Track plan adherence, understand the root causes of missed or changed runs, and feed that back into planning and procurement.
- Support the Operations Director with capacity planning as volumes and customer numbers grow.
- Lead the procurement function through the Procurement Manager, making sure blends, laminate and consumables are ordered at the right time, in the right quantity and to the right specification.
- Translate customer orders and forecasts into material requirements, with clear visibility of supplier lead times and minimum order quantities.
- Make sure the right customer approvals are in place before materials are bought on their behalf, including artwork proofs, blend specifications and agreed costs.
- Manage supplier performance on delivery, quality and lead time, and hold regular reviews with key blend manufacturers and printers.
- Own the operational relationship with the secondary packer: scheduling, packing specifications and work instructions, turnaround times, quality and reconciliation of sachets sent against finished packs returned.
- Work with the Finance Manager on material reconciliation, yields, wastage and surplus customer\-owned materials.
- Lead the goods\-in and goods\-out team, making sure materials are received, checked against the purchase order and booked into Unleashed promptly with full batch and lot traceability.
- Oversee the flow of bulk sachets to the secondary packer and of finished goods to customers, with accurate documentation at each step.
- Own stock accuracy in Unleashed, including cycle counts and stock takes, working with Finance on variance investigation.
- Manage warehouse space and storage of IBCs, laminate and finished stock as volumes grow.
- Line manage the Quality Manager and make sure quality processes support the operation, including incoming material release, non\-conformances, customer complaints and corrective actions. The quality function keeps its authority to hold or reject product.
- Make sure the site is always audit\-ready for BRCGS and customer audits.
- Oversee facilities, building services and contractors, and make sure health and safety obligations are met across the site.
- Map current workflows across Sales, Procurement, Production, Quality, Goods\-in / Goods\-out, secondary packing and Finance, and identify where information is lost between teams.
- Build out operational infrastructure in Unleashed, reduce reliance on disconnected Google Sheets, and agree which system holds which data.
- Write clear standard operating procedures and define who owns each step, so processes do not depend on individuals.
- Set and report weekly operational KPIs to the Operations Director, including on\-time\-in\-full delivery, plan adherence, material availability, supplier performance, stock accuracy, yield and waste.
- Help shape future systems decisions as the business outgrows its current tools.
- Lead, develop and set clear objectives for the operations team, building a culture of ownership and follow\-through.
- Support the recruitment and onboarding of new roles in the team, starting with the Procurement Manager.
Essential
- Experience: Operations or supply chain management experience in a manufacturing environment, ideally contract manufacturing or contract packing in food, supplements or FMCG.
- Order\-to\-delivery: A track record of owning the full journey from customer order to delivery in a high\-mix, multi\-customer operation.
- Planning: Hands\-on experience of production planning and scheduling, and of linking plans to materials, capacity and third parties.
- Procurement and suppliers: Experience managing suppliers and subcontractors, including chasing performance and resolving quality and delivery issues.
- Systems: Practical experience of an inventory or ERP system (Unleashed strongly preferred), with strong Excel or Google Sheets skills.
- Quality and compliance: Working knowledge of BRCGS or equivalent food safety standards, traceability and audit requirements.
- Leadership: Experience leading multi\-functional teams, including managers, with the credibility to hold people to account.
- Communication: Able to bridge Sales and Production: clear, calm and direct when priorities conflict.
- Process building: Comfortable in a fast\-growing business with imperfect processes; able to map, simplify and document how work should flow, and make it stick.
Benefits:
- Company pension
- On\-site parking
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