Customer Relations Manager in Yeovil, Somerset

CNC Recruitment are seeking a proactive, customer-focused Customer Relations Manager to join our clients Production Support team.

The role is responsible for managing customer orders from placement through to delivery, ensuring that customer requirements and delivery commitments are achieved.

Working closely with all departments across the business, the successful candidate will coordinate production progress, manage subcontract processing, monitor delivery schedules and maintain regular communication with customers.

A key part of the role is building strong customer relationships, identifying potential delivery issues before they arise and working collaboratively with internal teams and external suppliers to ensure customer expectations are consistently met.

The ideal candidate will have excellent communication and organisational skills, a strong customer service mindset and the ability to work effectively within a fast-paced CNC manufacturing environment

Key Responsibilities

Customer Relationship Management

Manage allocated customer orders and day-to-day customer requirements, ensuring orders progress in line with agreed delivery schedules.

Maintain regular, proactive and reactive communication with customers, providing accurate updates on order progress and potential delivery issues.

Build and maintain strong, professional customer relationships, promoting RSC's capabilities, services and reputation.

Manage customer expectations professionally, particularly when dealing with delays, delivery challenges or changes to requirements.

Identify opportunities to improve customer satisfaction and strengthen existing customer relationships.

Performance Measures: Customer satisfaction, delivery performance and turnaround time (TAT).

Production Progress and Order Management

Monitor and coordinate customer orders throughout the production facility, ensuring work is progressed through the correct departments and processes.

Work closely with Cell Leaders and relevant departments to understand production progress and identify potential bottlenecks.

Proactively monitor order progress against required delivery dates and take appropriate action where delays are anticipated.

Support production teams in achieving agreed delivery targets and customer commitments.

Maintain accurate and up-to-date information on customer order status.

Performance Measures: Turnaround time (TAT), on-time delivery (OTD) and production performance.

Subcontract Management

Coordinate subcontract requirements, ensuring purchase orders are raised accurately and on time.

Monitor subcontract orders through to completion, maintaining regular communication with external suppliers.

Proactively chase subcontractors to ensure agreed delivery dates are achieved.

Expedite subcontract processing where necessary to protect customer delivery commitments.

Ensure subcontracted work is effectively coordinated with internal production requirements.

Performance Measures: Subcontract turnaround time and on-time delivery.

Customer Communication and Issue Resolution

Proactively communicate with customers where purchase orders or delivery commitments are at risk of not being achieved.

Identify potential issues early, escalate concerns to the appropriate internal personnel and take ownership of following them through to resolution.

Maintain a professional and solutions-focused approach when handling customer complaints, concerns and sensitive conversations.

Ensure customers receive clear, timely and accurate information throughout the order lifecycle.

Performance Measures: Customer satisfaction and on-time delivery.

Reporting and Continuous Improvement

Provide a weekly report to the Managing Director, highlighting positive and negative customer feedback, ongoing issues and any areas requiring attention.

Escalate significant customer concerns at the earliest opportunity.

Follow up on reported issues to ensure appropriate actions are completed and satisfactory resolutions achieved.

Support the delivery of production targets and provide accurate information to assist with the monitoring and reporting of key performance indicators (KPIs).

Undertake any other reasonable duties as requested by the line manager or Managing Director.

4. Skills and Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

Customer Focus: A genuine commitment to customer satisfaction, with the ability to build strong, lasting professional relationships.

Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the confidence to communicate effectively with customers, suppliers, Cell Leaders and management.

Organisation: Strong planning and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple customer orders and competing priorities.

Manufacturing Awareness: An understanding of CNC machining, engineering manufacturing or production environments would be advantageous.

Process Knowledge: The ability to develop an understanding of RSC's manufacturing processes, departmental capabilities and typical processing lead times.

Production Coordination: The ability to monitor work in progress, identify potential delays and work with production teams to maintain delivery schedules.

Problem Solving: A proactive approach to identifying issues, finding solutions and escalating concerns when necessary.

Commercial Awareness: An understanding of the commercial impact of expedited orders, with the confidence to discuss and agree appropriate expedite charges with customers where applicable.

IT Skills: Good general IT skills, including confidence using Microsoft Office, email and business management systems.

Professionalism: A calm, constructive and non-confrontational approach, particularly when managing challenging situations.

5. Qualifications and Experience

Previous experience in a customer-facing, customer service or customer account management role.

Experience within CNC machining, engineering, manufacturing or a similar production environment would be highly advantageous.

A relevant qualification in Customer Service, Business Administration or a related discipline would be desirable but is not essential.

Experience coordinating customer orders, production schedules, subcontract work or supplier deliveries would be beneficial.

6. Personal Attributes

The successful candidate will be:

Highly organised, with excellent attention to detail.

Customer-focused and committed to delivering a high standard of service.

Comfortable working in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

Self-motivated, reliable and capable of working independently.

Able to multitask and prioritise workloads effectively.

Confident when dealing with challenging or sensitive customer conversations.

Professional, approachable and positive in their working relationships.

A strong team player who recognises the importance of working collaboratively across all departments.

7. Shared Responsibilities and Team Approach

The Customer Relations Manager will work closely with Project Management, Production and Subcontract departments to ensure a joined-up approach to customer delivery.

Responsibilities will include:

Supporting the expediting of subcontract work to protect customer delivery commitments.

Working collaboratively with all departments to achieve shared business objectives.

Promoting a team-focused approach, ensuring that customer requirements remain a priority across the business.

Supporting the wider team in achieving production targets, delivery performance and customer satisfaction.