General Manager Operations

The General Manager Production & Plant Operations will be responsible for end-to-end manufacturing and plant performance of the ice cream factory. The role ensures safe, hygienic, compliant, and cost-effective production, manages seasonal demand fluctuations, maintains cold-chain integrity, and drives continuous improvement across production, maintenance, quality, utilities, and people management.

This is a plant head role with full ownership of output, efficiency, food safety, cost control, and team leadership.

Key Responsibilities

1. Production & Manufacturing Operations

• Lead daily and long-term production planning aligned with sales forecasts and seasonality
• Ensure achievement of volume, yield, and SKU-wise production targets
• Manage batch processing, freezing, extrusion, molding, filling, and packing operations
• Minimise process losses, rework, wastage, and downtime
• Ensure uninterrupted production during peak summer demand

2. Quality, Food Safety & Compliance

• Ensure strict compliance with FSSAI, GMP, GHP, HACCP, ISO 22000 and internal quality standards
• Own product quality from raw milk/ingredients intake to finished goods dispatch
• Lead audits, inspections, and customer quality reviews
• Maintain high standards of hygiene, sanitation, allergen control, and traceability
• Drive zero critical quality deviations and recalls

3. Cold Chain & Utilities Management

• Ensure effective operation of cold rooms, blast freezers, hardening tunnels, and deep-freeze storage
• Maintain cold-chain integrity across production and storage
• Oversee utilities including ammonia refrigeration, compressors, boilers, DG sets, water treatment, and ETP/STP
• Drive energy efficiency and cost optimisation initiatives

4. Maintenance & Asset Reliability

• Lead preventive and predictive maintenance programs
• Ensure high uptime of production lines and refrigeration systems
• Plan and execute capex, line expansions, and new equipment commissioning
• Manage AMC vendors and critical spares inventory

5. Cost Control & Productivity

• Own plant operating costs including manpower, utilities, consumables, and maintenance
• Drive cost per litre / cost per unit reduction
• Monitor plant budgets, variances, and corrective actions
• Improve OEE, labour productivity, and material efficiency

6. Inventory & Dispatch Coordination

• Ensure availability and quality of raw materials, flavours, inclusions, and packaging
• Control WIP and finished goods inventory, especially frozen stock ageing
• Coordinate with logistics for timely dispatch and freezer loading

7. People Leadership & Industrial Relations

• Lead production, quality, maintenance, stores, and utilities teams
• Build a culture of discipline, accountability, and food safety ownership
• Handle manpower planning, shift rosters, contract labour, and training
• Manage industrial relations and statutory labour compliance
• Develop second-line leadership and succession planning

8. Continuous Improvement & Systems

• Implement Lean manufacturing, Kaizen, TPM, and 5S initiatives
• Use MIS, dashboards, and KPIs to drive performance reviews
• Support automation, digitisation, and ERP-led controls

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Production volume & schedule adherence
• Yield, wastage, and rework levels
• OEE & equipment uptime
• Quality complaints, audit scores, and deviations
• Cold-chain compliance
• Cost per unit & budget adherence
• Safety & hygiene metrics

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelors degree in Dairy Technology / Food Technology / Mechanical / Chemical Engineering
• MBA / Post-graduate qualification preferred
• 1220 years of experience in ice cream, dairy, frozen foods, or FMCG manufacturing
• Prior experience as Plant Head / Production Head / Factory Manager preferred
• Strong exposure to high-volume, seasonal production environments