Job Title:  Production Manager
Location: Birmingham
Salary: £35-£55k (commensurate with experience)
Role Summary:
Due to significant growth our client requires a Production Manager to lead day-to-day production and assembly operations at their purpose built factory.  Ensuring safe, on-time, high-quality manufacture of small-assembly, bespoke products. Delivering well-structured planning on production flow, continuous improvement to processes, throughput, and first-time quality for made-to-order assemblies.
Key Responsibilities

• Manage all factory production activities: planning, scheduling, resource allocation, and shop-floor leadership.
• Oversee small-batch and bespoke assembly workflows from work order release through final QA and dispatch.
• Implement and maintain standard work, visual controls, production routings, and assembly jigs/fixtures.
• Coach, roster, and develop a multi-skill shop-floor team (operators, assemblers, fitters, technicians).
• Ensure strong handoffs between engineering and production; translate technical fits/measurements into producible assemblies.
• Monitor and enforce health, safety, and COSHH compliance in the factory.
• Lead root-cause analysis for defects, manage CAPA, and own corrective/preventive actions.
• Drive productivity and lead-time reductions using lean techniques e.g. Kaizen
• Manage inventory of assembly components, minor parts, and consumables; coordinate with purchasing to avoid production delays.
• Set and report production KPIs; prepare daily/weekly production reports and escalate risks.
• Support commissioning of new equipment and layout changes for the factory.

Required Experience and Skills

• Proven manufacturing/production management experience in a small-assembly or light-manufacturing environment.
• Strong in PDCA production planning and scheduling small batch, bespoke or made-to-order products.
• Hands-on experience with assembly processes, jigs/fixtures, torque/quality checks, and mechanical/electrical assembly practices.
• Competence in process-improvement background with practical use of lean manufacturing tools.
• Experience supervising, training, and developing multi-disciplinary production teams.
• Solid understanding of quality systems and non-conformance management.
• Good IT literacy: ERP or MRP exposure, production spreadsheets, and digital work instructions.
• Effective communicator able to translate clinical/engineering requirements into production actions.

Desirable Qualifications

• NVQ/SVQ or equivalent in Manufacturing/Engineering/Production Management.
• Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma, or Continuous Improvement certification.
• Experience in bespoke product or healthcare related manufacturing.