Manufacturing Manager in Uckfield, East Sussex

We are very pleased to be working alongside our established, reputable and very professional client as they seek to recruit a Manufacturing Manager on a full time permanent at their busy site in Uckfield, East Sussex.

Our client is a well-established UK manufacturer supplying innovative solutions to customers nationwide. They are seeking an experienced Manufacturing Manager to lead their manufacturing operations, drive continuous improvement, and ensure the highest standards of quality, safety, and efficiency across the production facility.

This is an excellent opportunity for a dynamic hands-on manufacturing leader who enjoys developing teams, improving processes, and delivering operational excellence in a fast-paced / high volume production environment.

Manufacturing Manager

Uckfield - with plenty of parking available for all staff on site.

Full time permanent role - Monday - Friday 39 hours per week. Mon-Thu 0830-1645 and early finish at 1515 on Fridays.

£43000-£45000 per year plus generous company bonus scheme available. 24 days holiday plus all UK bank holidays, good company pension scheme. Suitable work clothes supplied.

The role - Manufacturing Manager

As Manufacturing Manager, you will take responsibility for the day-to-day running of multiple assembly lines, ensuring production targets, quality standards, and customer delivery requirements are consistently achieved. You will lead a team of approximately 30 production operatives and 2 Team Leaders while driving performance improvements across the operation.

Duties and responsibilities include:

• Plan and manage production schedules to meet customer demand
• Lead, motivate, and develop Production Team Leaders and Production Operatives.
• Monitor and improve production performance, efficiency, output, and labour utilisation.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives including Lean Manufacturing, 5S, waste reduction and process optimisation.
• Manage inventory, raw material availability, work-in-progress (WIP), and finished goods stock levels.
• Analyse and report on key operational KPIs including productivity, downtime, quality, scrap, rework, and delivery performance.
• Ensure products are manufactured to the highest quality standards.
• Work collaboratively with Engineering, Quality, Warehouse and other departments to improve operational performance.
• Lead health and safety initiatives and maintain compliance across the manufacturing environment.
• Drive improvements in OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), efficiency, productivity, and manufacturing costs.

Experience, skills and competencies required:

Essential

• Previous experience as a Production Manager, Manufacturing Manager, Production Supervisor or similar leadership role.
• Strong experience within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong production planning and inventory management experience.
• Experience managing teams within a production or assembly operation.
• Excellent KPI management and performance improvement skills.
• Good knowledge of quality, safety and compliance requirements.
• Strong ERP system and Microsoft Excel skills.

Desirable - not essential

• Lean Manufacturing and/or Six Sigma experience.
• Experience driving OEE, labour efficiency and productivity improvements.
• Multi-line production management experience.
• Forecasting and capacity planning knowledge.
• Health & Safety qualification or certification.

For more information regarding this new and exciting Manufacturing Manager opportunity, please apply now! Short-listing will take place soon - don't miss out!

Berry Recruitment Services Ltd T/A First Recruitment Services is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.

Please note that no terminology in this advert is intended to discriminate on the grounds of a person's gender, marital status, race, religion, colour, age, disability or sexual orientation. Every candidate will be assessed only in accordance with their merits, qualifications and ability to perform the duties of the job