VP of Operations
Recruiter: Theo James
Location: Stockton-on-Tees
Salary: Competitive package
Application date: 28th Jun 2022
The Company:
The business has been established for over sixty years, is a market leader in its field and employs 800 staff across two locations in the UK.
Job Description
Responsible for the Operational excellence of 3 strategic business units across 2 UK locations
Reporting to the President, the Vice President of Operations will be responsible for manufacturing operations, supply chain and material control, manufacturing engineering, production control, Quality, EH&S, shop floor manufacturing and shipping/receiving.
The Senior Management Team consist of Sales and Marketing, Finance, Engineering and Human Resources. As a key member of the leadership team, the Vice President of Operations will participate regularly in evaluating and establishing strategic direction.
The Vice President of Operations will have significant interaction with existing customers and will play a key role in meeting with potential customers to determine needs and discuss capabilities. In response, the Vice President of Operations role requires the ability to maintain flexibility, develop fluid plans, and understand the need to change priorities. The need to foster teamwork within operations, engineering, quality and sales is a vital expectation.
• Achieving goals for shipments, on-time delivery, past dues, inventory and sales per employee
• Establishing and executing detailed CAPEX and Productivity improvement plans
• Building and leading a dynamic operations organisation and setting the pace and example as a leader, coach, and mentor to reporting contributors
• Promoting an atmosphere of teamwork and cooperation with peers and their respective functional groups
• Implementing open communication, concurrent manufacturing, and continuous improvement
• Working closely with engineering, sales, and customers to ensure they can provide innovative, cost effective, producible solutions to drive new business
• Improving standards and processes in all phases of the operations cycle
• Developing and implementing effective inventory management approaches to optimise cost and availability considerations
• Develops plans to increase efficiency and reduce costs
• Defining performance management KPI’s to monitor operational success against objectives.
• Direct and control the Production function to ensure that finished goods of the required standard are available to customers within agreed costs and at the right times.
• Ensuring technical support of all production processes with accurate tools, equipment, and documentation
• Preparing annual budgets and tracking actual expenditures
• Development of succession and development plans for all direct reports
• Communicating with the union and workforce and negotiating pay talks, contractual changes etc.
Skills & experience
The selected candidate must be ambitious, flexible and have the clear potential to become a Company President.
This position requires an able champion of innovative approaches to drive change who will elicit high levels of personal trust and confidence from peers, reports and existing and potential customers. Personal “presence” and solid interpersonal and presentation skills will be essential to success. Excellence in this role will rest more on leadership, communication, and project management skills than on technical capabilities. Clear strategic vision, personal creativity, results orientation, and flexibility are essential. Strong entrepreneurial drive is vital in an environment where responsiveness to customers is a strongly held value.
The candidate should also be astute with an ability to quickly identify issues and work with minimal resources. A high degree of self-confidence and convincing personal stature should be combined with the sensitivity to the opinions and needs of others. The right individual will have a customer-focused style coupled with a “make-it-happen” mentality. The new VP must be an independent thinker who can push back and challenge program plans in a constructive manner. A personal bias for action, a high sense of urgency, and a strong work ethic are required, as are high personal values and standards. Excellent written and verbal communication skills coupled with the ability to interface with executive management are essential. A self-motivated management style based on personal example, common sense, and employee empowerment would fit well with the company culture.
The ideal candidate will have significant experience in manufacturing leadership positions. The candidate will come from a high-performing manufacturer of engineered components with high mix/low volume operations and a significant aftermarket servicing component. Experience in the aerospace and defence industry is preferred, but not essential. The executive will bring experience balancing strategy and execution, and an ability to get ‘hands-on’.
• Extensive experience in operations management with a proven history of success.
• Ability to demonstrate exceptional organisation and planning skills.
• Commercial awareness with an eye for seeing business improvement opportunities.
• Highly motivated with a passion and proven record of delivering operational business change.
• Excellent inter-personal and negotiating skills.
• Highly motivated innovator
• Proven history in mentoring for success
• Previous experience working for a company within our areas of expertise is advantageous but not essential.