Head of Production

About the role

We are looking for an experienced Head of Production to lead our tea packing and manufacturing operations in Welisara. The role focuses on delivering customer orders safely, on time, and to the highest quality standards while driving operational excellence.

Key responsibilities

• Set strategic direction for production and translate business priorities into operational plans.
• Lead tea packing operations with a strong shop‑floor presence to ensure disciplined execution.
• Improve productivity, capacity utilization, labour and machine efficiency, and reduce production costs.
• Strengthen production planning, resource allocation, and operational controls to meet safety, quality, service and efficiency targets.
• Identify and resolve bottlenecks, downtime, waste and process constraints using data‑driven analysis.
• Drive Lean Manufacturing, TPM, OEE and other operational excellence programs.
• Collaborate with planning, engineering, quality, procurement, warehousing, shipping and commercial teams to enhance end‑to‑end performance.
• Ensure compliance with quality, food safety and production standards.

Required profile

• Degree or professional qualification in Production, Engineering, Operations Management, Food Technology or related field.
• Minimum 10 years of manufacturing experience, including leadership of a production function.
• Experience in tea packing or export‑oriented food & beverage manufacturing is a strong advantage.
• Proven track record of improving productivity, cost efficiency, capacity utilization and service delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to lead transformation programs and sustain performance improvements.
• Hands‑on leadership style with strong analytical and decision‑making capabilities.
• High integrity, accountability and operational discipline.

Required skills

• Lean Manufacturing
• Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
• Production planning
• Process optimization
• Continuous improvement methodologies