Operations Manager - Refresco - FMCG Manufacturing - Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Competitive salary, plus bonus, plus benefits

It's all happening at Refresco, Milton Keynes. Our journey has started to become a high performing factory and team. This year we see significant investment in a state-of-the-art packing machinery, moving our Line 52 performance to the next level. Safety and Quality are the key deliverables for the site; the successful candidate will need a keen eye for improving performance related metrics and tackling our commitment to minimise waste.

As result of growth, we are seeking an Operations Manager. Refresco, the world's largest independent soft drink's manufacturer is always innovating, always changing, and this provides exciting career opportunities for our colleagues. This role will be ideal for you if you are passionate about what you do and seek a new challenge in your production operations career.

About the Role

You will report to the Factory Manager and you are part of the site Production Leadership Team (PLT), you would deputise for the Factory Manager when needed. You will directly manage 4 shift Managers plus a CI Manager and Process Area Manager, indirectly leading over 100 colleagues in Production. You have full responsibility at our Milton Keynes site for all aspects of operational production delivery. You will manage 2 production lines running 24/7, 7 days a week - making sure they operate safely, to a high standard, within budget whilst meeting KPI’s relating to Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery and People.

As an experienced Operations Manager you will likely know what is involved in this role but here are some of the key duties and responsibilities:

• Drive Health & Safety principles across site ensuring these are always adhered to.
• Have full accountability for the management of agreed budgets.
• Manage, control and monitor “cost per case” against the site’s KPI’s, budgets and forecasts.
• Ensure staffing levels are fit for purpose, considering demand and cost per case.
• Implement continuous improvement initiatives and maintain a continuous improvement culture across the site to drive OEE performance and yield.
• Manage, lead and contribute to a range of site projects when require.
• Develop training and coaching programmes to deliver a high performing Operations team, ensuring effective succession plans are developed.
• Conduct regular one to ones with your team to help support develop and performance manage where needed.

About You

We are looking for an experienced Operations Manager with a proven record within manufacturing (FMCG and preferably Food or Drinks industry) of meeting targets and improving performance. You will have experience managing, developing, and leading high performing teams. A good knowledge of quality systems and standards within the food industry will be required for this role as will a real commitment to Continuous Improvement.

As a senior manager you will be a role model to many others and ultimately, we want our people to align with, and resonate the Refresco Values as we believe these are what have made us, and will continue to make us, successful.

Find out more about our Values here: https://www.refresco.co.uk/uk/about/our-values

Reward & Benefits

The salary for this role is dependent on experience. We offer an annual bonus incentive and a good company pension scheme, personal private healthcare, 3 x basic salary life assurance plus 25 days holiday in addition to bank holidays (with the option to purchase additional holidays). Working hours are Monday to Thursday: 8.30am - 5.00pm & Friday: 8.30am - 4.00pm.

We also offer our employees access to GroceryAid – a support service offering financial, legal, wellbeing and practical support, advice and counselling - https://www.groceryaid.org.uk/ - as well as Perkbox – a benefits platform offering discounts, free perks and wellbeing tools for all employees - https://www.perkbox.com/uk

About Refresco

Our drinks on every table. That's the Refresco vision. We're passionate about producing tasty, refreshing drinks and we’re thirsty for more and growing fast. We’re a global business and invested £1.25 billion in expanding our manufacturing footprint to make us the largest independent bottler of soft drinks and fruit juices in the world. We currently produce 13 billion litres from 78 manufacturing plants in 15 countries and we’re only just getting started…

Our UK Business has six manufacturing plants providing a great place to work for 1700 employees producing private label soft drinks and fruit juices for all the leading retailers including Tesco, ASDA, Morrison’s, Sainsburys, ALDI and Lidl. We also manufacture for branded customers such as Innocent, Ocean Spray, Weetabix, Del Monte and Um Bongo. Whether it’s packed in cartons, bottles or cans, we ensure that our products are made to the highest quality standards and deliver them where they need to be at the right time.

Refresco are an equal opportunities employer, and we practice fairness and transparency in our recruitment process for all applicants.