Head of Bakery Manufacturing

GBR Recruitment Ltd are extremely proud to be exclusively working with a leading innovative artisan bakery manufacturing company, recruiting for a highly experienced Head of Food Manufacturing & Logistics to continue pushing this company & their culinary delights forward, from both a strategic & operational perspective.

This is a business–critical role with the remit of improving the current working processes & current workflows, transforming the bakery operation as a whole (process, people, culture, products, quality & service delivery) to continue the businesses marketplace success & deliver their growth plans.

The successful applicant will be used to putting together an effective program of change management to include continuous improvement (CI), improved GMP, top end quality measures, plus implementing LEAN food manufacturing methodologies (Kaizen etc.) into a hand crafted / semi–automated Artisan Bakery set up. You will also have had experience in overseeing the 3PL side of a fast–paced food operation, along with procuring bakery products / raw materials with strong supplier management skills.

Food Retail & Foodservice channels are the niche areas of this innovative & creative business, so ideally you will have experience in these key channels, supplying the UK's best–known names.

You will have a strong understanding of how bakery food product manufacturing machinery works such as mixers, provers, ovens, laminators, slicers & more.

Key Tasks to include:

• Lead the daily manufacturing operations delivering clear direction to all direct reports & non–directs, ensuring daily production plans are achieved as scheduled.
• To drive change / CI / GMP & effectively & successfully lead significant tangible efficiency improvements, whilst at the same time retaining high quality product levels for all the baked artisan product ranges delivering client order requirements OTIF.
• Transform the current Technical & Quality processes to meet the needs of all customers (inc. new customers) reaching the high–end standards the business wants to aspire to. Keeping the operation in line with all SALSA / BRC legislation & compliance.
• Developing extra manufacturing & stock holding capacity within the current operational footprint to allow for near future production growth of an additional 30% output, that future forecasts predict due to fantastic success in the Artisan hand crafted products market.
• Put in place a fit for purpose training & development plan for all employees, successfully X–training as many employees as possible to drive the business forward from a skill set & efficiencies perspective.
• Liaise effectively with all suppliers of bakery products, raw materials, packaging, logistics etc. obtaining the best service possible at the best cost–effective price for the business (LEAN).
• Manage suppliers closely ensuring they are meeting the SLA & reviewing / changing supplier when needed in the best interest of the business plus its customers.
• Lead projects such as cost savings, efficiencies, revenue / margins growth, LEAN, CI, CAPEX, OPEX & more.
• Coach, mentor & develop all staff / Management to achieve the vision of the business.

Key Attributes Sought:

• Artisan hand crafted & semi–automated food production line experience
• Strong bakery products knowledge & experience across an array of bakery line products, plus the bakery processes & bakery equipment
• Strong in GMP, CI, LEAN, Zero Waste, Change Management, SIC, Quality & more
• Strong technically (Quality plan standards)
• Experience of leading businesses through change & growth
• New, site start up experience (choosing new sites & planning the new site, in terms of machinery required, capacities needed, storage space, operational lay outs etc.)
• Used to working closely with the NPD Kitchen supporting NPD, NPI plus EPD
• Strong management skills with a real drive & passion for all things food
• Used to overseeing operations employing c.100 staff of varying skills / specialisms

Interviews to take place immediately with an October start possible, depending on the applicants notice period.