Production Manager

Established in 1997 as the first manufacturer of sushi for the UK supermarket industry, Taiko has evolved into the most innovative manufacturer of Sushi, Food To Go, Prepared Meals and Snacking products in the UK, supplying Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s to name a few. Over the past 25 years Taiko has launched more first to market Sushi and Food to Go products than any other sushi manufacturer in the UK.

This role of Production Manager has 2 direct reports and a team of around 50 people across ingredients preparation (Rice cooking, veg fish &mixing prepare, Maki and Nigiri prep) & Packing (assembly, labelling departments). This role is to support the shift to enable a safe and efficient working environment, focusing on producing quality products within agreed budgetary KPI measures.
Driving the performance of the factory, coaching, mentoring and leading your team on shift to be the best that they can be in all elements of H&S, Quality, Efficiency, Cost and technical standards.

Resource Allocation:
• Determine the manpower, equipment, and raw materials needed to cover production demand.
• Assign workers and other staff to specific production operations.
• Schedule shifts based on production requirements

Producing a production schedule and coordinating workflow:
• Produce and optimise the end-to-end production schedule for multiple WIP processes into final products.
• Coordinate the production workflow for different food products.
• Prioritise operations to maximise performance and minimise delays

Collaboration:
• Collaborate with the Operations team, quality control, Technical, warehouse, and other relevant staff.
• Address any issues that arise during production.

Inventory Management:
• Manage daily closing stock in expect levels.
• Manage inventory levels effectively.
• Ensure timely delivery of raw materials.

Monitoring and Reporting:
• Monitor ongoing jobs to ensure they finish on time and within budget.
• Obtain and report on output information (e.g., number of finished products, defect percentages, number of work hours vs planned worked hours).
• Monitor deviation from planned production schedule and ensure compliance with food allergen controls.
• Prepare and submit status and performance reports

• Ensure that everyone works in a manner that complies with legal, site and H&S guidelines and encourages a safe, calm, efficient environment for our people to work.
• Ensuring that everyone understands and is, at all times, following Quality guidelines and working within our Quality parameters, both for product and area standards.
• Effectively and efficiently manage the resources at your disposal, to ensure the best use of people, plant and materials to deliver the best possible results against agreed KPIs.
• Supervise the teams, giving direction, motivating, coaching and counselling as necessary to encourage them to achieve their performance targets and enable them to conduct this coaching method with their own teams.
• People Management includes absence, conduct, performance, training & review periods.
• Identify, Coach and Mentor individuals with the potential to work at a higher level and put in place plans to assist their personal development.
• Investigate process and quality issues, using problem-solving techniques, as they arise to understand the root cause and provide recommendations/solutions to prevent reoccurrence.
• Ensure that an effective communication process is in between shifts to facilitate effective handovers and communications and to promote a ‘one-team mentality across all areas.
• Leading the Production teams in continuous improvement initiatives and various projects to deliver sustainable improvements in production performance.
• Ensure that Shift Huddles & Tier 1 meetings are conducted daily.
• Ensure weekly report to be sent to SLT on time.

Competency
Experience:
• Proven experience as a Foods manufacture and planning with good Excel skills
• Familiarity with production planning, food safety, food allergens, and quality control principles.
• Exposure to MRP II (Manufacturing Resource Planning) is advantageous.
Technical Skills:
• Advanced Excel skills and knowledge of Navision (Business Central) systems. Knowledge of PowerBI and power query will be a distinct advantage.
• Expert Food safety & HCCP level
• Strong organisational and problem-solving abilities.
• Good understanding of mathematics and statistics.
Communication:
• Excellent communication skills to collaborate effectively with various teams.
• Degree educated
• Goal
• Your goal as a Production Manager is to ensure the cost-efficient and seamless flow of our food production operations, meeting quality standards and distribution timelines.

We're proud to offer:

• Opportunity to grow your career alongside with us with available apprentice program
• Brilliant support services designed to enhance your physical, mental and financial wellbeing.
• Annual discretionary bonus subject to business and overall performance
• Discretionary Life Assurance
• Discretionary Income Protection
• Group Personal Pension
• Private Medical Cash Plan
• Bespoke reward platform including access to retail, cinema & gym discounts.
• 50% off your food every time you dine with us for you and 3 friends.
• Contribute towards our award-winning sustainability initiatives that delivers progress against 9 UN sustainability goals. We're committed to responsibly sourcing and all our seafood, therefore we only use source sustainable fish. All our packaging is recyclable and 80% of our packaging is already made from recycled plastic.
• Annual Awards ceremony celebrating our success and offering winning Managers free trips to Japan.

About us:

Come roll with us and be part of something big. Celebrate global success across:

• Over 1500 retail kiosks globally (YO!, Panku, Mai Taiko Snowfox & Bento)
• Our Taiko manufacturing and distribution centre
• 63 YO! restaurants
• 50 major retail partners
• 3700 locations globally From Hawaii to Aberdeen

Our Values

• Own it, Care About it, Make it Exceptional, Win Together

Ready to Roll?

Come roll with us and play a key role by bringing people together to celebrate better food for everyone the Japanese way...