Manage the daily production operations of a meat-processing plant to deliver the required products safely, consistently, on time and within agreed cost targets.
The successful candidate will take responsibility for production planning and execution, staff performance, processing yields, labour productivity, waste control and accurate production reporting. They will coordinate closely with Procurement, Quality Assurance, Maintenance and Dispatch to ensure reliable plant performance.
This is a hands-on management position requiring a strong presence on the production floor.
Key responsibilities
1. Production planning and execution
- Prepare and manage daily and weekly production schedules based on confirmed orders, demand forecasts, available materials and plant capacity.
- Translate production requirements into clear targets for each department, line and shift.
- Confirm the availability of meat, ingredients, packaging, labour and equipment before production starts.
- Schedule products and changeovers to support efficiency, hygiene requirements and delivery commitments.
- Oversee relevant processing activities, which may include deboning, trimming, portioning, mincing, mixing, sausage production and packing.
- Monitor progress throughout each shift and address constraints promptly.
- Coordinate changes to production priorities with Sales, Procurement and Dispatch.
- Prevent unnecessary overproduction and manage production quantities in line with shelf life and customer demand.
- Ensure clear shift handovers covering output, outstanding work, equipment issues and product holds.
2. Meat yields, material usage and waste
- Establish and monitor realistic yield standards for relevant products, cuts and processes.
- Track raw-material input against finished product, recoverable by-products, work in progress and recorded waste.
- Investigate yield losses, excessive trimming, portioning variances and unexplained material differences.
- Control product giveaway through accurate portion weights, filling settings and packing practices.
- Ensure recipes, bills of materials and processing specifications are followed.
- Control ingredient and packaging consumption against approved standards.
- Record and manage rework according to approved food-safety and traceability procedures.
- Reduce avoidable spoilage, damage, rejects and waste.
- Work with Finance and Procurement to understand the cost impact of raw-material quality, yield and production performance.
3. People and shift management
- Lead production supervisors, shift leaders, operators and general production staff.
- Plan staffing levels and allocate employees according to workload, competence and production priorities.
- Manage attendance, overtime requirements and shift coverage within approved arrangements.
- Set clear expectations for output, quality, hygiene, safety and conduct.
- Train staff in work instructions, product specifications and correct equipment use.
- Develop supervisors and build practical succession and cross-training plans.
- Address performance concerns consistently with HR and company procedures.
- Promote clear communication and accountability across shifts and departments.
4. Food safety, hygiene and product quality
- Implement the plant’s approved food-safety, hygiene and quality procedures throughout production.
- Ensure pre-start checks, line clearance and required cleaning verification are completed before work begins.
- Maintain prescribed product temperatures and handling conditions during processing and transfer.
- Ensure separation of products, materials and equipment where required to prevent cross-contamination.
- Apply allergen controls where relevant to ingredients and products.
- Ensure required process checks are completed and recorded by trained personnel.
- Verify compliance with approved recipes, product specifications, pack weights, labels, batch coding and date coding.
- Stop affected production and escalate suspected contamination, process deviations or unsafe conditions.
- Ensure questionable product is identified, segregated and placed on hold for an authorised Quality decision.
- Support audits, traceability exercises, complaint investigations and corrective actions.
5. Production stock and traceability
- Coordinate daily material requirements with the Procurement, Inventory & Intake Manager.
- Verify that materials issued to production are correctly identified and have the required release status.
- Maintain batch traceability through processing, rework, packing and finished-product transfer.
- Control work-in-progress quantities, identification, storage conditions and holding times.
- Record raw-material issues, consumption, returns, waste and finished-goods output accurately.
- Ensure stock rotation follows approved shelf-life priorities.
- Reconcile production records with stock movements and investigate discrepancies.
- Support stocktakes and ensure production areas are prepared for accurate counting.
- Coordinate transfer of completed product to cold storage or dispatch.
6. Equipment reliability and maintenance coordination
- Confirm equipment readiness before each shift.
- Ensure operators complete required equipment checks and report defects promptly.
- Coordinate preventive maintenance and planned shutdowns with Maintenance.
- Record downtime and identify recurring causes of lost production.
- Work with Maintenance to resolve breakdowns and improve equipment reliability.
- Ensure equipment is cleaned, inspected and returned to service through the approved process.
- Enforce machine guarding, safe operating practices and authorised isolation procedures.
- Recommend equipment improvements supported by practical capacity, quality or cost benefits.
7. Productivity, costs and continuous improvement
- Monitor production output, labour hours, overtime, downtime and conversion costs.
- Measure productivity using suitable indicators, including kilograms produced per labour hour and labour cost per kilogram.
- Improve workflow, line balance, changeover times and equipment utilisation.
- Identify production bottlenecks and implement sustainable corrective action.
- Manage controllable production expenditure within approved budgets.
- Work with relevant departments to reduce avoidable water, energy, packaging and material losses.
- Support product trials and new-product introduction with Quality, Technical and commercial teams.
- Ensure process changes are reviewed and approved before implementation.
8. Safety, housekeeping and reporting
- Maintain safe, orderly and hygienic production areas.
- Ensure staff follow site requirements for protective clothing, equipment and safe material handling.
- Report incidents, near misses and unsafe conditions, and follow up corrective actions.
- Produce accurate daily reports covering output, schedule achievement, yields, waste, labour and downtime.
- Review weekly performance with supervisors and agree corrective actions.
- Present monthly production results, cost variances and improvement priorities to management.
- Maintain complete and reliable production records.
Minimum requirements
- Grade 12 / Matric.
- At least three years’ experience in meat processing or meat manufacturing.
- At least three years’ experience managing a production department, shift operation or plant production team.
- Direct experience in the processes relevant to the plant, such as deboning, portioning, mincing, sausage production or packing.
- Proven ability to manage production schedules, staff allocation, output targets and processing yields.
- Practical understanding of chilled and frozen meat handling, hygiene, shelf-life control and batch traceability.
- Experience investigating waste, yield losses, downtime and production discrepancies.
- Working knowledge of food-safety systems and HACCP principles.
- Strong numerical skills, practical Excel ability and experience using production or stock-management systems.
- Ability to work on site and meet the agreed operational schedule.
Preferred qualifications and experience
- Diploma or degree in Production Management, Operations Management, Food Technology or a related discipline.
- Substantial directly relevant meat-production experience may be considered in place of a tertiary qualification.
- Formal training in food safety, HACCP, supervisory management or continuous improvement.
- Experience managing multiple production lines or shifts.
- Experience working within an audited food-safety management system.
- Practical knowledge of meat cuts, processing specifications and yield expectations.
- Experience with production costing, bills of materials and ERP reporting.
- Experience introducing new products or improving existing production processes.
Where the plant manufactures cooked, cured, smoked, dried or ready-to-eat products, demonstrated experience in those specific processes will be required.
Key competencies
- Strong practical leadership and accountability.
- Structured planning and sound judgement under pressure.
- Close attention to product quality and production detail.
- Ability to interpret production figures and act on variances.
- Effective problem-solving and root-cause investigation.
- Clear communication across departments and shifts.
- Commercial awareness and disciplined cost control.
- Consistent commitment to food safety and employee safety.
- Ability to improve performance while maintaining team discipline and morale.
Pay: From R20 000,00 per month
Work Location: In person
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