Production Operations Manager

Metsä Wood

Metsä Group is a successful forest industry group with roots in the Finnish forest - Our parent company is a cooperative of over 90,000 forest owners. The products of Metsä Wood, Metsä Group’s wood products business, include Kerto® LVL, birch and spruce plywood and further processed sawn timber. Our products made of northern wood store carbon, and play an important role in combating climate change. 

We welcome people from diverse backgrounds and different stages of life. Metsä has space and opportunities for many kinds of talent, regardless of age, gender, ethnic background, sexual orientation, disability or other characteristics – Metsä is for all. Read more: metsagroup.com/metsaforall.

Job Title: Production Operations Manager

Company: Metsa Wood UK Ltd

Location: Boston

Job Type: Full Time, Permanent

Job Summary:

The Production Operations Manager is a key member of the site leadership team, accountable for the end-to-end manufacturing performance of the Boston site. The role provides senior leadership across Production, Engineering, Health, Safety & Environment, Quality, Cost, Delivery and People, ensuring the site delivers its annual and long-term business objectives. The role provides strategic oversight of capital investment and asset strategy, with delivery led by the Engineering & Capex Manager.

Key Responsibilities:

Site Leadership & Strategy

• Lead the manufacturing strategy for the Boston site in line with Metsa Wood UK and Metsa Group manufacturing long term plans.
• Provide clear, visible leadership through the site leadership team, setting direction, priorities and standards. 
• Setting a strong customer focused culture throughout the team and building flexibility and agility into the ways of working to allow the business to meet changing customer requirements.
• Play a key role in delivering NPI and NPD that the businesses brings to market.
• Translate business strategy into medium- and long-term site plans covering people, plant, performance, flexibility and capability.
• Act as a senior decision-maker for operational matters, escalating to the Supply Director where required.

Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Leadership

• Provide overall leadership and strategic direction for Health, Safety and Environment across the site.
• Act as the site owner of the HSE strategy, ensuring alignment with Metsa UK, Metsa Group and regulatory requirements.
• Line manage the Health, Safety & Environment Advisor, setting clear objectives, priorities and development plans.
• Ensure effective implementation, monitoring and continuous improvement of HSE management systems.
• Lead a proactive behavioral safety culture with the objective of a zero accident and environmentally responsible workplace.
• Ensure full compliance with statutory, regulatory and company HSE requirements including PUWER, DSEAR and contractor management.
• Provide senior leadership during incident investigations, ensuring root cause analysis and effective corrective actions.

Production & Operational Performance

• Accountable for site performance against Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and Productivity  targets.
• Drive a CI agenda and approach across their area of responsibility
• Ensure production resources are aligned to deliver customer requirements in the most cost-effective and efficient manner.
• Champion daily management systems, performance review and structured problem-solving.
• Work cross-functionally with Supply Chain, Distribution, HR and Finance to deliver the annual plan.

Engineering & Asset Reliability

• Provide senior leadership and direction to the Engineering & Capex Manager.
• Ensure strong collaboration between Engineering and Production to reduce planned and unplanned downtime.
• Oversee asset reliability, maintenance strategy and availability performance to maximise productivity.
• Ensure engineering strategy is aligned with operational, safety and business priorities.

Capital Investment & Projects (Senior Oversight)

• Provide strategic oversight and governance of the site Capital Investment programme, including long-range planning, obsolescence management and future-proofing of assets.
• Set clear direction, priorities and expectations for capital investment aligned to safety, capacity, reliability, quality and cost objectives.
• Sponsor and oversee capital projects delivered by the Engineering & Capex Manager, ensuring appropriate capability, resources and controls are in place.
• Maintain senior governance over capital approvals, spend, risk management and benefits realisation.
• Challenge, support and coach the Engineering & Capex Manager to ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and to specification.
• Act as the senior site escalation point for major capital projects, suppliers and contractors where required.

People Leadership & Capability

• Lead, coach and develop team members.
• Build succession, capability and workforce plans to meet future operational and regulatory needs.
• Create a culture of engagement, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Lead organisational change effectively, including within a unionised environment where applicable.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

Essential

• Senior leadership experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated leadership of Health, Safety and Environment strategy.
• Proven accountability for production and engineering performance.
• Experience overseeing capital investment programmes.
• Strong financial, commercial and stakeholder management capability.

Desirable

• Degree or equivalent professional qualification.
• IOSH or NEBOSH Health & Safety qualification.
• Lean Six Sigma Green or Black Belt.
• Experience in a unionised manufacturing environment.

Enter a new era in your career,​ welcome to Metsä Group!​

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