Production Manager -Cushions & Covers

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 category to lead end-to-end operations across cutting, stitching, filling, finishing, and packing of textile products. You will drive planning, line balancing, and cross-functional coordination to meet customer orders on time.

The role requires deep expertise in soft textile product manufacturing, production planning, and quality management, with a focus on safety and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• 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.

Responsibilities

• 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 timelines.
• Monitor shop-floor operations and address bottlenecks affecting output.
• Coordinate with PPC and SCM to ensure availability of fabrics, trims, and materials.
• Plan production capacity based on order volumes, complexity, and manpower.
• Ensure smooth execution of urgent orders without compromising quality.
• Drive Lean, Kaizen, 5S, and process improvements across lines.

Skills

Analytical skills

Problem-solving

People management

Cross-functional coordination

Education

Textile Engineering

Production/Industrial Engineering

Job description

Job description:

Designation: Manager Cushion & Covers

Location: 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 Responsibilities

1. 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.

Work Location: In person