Plant Manager (Advanced Food Processing & Consumer Packaged Goods)

Zohorecruit; Petaling Jaya; On-site; MYR 250,000 - 450,000; Full time

Job summary

Zohorecruit is seeking a Plant Manager for a leading consumer FMCG/food processing facility in Malaysia. The role oversees end-to-end plant operations, engineering, and capital projects, driving safety, quality, cost efficiency, and supply continuity across a high-speed packaging environment.

You will champion Lean, digital manufacturing initiatives, OEE improvements, and robust maintenance programs while leading multi-disciplinary teams and enabling a smooth transition to next-generation

Qualifications

• Direct, hands-on operational leadership within fast-moving consumer food manufacturing.
• Minimum 12 years of manufacturing and engineering leadership experience.
• Experience leading high-speed packaging or processing environments.

Responsibilities

• Plant Operational Leadership & Supply Reliability: meet regional schedules, maximize throughput, ensure service levels.
• Engineering Governance, OEE & Asset Reliability: drive uptime via preventive/predictive maintenance and optimize reliability.
• Lean Manufacturing, Automation & Digitalization: embed lean methods and real-time data analytics for decisions.
• CAPEX Execution & Capability Building: own CAPEX programs from scoping to commissioning, mentor teams.

Skills

Operational leadership

Lean manufacturing

Digital transformation

OEE

Budget management

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering

Tools

ERP systems

Automation & packaging machinery

Job description

Plant Manager (Advanced Food Processing & Consumer Packaged Goods)

Our client is a globally renowned multinational consumer packaged goods (FMCG) and food manufacturing conglomerate with an extensive portfolio of iconic household brands. Serving as a crucial regional manufacturing and strategic operations hub for the Asia-Pacific region, their high-capacity facility in Malaysia utilizes state-of-the-art automation, high-speed packaging systems, and advanced process engineering to deliver world-class products. To support their next phase of expansion, modernization, and digital transformation, they are seeking an experienced, strategic Factory Manager.

Mission

The Factory Manager holds full end-to-end accountability for plant operations, engineering, and capital execution across the facility. This is an executive leadership position responsible for delivering safe, regulatory-compliant, and highly reliable operations while systematically optimizing manufacturing costs, quality, and supply continuity. Through structured continuous improvement, mechanical reliability programs, and digital manufacturing initiatives, you will build shopfloor capability to support long-term regional growth.

Key Responsibilities & Activities

1. Plant Operational Leadership & Supply Reliability

Plan Attainment: Lead, coordinate, and inspire production and engineering departments to consistently meet regional supply schedules, maximize plant throughput, and maintain high delivery service levels.

Financial Stewardship: Manage and optimize the total plant operational budget, aggressively controlling manufacturing overheads, conversion costs, and labor allocation.

Cross-Functional Integration: Partner with Supply Chain, Quality, R&D, Procurement, and HR to eliminate operational friction and ensure seamless new product introductions.

2. Engineering Governance, OEE & Asset Reliability

Mechanical Integrity: Drive machine uptime and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) by establishing disciplined preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programs.

Technical Troubleshooting: Identify and eliminate mechanical bottlenecks, structural constraints, and recurring equipment breakdowns across advanced processing lines.

Compliance Oversight: Maintain an uncompromising safety culture, ensuring plant activities meet strict Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) guidelines and international food safety standards (including FSSC 22000, GMP, and HACCP).

3. Lean Manufacturing, Automation & Digitalization

Continuous Improvement (CI): Drive a high-performance floor culture by embedding lean manufacturing methodologies, structured root-cause analysis, and performance benchmarking.

Digital Integration: Spearhead and embed modern digital manufacturing tools (including automated OEE tracking, digital shift handovers, and real-time downtime analytics) to facilitate data-driven decision-making.

4. CAPEX Execution & Capability Building

Project Delivery: Take ownership of major capital expenditure (CAPEX) programs from initial scoping and budget defense through to mechanical installation, commissioning, and process stabilization.

Workforce Upskilling: Mentor, coach, and develop capabilities across the engineering, production, and leadership teams, driving change management to ensure a smooth transition to next-generation automated systems.

Requirements

Education & Technical Credentials

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Chemical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or Manufacturing) or a closely related Food Science discipline (Engineering specialization is highly preferred).

Technical Mastery: Deep understanding of modern plant utilities, hygienic process design, and high-speed packaging machinery. Specialized exposure to thermal stabilization, preservation processing, or sterile packaging ecosystems is a significant advantage.

Process Systems: Solid familiarity with data-driven operations, automated manufacturing dashboards, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) networks.

Experience & Competencies

Critical Domain Expertise: Direct, hands-on operational leadership within highly fast-moving, high-volume consumer food manufacturing sectors is mandatory. Candidates must prove high-velocity production line expertise and have experience handling the rapid cycle times, high-turnover SKUs, and immediate freshness demands typical of premier food FMCG plants.

Professional Background: Minimum of 12 years of progressive manufacturing and engineering leadership experience, with a heavy emphasis on high-speed, automated food packaging or processing environments.

Leadership Track Record: Proven success direct-managing multi-disciplinary plant teams (Engineering, Maintenance, Production, and HSE), with a strong focus on team cohesion and performance optimization.

Business Acumen: Demonstrated capability in managing substantial operational budgets, driving down scrap/yield loss, and executing complex, high-value CAPEX projects.

Soft Skills: Outstanding communication and stakeholder management skills to represent factory operations at both shopfloor and corporate regional board levels.