Food Manufacturing Plant Manager

Project DescriptionOur client is a leading global consulting firm. They have recently completed a cost down diagnostic for a large food manufacturing business in Australia. The business has continuous manufacturing plants based 1.5hrs outside of Melbourne focused on frozen foods (2 product types, 4 manufacturing lines). This initial assessment has identified a variety of optimisation opportunities across material cost and efficiency, equipment cost and labor productivity and they are now moving into the next phase where they will implement recommendations To support this next phase, the client is seeking to onboard a senior advisor who can work directly with the end client to provide coaching, leading practice, real world insights, guidance and support that will help them to transition from current state to future state. Currently the plant managers, product managers, supervisors and their teams are relatively inexperienced and are struggling to adopt new ways of working e.g lean, Kaizen 5S, SOPs etc. The main barrier is assessed to be culture/mindset constraint and a lack of understanding and experience of what good looks like in a modern manufacturing operation. As part of the engagement the advisor will be expected to be on-site at the factory (1.5hrs outside of Melbourne) for the morning shift brief, work closely with line managers and supervisors, observe and assess how are they walking the line and provide live advice and guidance. They will also attend the daily production meeting, join workshops and in general observe the daily operations and provide coaching and suggestions. The advisors day will end at about 2-3pm (mirroring the shift schedule). Scope of work:Provide deep, hands on, practical, leading practice advice, guidance, coaching and insightsWork closely with plant and production managers and supervisors to support understanding of what good looks like and how to drive productivity and performanceWork closely with Plant employees and actively address constraints impacting adoption of leading practiceRun workshops, bootcamps and trainingSide-by-side on job coaching Profile:Seasoned advisor with deep and hands on manufacturing experience (ideally within food manufacturing) and expert knowledge of plant operations leading practicesPassionate about shop floorExpertise and practical experience in implementation of Lean: Kaizen, 5S and leading practice SOPsNatural communication, training and coaching skill set that supports successful change management within a manufacturing environment Logistics:2-3 days per week16 weeks - 52 weeks engagement durationIdeally someone based in MelbourneStart date expected to be middle of April