Department Head - Braid/PEX/Cutting

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions; Huddersfield; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fluid technology company in Huddersfield is looking for a Department Head - Braid/PEX/Cutting. The role involves managing operations, ensuring compliance with safety standards, and mentoring team leaders. The successful candidate will have experience in a manufacturing environment, preferably with Lean methodologies. This position also promotes strong team collaboration and aims to maintain high product quality and safety standards while fostering an inclusive workplace culture.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Flexible working arrangements

Generous holiday allowance

Paid volunteering leave

Diverse and inclusive work environment

Qualifications

• Previous experience managing operations in a manufacturing environment.
• Proven track record of leading teams and driving operational excellence.
• Experience with Lean manufacturing and 6S processes.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational excellence across departments ensuring high standards.
• Manage and mentor Team Leaders to enhance team performance.
• Ensure compliance with safety and quality standards.

Skills

Team Leading

Lean Manufacturing

Root Cause Analysis

EHS Compliance

Project Management

Effective Communication

Education

Degree in Engineering or equivalent experience

IOSH – Managing Safely

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Job description

Job Title: Department Head - Braid/PEX/Cutting
Location: Aflex - Bradley Business Park
Location Type: On-Site
Website: https://www.wmfts.com/en/
Group: https://www.spiraxgroup.com/

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions is part of SpiraxGroup, a FTSE100 and FTSE4Good multi-national industrial engineering Group with expertise in the control and management of steam, electric thermal solutions, peristaltic pumping and associated fluid technologies. When you join us, you will be integrated into a cooperative and encouraging team, participate in challenging yet critical work, and experience ongoing growth opportunities to help you achieve your full potential. Visit our website to learn more.

Job Summary

We are seeking a talented and motivated Department Head - Braid/PEX/Cutting to join our dynamic team.

Key Responsibilities

Lead, manage and drive operational excellence across your group of departments (Operation). Lead, encourage and motivate team members in accordance with the relevant specifications, procedures and quality standards related to their roles. Provide leadership and supervision for your Team Leaders; supporting their development through training, mentoring and regular one-to-one meetings and appraisals to achieve and maintain high performance and compliance to relevant standards. Ensure high quality standards are reinforced and maintained. To manufacture product to meet customer delivery dates in a timely manner.

Safety

• First Aid Certified.
• Actively report near misses and support activities to deliver improvements.
• Work alongside your Team Leaders and Operations Leader to close out EHS concerns.
• Ensure compliance with company and regulatory EH&S requirements.
• Ensure complete awareness and involvement of personnel in environmental, safety, health and ergonomic improvement processes.
• As a member of the Aflex management team, passionately lead our #1 priority: health, wellbeing and safety of our colleagues, contributing to the creation of a strong safety culture.
• Ensure daily health and safety checks are completed.
• Ensure weekly safe Behaviour Audit to reinforce safe behaviours is completed.
• Track EH&S metrics and conduct EH&S updates with Team Leaders on a monthly basis.
• Issue a monthly safety bulletin and a daily safety checklist for Team Leaders.
• Ensure setting and operation of machine tools in a safe and efficient manner happens.

Customer Focus

• Think about what your customer requires and anticipate their future needs.
• Consider your internal customer and pass the ball in a way that can catch.
• Monitor the manufactured output from the departments; ensuring that output is inline with the master production schedule.
• In collaboration with the Operations Leader, ensure that quality issues, process problems, labour shortages and machine breakdowns are reacted to quickly and the appropriate actions are taken promptly to resolve.
• Ensure 6s activities are undertaken within your Departments.

Excellence

• Lead and manage your Team Leaders to produce high quality product while meeting challenging business objectives.
• Proactively build capability of Team Leaders to support future growth and ensure they are doing the same for their team members.
• Provide periodic forecasts and recommendations of number of heads needed to support achievement of Production targets and business aims.
• Recruit new people as necessary and lead, manage, develop, motivate and support your people to reach their full potential.
• Review and communicate personal and team objectives and related performance measures ensuring clarity and unity of purpose.
• Proactively pursue your personal, agreed development aims to optimize your ability to inform and contribute to our commercial success.
• Ensure that positive and productive relationships are maintained within your departments and with suppliers and customers.
• Be a site expert for GEM responsible for meeting targets on the balanced scorecard and cost-saving initiatives.
• Analyze downtime sheets and review the shift with the Team Leaders amending plans for next day as required.
• Ensure unplanned absence, lateness and conduct issues that have been escalated by your Team Leaders are dealt with in a timely manner.
• Address discipline issues in accordance with company policies and procedures. Proactively address performance concerns and conduct issues; escalating to the Operations Leader in a timely way where it is evident that usual management procedures have not resolved issues.
• Conduct performance reviews in line with the company annual performance review process.
• Conduct regular 1-2-1 meetings with your Team Leaders.
• Assign Team Leader responsibilities.
• Support new Team Leaders through the induction process, completing required paperwork.
• Ensure Team Leaders produce reports on time and keep department notice boards up to date.
• Manage the Team Leader holiday plan/rota.
• Ensure that all documentation is completed as required and in a timely way.
• Ensure you and your Team Leaders understand and meet operational legal requirements.
• Operate in line with current Company policies and procedures.
• Maintain accurate, accessible and sufficient information and data for effective commercial control and auditing purposes.
• Ensure that quality issues, process problems, labour shortages and machine breakdowns are reacted to quickly and the appropriate actions are taken promptly to resolve.
• Ensure that correct quality controls and measures are adhered to; supporting the quality team on RCCA (Root Cause and Corrective Action) as required.
• Support and promote 6s activities across your departments.
• Define and produce Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that support business continuity.
• Meet weekly with the Operations Leader to review progress towards business objectives and agree actions needed to enable them to be successfully met.
• Provide a monthly operations report, in the required format, for the Operations Leader.

Collaboration

• Find ways to make sure everyone feels included in the team.
• Ensure that positive and productive relationships are maintained within the department and with suppliers and customers.
• Ensure that the correct quality controls and measures are adhered to; supporting the quality team on RCCA (Root Cause and Corrective Action) as required.
• Engage with the maintenance and facilities team to ensure the equipment and environment are maintained to the highest standards.
• Ensure the shift handover has taken place.
• Attend weekly/monthly operations meetings as required.
• Participate in the recruitment process as required.
• Review colleague ideas and suggestions with a view to viability and implementation.

Respect

• Treat everyone with respect and dignity at all times.
• Seek to understand people who are different to you to learn from diverse experiences.
• Show trust in others and find opportunities to empower.

Integrity

• Be authentic, fair and mean what you say.
• Take the hard right over the easy wrong.
• Have the courage to respectfully challenge if you disagree and listen if someone questions your view.

Skills/Experience

Previous Experience

• Previous experience of managing operations within a manufacturing environment.
• Exposure to Lean manufacturing experience, ideally yellow Belt, or above.
• Working within a NEBOSH, COSHH or IOSH environment.
• Experience of 6S processes.
• Ability to investigate non-conformance and assist in root cause analysis.
• Experience of leading and managing people.
• Knowledge of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

Personal Attributes

• Resilient and the ability to work in a high-pressure work environment.
• Ability to communicate effectively across a diverse group of people.
• Highly motivated with a focus on solutions.

Qualifications

• Educated ideally to degree level within engineering or equivalent experience and hold some formal management qualification.
• IOSH – Managing Safely.
• IT skills – excel and word programmes.
• Previous project management experience.

At Watson-Marlow, we believe in taking care of our colleagues. We offer a generous benefits package, including:

• A competitive salary.
• Flexible working arrangements.
• A generous holiday allowance.
• Three days’ paid volunteering leave.
• Additional support and benefits through our Everyone is Included Group Inclusion Plan.

Everyone is Included at Spirax Group

We are passionate about creating inclusive and equitable working cultures where everyone can be themselves and achieve their full potential. For us, that means supportive teams and strong relationships where everyone’s contribution is valued – across social and cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, genders, gender identities, abilities, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and everything else that makes us human and unique. We want everyone to be able to make their difference here, so we will always consider requests for flexible working. We know that everyone needs some extra help from time to time too, so we have introduced a range of additional benefits through our Group Inclusion Commitments. These include:

• Gender-neutral parental leave.
• 15 days of extra paid caregiver leave.
• Paid time off and support for anyone experiencing pregnancy loss or domestic abuse.
• Menopause-friendly workplace principles and more.

Learn more at spiraxgroup.com/inclusion.

We are also a Disability Confident Committed Employer. If you would like to apply using this scheme, please select this option in our application form.

We are an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

If you require accommodations during the application process, please let us know.

Company Overview

At Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions, part of Spirax Group, we are driven by innovation and are dedicated to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone is empowered to make a difference. As a world leader in manufacturing peristaltic pumps and associated fluid path technologies for the life sciences and process industries, we offer a wide range of products, including tubing, specialised filling systems and products for single-use applications. Our shared Purpose is to create sustainable value for all our stakeholders as we engineer a more efficient, safer and sustainable world. Our technologies play an essential role in critical industrial processes and industrial equipment across industries as diverse as Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology, Power Generation, Semiconductors and Healthcare. With customers in 116 countries, we provide the solutions that sit behind the production of many items used in daily life, from baked beans to mobile phones! Our inclusive culture and Values, unites us, guides our decisions and inspires us everywhere that we operate. We support our colleagues to make their difference for each other as well as customers, communities, suppliers, our planet and shareholders by creating a truly equitable working environment where everyone feels included.