Client: Global Food/Beverage Packaging Manufacturer
Industry: Packaging & Containers
Search Focus: Factory/Plant Leadership & P&L Management
Location: Ontario, Canada
The Challenge: Confidential Plant Manager Replacement
This confidential plant manager search replaced an underperforming leader that had experienced declining employee engagement scores, which had a negative effect on the plant’s output efficiency. This underperforming plant needed a leader with an outstanding track record of connecting with the workforce and forging genuine relationships, cheering others success and acting as a conduit for support and coaching to the plant population. The company needed an experienced professional who was well-positioned to lead operational transformation. In parallel, this complex plant needed a leader with top level technical acumen, who could help troubleshoot problems in a high-speed manufacturing environment.
This wasn’t a classic plant manager role. The company needed a leader with experience in:
- Transforming a culture through relationships, trust and accountability.
- Using plant metrics to set goals, visually celebrate wins and coach shortcomings.
- Successfully collaborating with all departments to establish improvement plans and set incremental milestones for success.
- Establishing a plant culture that thrives on great attitude, effort, ownership, and team mentality.
The Search
We launched a national search focused on leaders with Canadian citizenship that had deep experience leading a high-speed manufacturing facility. As a key member of the North American Operations Leadership Team, the Plant Manager’s responsibilities would be to right the ship by improving employee engagement and output. This was a cultural turnaround, and that required a unique set of soft skills and technical acumen.
Through hands-on leadership, this leader would provide management oversight for the day-to-day operations and proper functioning of the facility to include Production, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, Production Planning, Human Resources, EH&S, and Shipping & Receiving. Ownership of the plant P&L required the Plant Manager to be savvy with controlling costs and driving performance. The top priority was ensuring efficiency, safety, and quality throughout the plant.
Our shortlist included candidates with process and project engineering experience at:
- Large bottling and high-speed filling manufacturers
- Rigid Packaging Manufacturers
- Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
Each candidate was fully vetted not just for technical competence, but for leadership style, agility, and ability to build and lead lean teams.
The Outcome: Dynamic Operations Leader with 10 Years of Experience
The ideal candidate was sourced, assessed, and selected based on a rigorous evaluation process designed to align with our operational objectives, leadership needs, and company culture. Our client selected an exceptional operations leader with 10 years of experience leading a high-speed beverage operation in various departments. His experience included:
- Leading the implementation of a P&G-developed continuous improvement program by owning the Loss Elimination and Initiative Management Pillars, and coaching the Leadership and Autonomous Maintenance Pillars.
- Embedding personal development plans, one-on-one coaching, and succession planning into the fabric of the management team.
- Championing the Value Optimization Project process, driving plant-wide adoption and delivering sustained budget favorability.
Within six months, the new Plant Manager had started building a culture of trust and accountability. The factory’s output started to improve, and employee engagement scores started rising. He celebrated these small incremental improvements in team meetings and visual representations throughout the plant. Big goals require small steps!
The search for a Packaging Plant Manager concluded with the hiring of a highly qualified and experienced professional who is well-positioned to lead operational transformation. We anticipate measurable improvements in plant performance, culture, and output under their leadership.
Let’s Connect
Looking for this kind of dedicated talent search for your company? Contact TCH Resource & Recruitment today, and we can make a plan for your success.
