Deputy Plant Manager: Cheese and Milk at Lactalis South Africa

Job Description    

• Join Lactalis at our Bonnievale Plant with the main responsibilities to manage all plant business units. Successful candidates need to have at least 5- 10 years' relevant experience within FMCG environment, must be able to demonstrate sound knowledge to motivate and manage people and compile budget and to do forecast.  Knowledge of systems and equipment’s and full adherence to all Safety & Health policies, procedures and legislation. Be fluent in English and be computer literate

Required Skills    

• Production Management, Supply Chain & Operation Management or relevant (NQF 7)
• Cheese knowledge (product and manufacturing) 
• Minimum experience 5-10 years in operations management, ideally in FMCG.
• Dairy knowledge advantageous.
• Annual budget (processing costs)
• Have experience and operating knowledge on all plant business units.
• Excellent numeracy skills and ability to work accurately 
• To have presentation skills 
• Able to work independently and must have strong interpersonal skills and analytical skills 
• Must be accurate and pay attention to detail 
• Must be a good communicator 
• Understanding of BOM’s and routings 
• BPCS /integrated system knowledge advantageous 
• Be a leader and able to motivate and manage people to support the business.
• Have experience and operating knowledge on all plant business units.
• Be mobile in terms of physical location of work. 
• Self-motivator with good planning and organising skills
• Must be willing to work shifts, weekends, public holidays and overtime if required 
• Person must be able to work in a hot dusty & cold wet environment. 
• Must be able to work under pressure.
• 5 years prior experience in managing staff 
• Very methodical, and good at problem solving and tracing problems to the source. 

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Compile annual budget (cost and capital) according to company systems requirement.
• Forecast, compile and control annual budget in line with labour efficiency standards.
• Report monthly on budget adherence.
• Minimise input costs and raw material usage/ waste. Minimise cost on product and packaging.
• Optimise fixed and overhead costs (labour and energy) against demand forecast and production requirements.
• Ensure accuracy of Monitoring Systems.
• Ensure accuracy and integrity of information to be forwarded for compiling reports to Corporate Maintain product quality according to health and quality specifications.
• Ensure conformance to all quality processes.
• Ensure functionality of systems audited by Head Office QA department.
• Ensure conformance to good safety requirements. 
• Compile and manage production plan according to targets.
• Maintain adequate maintenance of plant equipment.
• Identify systemic variables impeding production efficiency and create plans to address total production elements.
• Plan and implement changes required for new product manufactured and ensure minimum disruption to existing operations effectiveness.
• Manage all projects and deliver on them in terms of agreed project specification and budget.
• Maintain systems such as FFSC 22000, HACCP, Continuous Improvement, TQM, TPM, NOSA, etc.
• Plan annual human resource capacity and development needs. 
• Instil and develop profit maximisation appreciation among all plant staff. 
• Fill vacancies according to company policy by using competency based recruitment methodology.
• Facilitate plant objective setting and performance management system.
• Review and maintain communication structures and procedures to ensure people are informed and able to provide their inputs at all organisational levels (e.g. People@Work Committee, Union and Management meetings, Mini Business Units).
• Develop a sense of pride, discipline, team work, empowerment and high productivity throughout plant.
• Ensure harmonious working relationships across all levels and functions.
• Develop Workplace Skills Plans and through Talent Management identify talent and plan to manage the talent.
• Personify and maintain Lactalis values, staff morale and motivation throughout plant.
• Maintain adherence to EE targets

Deadline:17th September,2026