Plant Head – Rice Processing & Export Operations

Grainville; Gandhidham; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 4,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Grainville India Private Limited is seeking an experienced Plant Head to oversee our Gujarat manufacturing facility near Gandhidham. You will own production, quality, maintenance, inventory, and dispatch, with accountability for cost control and technology implementation.

This leadership role requires hands-on management of operations, process improvements, and ERP-driven workflows to meet export orders and customer specifications. Immediate availability preferred.

Qualifications

• 10–18 years of experience in rice milling, processing or similar manufacturing.
• Experience in managing an entire plant or major production facility.
• Strong knowledge of rice cleaning, sorting, grading and packing.
• Familiarity with export-oriented production and quality inspections.
• Proficient in production planning, inventory, maintenance and dispatch management.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of day-to-day plant operations and performance.
• Convert export orders into production, packing and loading plans.
• Coordinate raw materials, packaging, quality approvals and logistics.
• Conduct daily reviews of production, stock, quality and dispatch.
• Lead plant-wide safety, hygiene and food-safety compliance.
• Oversee maintenance, utilities, manpower and cost controls.
• Drive ERP-based data capture, traceability and system enhancements.

Skills

Rice milling knowledge

Production planning

Quality systems

ERP systems

Leadership

Data analysis

Excel proficiency

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Production Engineering

Tools

ERP software

Job description

Job Description

Location: Kidana–Tuna Road, Near Gandhidham, Kachchh, Gujarat

Employment Type: Full-time, on-site

Experience: 10–18 years preferred

Reporting To: Founder & Managing Director

Grainville India Private Limited is a growing rice-processing and international export company supplying Indian rice to customers across the Middle East, North America, Europe, Australia and other international markets.

Our Gujarat facility has an installed processing capacity of approximately 10 MT per hour and handles cleaning, de-stoning, silky polishing, optical sorting, grading, blending, consumer and bulk packing, storage and container loading.

We are looking for an experienced, hands-on and technology-oriented Plant Head to take complete ownership of our Gujarat manufacturing facility.

This is not a role limited to production supervision. The selected candidate will be responsible for running the plant as an accountable business unit covering production, quality, food safety, maintenance, manpower, inventory, warehouse, packing, dispatch, cost control and technology implementation.

Key Responsibilities

Plant Operations and Order Execution

• Take complete responsibility for day-to-day plant operations and performance.
• Convert export orders and dispatch schedules into production, packing and container-loading plans.
• Coordinate raw-material availability, packaging materials, quality approvals, inspections, manpower and logistics schedules.
• Conduct daily production, stock, quality, maintenance and dispatch reviews.
• Identify and elevate operational risks before they affect customer commitments.
• Coordinate with procurement, logistics, quality, accounts, HR and corporate-office teams.
• Ensure timely and accurate execution of export orders.

Production and Process Control

• Manage cleaning, de-stoning, polishing, sortex, grading, blending and packing operations.
• Optimise plant settings and process flow according to rice variety and customer specifications.
• Monitor input, output, yield, recovery, wastage, rejection and reprocessing.
• Establish measurable production and efficiency targets for each section.
• Ensure proper line clearance and changeover between rice varieties, grades, buyers and brands.
• Maintain order-wise, batch-wise and lot-wise traceability.
• Reduce idle time, rework, process losses and avoidable material wastage.

Quality and Food Safety

• Ensure that finished products comply with approved customer specifications.
• Coordinate sampling, laboratory testing, buyer inspections and final quality approval.
• Ensure compliance with BRCGS, HACCP, ISO 22000 and other applicable food-safety requirements.
• Maintain strict hygiene, housekeeping, pest-control and employee-practice standards.
• Prevent contamination, infestation, foreign matter, odour, cross-mixing and deterioration.
• Investigate quality deviations, rejected lots and customer complaints.
• Ensure timely root-cause analysis and corrective and preventive action.
• Maintain readiness for customer, certification and regulatory audits.
• Ensure that only quality-approved material is packed and dispatched.

Packing, Warehouse and Dispatch

• Manage consumer and bulk packing across different bag types and pack sizes.
• Verify packaging artwork, printing, coding, stitching, zipper, marking, net weight and buyer-specific requirements.
• Maintain segregation of brands, buyers, rice varieties, specifications and packaging materials.
• Prevent underweight, overweight, damaged and incorrectly printed bags.
• Maintain accurate records of raw rice, processed rice, finished goods and packaging materials.
• Ensure FIFO, lot-wise stock movement, physical verification and stock reconciliation.
• Supervise container inspection, cleanliness, loading pattern, quantity, sealing and photographic documentation.
• Coordinate dispatch activities and prevent shortages, loading errors and avoidable delays.

Maintenance, Utilities and Safety

• Establish preventive and breakdown-maintenance systems.
• Ensure timely maintenance of sortex machines, polishers, graders, conveyors, compressors, packing machines and utilities.
• Maintain equipment history, breakdown records, maintenance schedules and critical‑spares lists.
• Reduce unplanned downtime and improve machinery availability.
• Monitor electricity, fuel, compressed air and other utility consumption.
• Coordinate with equipment manufacturers, technicians and maintenance vendors.
• Ensure electrical, machinery, fire and workplace safety.

Manpower and Plant Administration

• Plan and deploy employees, supervisors, contractual labour and service providers.
• Define responsibilities, shift allocations, output targets and performance expectations.
• Build a disciplined, accountable and food‑safety‑focused work culture.
• Ensure proper attendance, shift handover and manpower utilisation.
• Train employees on SOPs, hygiene, safety, quality and system usage.
• Coordinate employee matters with the corporate HR team.
• Develop capable second-line supervisors so the plant does not depend on one individual.

Cost Control and Reporting

• Monitor processing, labour, packaging, maintenance and utility costs.
• Analyse order‑wise and product‑wise yield, recovery, wastage and productivity.
• Compare planned versus actual performance and investigate major variances.
• Prepare accurate daily, weekly and monthly plant‑performance reports.
• Provide management visibility over production, inventory, quality, maintenance, dispatch, manpower and operational risks.
• Recommend improvements in capacity utilisation, cost, productivity and plant controls.

ERP, Data and Technology Implementation

• Work with the Founder and Business Systems team to implement Grainville’s enterprise platform at the plant.
• Help map and digitise inward, production, quality, packing, inventory, maintenance and outward processes.
• Ensure accurate and timely system entries by responsible employees.
• Replace informal registers and disconnected spreadsheets with structured digital workflows.
• Support implementation of traceability, approvals, alerts, dashboards and management controls.
• Use operational data to improve yield, downtime, productivity, quality and inventory accuracy.
• Drive employee adoption of the new system across the plant.

Requirements

• 10–18 years of experience in rice milling, rice processing, food processing or a comparable manufacturing environment.
• Prior experience independently managing an entire plant or major production facility.
• Strong practical knowledge of rice cleaning, de-stoning, polishing, sortex, grading, blending and packing.
• Experience handling basmati, non‑basmati or export‑quality rice is strongly preferred.
• Experience with bulk and consumer packaging and customer‑specific production requirements.
• Strong knowledge of production planning, inventory, maintenance, manpower and dispatch management.
• Working knowledge of BRCGS, HACCP, ISO 22000 or comparable food‑safety systems.
• Experience handling customer inspections, certification audits, complaints, non‑conformities and CAPA.
• Ability to monitor and improve yield, recovery, productivity, wastage and operating cost.
• Strong leadership, discipline, ownership and problem‑solving ability.
• Good working knowledge of Excel, operational reporting and data analysis.
• Comfortable working with ERP, production‑management and technology‑enabled systems.
• Ability to communicate effectively with senior management, plant employees, inspectors, vendors and corporate‑office teams.
• Willingness to be based full‑time at Grainville’s plant near Gandhidham, Gujarat.
• Candidates available immediately or at short notice will be preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree or diploma in Mechanical Engineering, Production Engineering, Food Technology, Manufacturing or a related discipline.
• Experience in an export‑oriented rice‑processing facility.
• Experience with optical sorters and modern rice‑processing equipment.
• Experience with private‑label or buyer‑specific packing.
• Experience implementing ERP or digital production systems.
• Exposure to plant expansion, automation or process‑improvement projects.

Benefits

• Opportunity to lead the complete operations of a growing export‑oriented rice‑processing facility.
• Direct interaction with the Founder & Managing Director.
• Significant authority and ownership over production, quality, maintenance, manpower, inventory and dispatch.
• Opportunity to build systems, processes and a strong second‑line plant team.
• Active involvement in Grainville’s enterprise‑system and plant‑digitisation programme.
• Exposure to international customers, export specifications, inspections and global food‑safety standards.
• Opportunity to implement measurable improvements in yield, productivity, quality and operational cost.
• Professional growth with a rapidly expanding international food‑export company.
• Competitive compensation based on experience, current compensation and demonstrated capability.
• Stable, full‑time leadership position with long‑term growth potential.