Manufacturing Project Lead

Key Accountabilities and Outputs

Project Leadership & Execution

•Lead end-to-end project delivery for major manufacturing investments (new line installations, upgrades, expansions, or relocations).

•Manage project scope, schedule, CAPEX budget, resources, risk, and quality compliance.

•Ensure line performance targets (OEE, throughput, yields) are achieved at handover to Operations.

•Drive Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) with OEMs and local engineering teams.

Technical Expertise & Line Readiness

•Provide hands-on technical support during commissioning and ramp-up of PET, canning, preform injection moulding, and closure compression/ injection systems.

•Validate equipment specifications, layouts, utilities, and capacity calculations for bottling and packaging lines.

•Ensure integration of upstream (preforms, closures) and downstream (packaging, palletising) systems.

•Support changeover optimisation, line balancing, and performance improvement activities.

Compliance & Standards

•Ensure adherence to FMCG manufacturing standards, food safety (HACCP, ISO 22000), and local regulatory requirements.

•Comply with OEM guidelines, engineering standards, and health & safety legislation (OSH Act, machine guarding, pressure systems).

•Apply global corporate engineering standards and ensure quality documentation (IQ/OQ/PQ, validation records) is completed.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

•Act as the technical liaison between corporate engineering, plant operations, OEM suppliers, and contractors.

•Support plant teams with skills transfer, training, and SOP development for new equipment.

•Engage with procurement for vendor selection, spare parts strategy, and service-level agreements

Continuous Improvement

•Benchmark emerging technologies in PET and canning to drive cost savings, energy efficiency, and sustainability.

•Identify and lead process optimisation initiatives to reduce downtime, waste, and carbon footprint. Contribute to best practice sharing and standardisation across manufacturing sites.

Adherence to the Quality, Food Safety, Health, Safety and Environmental Standards

•Enforce health, safety, and environmental protocols in utility operations, including handlingof hazardous materials like CO2. Conduct risk assessments, ensure compliance with local regulations (e.g., OSHA equivalents), and participate in audits.

•Adherence to Standards: Ensure strict adherence to Quality, Food, Health, Safety and Environmental policies and standards.

•Enforcement: Enforce all food safety and health regulations, policies, and requirements at all times to guarantee a secure work environment.

•Personal Hygiene: Maintain exceptional personal hygiene as per the organization's code of conduct.

•Contamination Control: Raise awareness about potential physical product contamination and implement control measures to prevent it.

•Health and Safety Measures: Take reasonable precautions to prevent health and safety hazards. Follow the prescribed incident reporting procedure in case of accidents.

•Knowledge and Compliance: Stay updated with relevant business information, policies, processes, and procedures. Enforce compliance with legislative and statutory requirements, as well as GMP's (Good Manufacturing Practices).

•Training: Attend and enforce the implementation of learnings from training sessions related to Quality, Food Safety, and Health and Safety.

•Housekeeping: Maintain high levels of cleanliness and orderliness within the work environment.

Qualifications and Experience

•Bachelors' degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial Engineering, or related technical discipline.

•5 years' experience in FMCG manufacturing, specifically carbonated soft drink (CSD) bottling and packaging.

•Proven expertise with high-speed PET bottling lines (blow moulding, filling, capping, labelling, packaging). Exposure to aluminium beverage canning lines (filling, seaming, pasteurisation, secondary packaging).

•Strong background in preform injection moulding and closure production processes.

•Experience managing large CAPEX projects and commissioning of new equipment in a multiplant environment.

•Demonstrated success in improving line efficiency (OEE), reliability, and changeover times. Technical Advantage

•GCC certification advantageous

•Familiarity with OEM technologies.

•Understanding of utilities (compressed air, refrigeration, steam, water treatment).

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