Plant Manager

SORTH & CO is for McBride searching for a:

PLANT MANAGER

Site-accountable for all manufacturing operations

McBride is a British-based manufacturing company, founded in 1927 in Manchester, UK. The core business is the development and manufacture of private-label household and professional cleaning and hygiene products, as well as contract manufacturing for brand owners. McBride operates across five main divisions: Liquids, Powders, Unit Dosing, Aerosols, and Asia Pacific. Their product portfolio includes laundry detergents, dishwasher tablets, surface cleaners, and other household and professional hygiene products. They supply to large retail‐chains (including private label) and also provide contract manufacturing services.

They are one of the leading private‐label cleaning/hygiene manufacturers in Europe — meaning they supply many of the supermarket house‐brand products that consumers buy. Their business model allows large retail chains to outsource manufacturing of "store brand" cleaning & hygiene products, which can be cost‐effective and scalable.

In 2017 McBride acquired the Danish company Danlind and took over two production sites based in Hammel and Holstebro.

As a plant manager you will be be responsible for a factory in the powder division and you will play a crucial role within the organization and with a results driven and continuous improvement mindset you can demonstrate strong leadership skills which drive sustainable improvements across all operational & business disciplines at site.

You must possess excellent manufacturing skills and demonstrate strong leadership to drive sustainable and significant improvements to deliver the manufacturing plan in the most efficient, safe and sustainable manner.

Areas of responsibility and tasks:

• Guarantee the safety and wellbeing of colleagues. Have a zero-tolerance attitude towards Health and Safety breaches and ensure that the site culture is continuously evolving to improve safety in the workplace.
• Ensure that the quality of products produced by the site is as per the agreed specification. Develop and ensure adherence to the necessary quality systems to systematically ensure compliance to specifications.
• Aligned to the overall Operations Strategy, develop and deliver the site strategic plan. Continually monitor the strategy to ensure relevance and appropriate prioritisation of activities.
• Develop and agree performance targets for the forthcoming financial year and conduct periodic exercises to re-forecast these targets as the year develops.
• Deliver in full the performance targets against a number of dimensions – QHSE, Performance, Cost, People – set in conjunction with Operations Lead
• Drive a Continuous Improvement culture across all facets of the plant using relevant CI manufacturing tools and techniques, supported robustly by the correct behaviours. Ensure that all-manufacturing plant and facilities are operating as efficiently as possible and maintained to defined standards to achieve labour and plant utilisation targets.
• Drive the competence and contribution of site colleagues through positive leadership, motivation and a focus on engagement, empowerment and development activities. Ensure that on-site colleagues who have reporting lines outside of the plant management functional structure have appropriate involvement of site-based activities.
• Review and manage identified capital investment requirements, which facilitate flexibility in plant and equipment and promote the achievement of the business plan in terms of productivity, quality, service, safety and environmental improvements.
• Fully support NPD and product launch initiatives as required by the business.
• Act as ambassador for the business in establishing harmonious and collaborative community relationships with external local bodies, administration and Trade associations at site level.
• Ensure legal compliance of activities across the site and adherence to agreed customer standards where relevant. Ensure the ongoing certifications of standards relevant to the site's activities and development of standards as required by the business.
• Be responsible for the entire physical property of the site. Ensure adequate arrangements are in place to protect the security of the site, employees and visitors.
• As part of the wider Powder Leadership Team, actively contribute to the development and delivery of the strategy of the division.

What are we looking for:

It would be great if you are educated to an Engineering degree level or equivalent, ideally in the chemical or production field. You have at least 5 years of operational leadership in an international group environment in the chemical or industry sector. You are fluent in Danish and English and have a great understanding of the operational cost drivers which affect the financial contribution of site. You are resilient with an ability to prioritise and deliver to tough deadlines and have proven analytical skills and the ability to influence at a senior level both internally and externally.

The process

The process is handled by the consulting firm SORTH & CO. If you would like more information about the position, you are welcome to contact Søren Kjærgaard Kristiansen at All inquiries are, of course, treated as mutually confidential. You must be aware that we are returning replies to the e-mail address you sent from.