Manager - Covers & Cushions

Caterpillar Signs; Gandhinagar; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Caterpillar Signs in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, seeks an experienced Production Manager for Cushion & Covers to lead end-to-end textile manufacturing operations, including cutting, stitching, filling, finishing, and packing.

You will drive production planning, line balancing, quality control, and continuous improvement, coordinating with PPC, SCM, and maintenance to meet daily to monthly targets while ensuring safety and on-time delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or Diploma in Textile Engineering, Production, Mechanical or Industrial Engineering.
• 8–12 years of experience in textile/home furnishing manufacturing.
• Strong experience in cutting, stitching/sewing, filling, finishing and soft textile product manufacturing.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day production operations for cushion, covers, and soft furnishings.
• Oversee fabric cutting, printing, stitching, filling, assembly, finishing, packing and dispatch.
• Achieve daily, weekly, monthly production targets and optimize manpower/machine use.
• Coordinate with PPC and SCM for materials availability and production sequencing.
• Drive lean, 5S, and continuous improvement across lines.
• Monitor quality, reduce wastage, and prevent bottlenecks on the shop floor.
• Plan capacity, shift planning, and handovers for multiple SKUs.
• Ensure safety compliance and on-time delivery of orders.
• Collaborate with Design/Product teams for new product introductions.

Skills

Production planning

Lean Manufacturing

Kaizen

5S

Line balancing

Cross-functional coordination

Quality management

Education

Bachelor’s Degree/Diploma in Textile Engineering or related

Job description

Designation: Manager Cushion & CoversLocation: Gandhinagar, Gujarat

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced Production Manager – Cushion & Cover Category to lead end-to-end production operations for our cushion, cover, soft furnishing, and related customized textile products.The incumbent will be responsible for managing production planning and execution, cutting, stitching/sewing, filling, finishing, quality, manpower productivity, machine utilization, and timely order fulfilment.The role requires strong expertise in soft textile products, cushion and cover manufacturing, stitching operations, production planning, process optimization, quality management, and large-scale shop-floor operations. The candidate will work closely with PPC, Quality, SCM, Industrial Engineering, Maintenance, Design, and other cross-functional teams to ensure efficient and timely execution of customer orders.

Key Responsibilities1. Production Operations Management

• Lead day-to-day production operations for cushion, covers, soft furnishings, and customized textile products.
• Manage end-to-end manufacturing processes including fabric cutting, printing/customization, stitching, sewing, filling, assembly, finishing, packing, and dispatch.
• Ensure achievement of daily, weekly, and monthly production targets.
• Optimize manpower and machine utilization to achieve planned production volumes.
• Ensure production schedules are executed as per customer requirements and committed delivery timelines.
• Monitor shop-floor operations and proactively address bottlenecks affecting production output.

2. Production Planning & Execution

• Coordinate closely with PPC and SCM teams to ensure availability of fabrics, trims, fillers, accessories, packaging materials, and other required raw materials.
• Plan production capacity based on order volumes, product complexity, manpower availability, and machine capacity.
• Monitor WIP, production flow, line balancing, machine loading, and bottlenecks.
• Ensure effective production sequencing for multiple SKUs, customized orders, and varying product specifications.
• Establish effective shift planning, production allocation, and handover mechanisms.
• Ensure smooth execution of urgent and priority orders without compromising quality.

3. Cutting, Stitching & Sewing Operations

• Drive operational efficiency across cutting, stitching, sewing, filling, assembly, and finishing processes.
• Optimize cutting layouts and fabric utilization to minimize wastage.
• Improve stitching productivity through appropriate machine allocation, line balancing, and operator skill mapping.
• Monitor sewing machine efficiency, operator productivity, cycle times, and line output.
• Identify process constraints and implement corrective actions to improve throughput.
• Standardize processes and SOPs across different product categories and production lines.

4. Quality Management

• Ensure adherence to defined product specifications, workmanship standards, and customer requirements.
• Minimize defects, rejection, rework, fabric wastage, stitching defects, dimensional deviations, and finishing issues.
• Work closely with QA/QC teams to establish process quality checkpoints.
• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective/preventive actions for recurring quality issues.
• Ensure consistency in dimensions, stitching quality, filling density, finishing, appearance, and overall product quality.
• Monitor quality metrics and implement continuous improvement initiatives.

5. Manpower & Shop-Floor Management

• Lead supervisors, line leaders, operators, tailors, cutters, helpers, and other shop-floor personnel.
• Plan manpower deployment based on production requirements and skill availability.
• Monitor attendance, productivity, discipline, and workforce utilization.
• Develop skill matrices and identify training requirements for operators and supervisors.
• Drive multi-skilling and cross-training initiatives to improve workforce flexibility.
• Build a performance-oriented, disciplined, and safety-focused production culture.

6. Machine & Equipment Management

• Ensure optimum utilization of stitching, sewing, cutting, printing, filling, and finishing equipment.
• Coordinate with Maintenance teams to minimize machine breakdowns and production downtime.
• Monitor machine efficiency and support preventive maintenance initiatives.
• Identify requirements for new machines, tooling, automation, and process improvements.
• Support machine installation, trials, commissioning, and production stabilization.
• Evaluate opportunities for automation in repetitive and high-volume production processes.

7. Productivity & Process Improvement

• Drive Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, 5S, line balancing, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Improve productivity through optimization of manpower, machine utilization, process flow, and cycle times.
• Identify opportunities to reduce material wastage, rework, overtime, and production costs.
• Analyze production MIS and KPI dashboards to identify performance gaps.
• Establish and monitor KPIs for productivity, efficiency, quality, wastage, downtime, and on-time production.
• Drive standardization and process improvement across the cushion and cover manufacturing operations.

8. Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with PPC, SCM, Quality, Industrial Engineering, Maintenance, Design, Product Development, and Warehouse teams.
• Coordinate with Design/Product teams to understand new product specifications and manufacturing requirements.
• Support new product introduction (NPI), sampling, trials, and production scale-up.
• Ensure smooth transition of new products from sampling to mass production.
• Resolve production-related issues impacting order fulfillment and customer commitments.

9. Safety & Compliance

• Ensure adherence to EHS and statutory requirements across the production floor.
• Maintain safe working practices across cutting, stitching, filling, printing, and finishing operations.
• Conduct regular shop-floor audits and ensure timely closure of safety observations.
• Promote 5S, workplace discipline, housekeeping, and safe equipment handling.

Key Deliverables

• Achievement of daily/monthly production targets.
• Improved production efficiency and machine utilization.
• Reduction in rejection, rework, wastage, and production losses.
• Improved stitching, cutting, filling, and finishing productivity.
• Improved fabric utilization and reduction in material wastage.
• Timely completion of customized customer orders.
• Effective manpower utilization and productivity improvement.
• Reduction in machine downtime and process bottlenecks.
• Successful execution of new product introductions and production scale-ups.
• Controlled manufacturing cost and continuous process improvement.
• Safe, disciplined, and compliant production operations.

Qualification & Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree/Diploma in Textile Engineering, Production, Mechanical, Industrial Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 8–12 years of experience in textile, home furnishing, soft furnishing, cushion, cover, upholstery, garmenting, or related manufacturing operations.
• Strong experience in cutting, stitching/sewing, filling, finishing, and soft textile product manufacturing.
• Experience managing large shop-floor manpower and multiple production lines/shifts.
• Strong understanding of production planning, line balancing, productivity improvement, quality management, and manufacturing KPIs.
• Exposure to Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, 5S, and process improvement will be preferred.
• Experience in customized/high-SKU or e-commerce manufacturing environments will be an added advantage.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, people-management, and cross-functional coordination skills.