Distillery Manufacturing Excellence Leader (Lean)

Hensol Castle Distillery; Pontyclun; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Hensol Castle Distillery is seeking an experienced Manufacturing Excellence leader to drive Lean-based transformation across the site. Sitting with the leadership team, you will embed continuous improvement into daily operations, develop capability and deliver measurable improvements in safety, quality, cost, delivery and people.

You will build a robust Manufacturing Excellence roadmap, coach leaders, run workshops, and champion data-driven decision making to unlock future growth and operational

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading Operational Excellence or Continuous Improvement programmes.
• Strong knowledge of Lean Manufacturing tools and methodologies.
• Track record of sustainable improvements in productivity and efficiency.
• Experience leading cultural change and embedding continuous improvement.
• Ability to coach, influence and develop leaders at all levels.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience within manufacturing environment.
• Ideally, experience in food & drink, distilling or FMCG.
• Knowledge of Six Sigma, TPM, OEE and Visual Management systems.

Responsibilities

• Developing and implementing a Manufacturing Excellence roadmap that supports our operational and strategic objectives.
• Embedding Lean Manufacturing tools, methodologies and behaviours across the distillery.
• Identifying and eliminating waste, reducing process variation and improving operational efficiency.
• Leading continuous improvement initiatives using Lean, Kaizen, Root Cause Analysis and structured problem-solving techniques.
• Using data and performance insight to identify opportunities and drive measurable business improvements.
• Establishing effective performance management routines and visual management processes that sustain improvements over the long term.
• Supporting the optimisation of production processes, asset utilisation and overall operational performance.
• Coaching, mentoring and developing leaders to build continuous improvement capability throughout the organisation.
• Delivering workshops and training that strengthen problem-solving skills, accountability and operational ownership.
• Acting as a trusted partner to the leadership team, helping to drive cultural and behavioural change.
• Leading improvement and transformation projects from concept through to successful implementation and embedding.
• Building engagement and ownership at all levels to create a proactive culture of accountability, collaboration and innovation.
• Championing the highest standards of safety, quality and compliance, ensuring all improvement activities align with regulatory and company requirements.
• Reviewing organisational structure and ways of working, and making recommendations to the leadership team on opportunities to improve efficiency, capability and accountability across the operation, including:
• Supporting the development of processes to trial new products outside of live production wherever practical, helping to maximise productivity during live production runs.
• Working with the relevant operational and engineering leads to review PPM, equipment capability and new product trial requirements, and recommending improvements that support maximum production uptime.
• Reviewing production planning and sequencing arrangements, including package type, liquid type, material availability and resource requirements, and recommending opportunities to improve efficiency and production flow.
• Supporting Production, Technical and Commercial teams in reviewing processes for customer specification sign-off, quality control, communication of issues and production out-turn reporting, identifying opportunities to strengthen controls and consistency.
• Reviewing actual manufacturing performance against agreed commercial assumptions and providing insight to the relevant teams to support future costing, planning and production decisions for the same or similar products.
• Analysing staffing requirements, labour utilisation and agency usage, and making recommendations to the Production Manager and leadership team on staffing models that can flex efficiently with seasonal demand and extended or double-shift requirements.

Skills

Lean Manufacturing

Continuous Improvement

Root Cause Analysis

Kaizen

Data analysis

Coaching/Leadership development

Stakeholder management

Problem-solving

OEE

Tools

Six Sigma

Visual Management

Job description

Hensol Castle Distillery is seeking an experienced Manufacturing Excellence leader to drive Lean-based transformation across the site. Sitting with the leadership team, you will embed continuous improvement into daily operations, develop capability and deliver measurable improvements in safety, quality, cost, delivery and people.

You will build a robust Manufacturing Excellence roadmap, coach leaders, run workshops, and champion data-driven decision making to unlock future growth and operational