Head of Manufacturing: Lean & Ops Excellence

Wienerberger AG; Cork; On-site; EUR 77,000 - 94,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension Scheme

Social Club with events

Marriage/ Civil Partnership / Fertilty

Job summary

Pipelife Ireland, a Wienerberger division, invites applications for Head of Manufacturing at the Little Island site in Cork. You will lead manufacturing performance, safety, quality and delivery, partner with the Operations Director, and drive a KPI-driven culture of operational excellence.

This site-based role offers opportunities for career development and cross-functional collaboration as you embed Lean principles, 5S, and continuous improvement across production lines, while ensuring optimal

Qualifications

• Strong manufacturing leadership in a high-volume production environment.
• Degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations or equivalent.
• Proven track record of improving manufacturing performance.
• Experience implementing continuous improvement/Lean programmes.
• Knowledge of OEE, downtime analysis and performance management.
• Experience developing supervisors and production leadership teams.
• Strong safety leadership and excellent communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide visible leadership to maintain a strong safety culture.
• Establish clear performance expectations across production lines.
• Drive improvements in productivity, OEE, output and labour efficiency.
• Lead a structured continuous improvement programme across manufacturing.
• Embed Lean manufacturing principles, 5S standards and root cause problem solving.
• Work with Engineering and Maintenance to improve equipment reliability.
• Drive effective use of KPIs, visual management and digital dashboards.
• Develop frontline leadership capability across supervisors and team leaders.
• Identify capability gaps and implement training and development plans.
• Ensure effective workforce planning and utilisation of labour resources.

Skills

Strong manufacturing leadership

Improving manufacturing performance

Continuous improvement / Lean

Safety leadership

Excellent communication

Stakeholder management

Education

Degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations or equivalent

Tools

MES

Digital manufacturing systems

Shop-floor visualisation tools

Job description

Pipelife Ireland, a Wienerberger division, invites applications for Head of Manufacturing at the Little Island site in Cork. You will lead manufacturing performance, safety, quality and delivery, partner with the Operations Director, and drive a KPI-driven culture of operational excellence.

This site-based role offers opportunities for career development and cross-functional collaboration as you embed Lean principles, 5S, and continuous improvement across production lines, while ensuring optimal