Operations Manager

Morgan Advanced Materials is a business rich in history and innovation. Founded in the UK in 1856, we have grown into a global organisation with 70 sites in 18 countries. Our model to serve our customers where they need us has led to a diversified product range using our unparalleled expertise in ceramic and carbon materials, which we exploit to solve difficult problems for our customers across a diverse range of markets.

We are a purpose driven organisation. Our purpose is to use advanced materials to make the world more sustainable and to improve the quality of life. We deliver on that purpose through the products that we make, and the way that we make them.

The Technical Ceramics business of Morgan Advanced Materials engineers high performance functional and structural ceramic materials, components and sub-assemblies to address customer-specific technical challenges.

Key Figures: Revenue £1,114.7m (2023), ~8,500 employees, manufacturing in 20+ countries, and a global customer portfolio. A UK PLC with head office located in Windsor, Berkshire UK.  Listed on London Stock Exchange; Member of the FTSE 250 Index.

Directs and coordinates activities of production departments in processing materials and manufacturing products and ensuring cost, quality, and productivity requirements are met or exceeded. With the site EH&S manager, responsible for all environmental, health and safety compliance at the San Juan del Rio location. The San Juan del Rio Site is a multi-business facility, and this individual will have responsibility for teams in Site 1 & Site 2.   The Operations Manager role will require strong cross-functional collaboration with the Commercial, Finance and HR functions.  The selected incumbent will create a safe, compliant, collaborative, inclusive and increasingly efficient working environment with their Team in San Juan del Rio to support the Global Sales and Operations Plan for Technical Ceramics. 

 Essential Functions: 

 EHS 

• Champion a strong Safety culture, by visual leadership, personal engagement, inclusion, and care.  

• Responsible for the safe condition and operation of the facility’s processes and machinery.  

• Commitment towards the application and compliance with the Morgan EHS systems, processes, and reporting, including near miss reporting and Lost Time Accidents (LTAs).  

• Improve the efficiency of the site’s operation while improving environmental KPIs. 

Quality 

• Responsibility over the quality of San Juan del Rio;s production, including dealing with internal and external customer complaints or reducing scrap and overall cost of quality. 

• Ensure compliance with relevant certifications such as ISO standards.  

Production 

• Direct responsibility over the production of the site, including the leadership of all personnel involved in the manufacturing process, hitting production targets, on time with the shortest lead-times possible.  

• Improve efficiency of our production lines, increase productivity and capacity utilization, and achieve operational or Continuous Improvement (CI) saving targets. Champion ‘lean thinking’ by creating a lean mindset and culture across the organization.  

• Meet targets and requirements of the global Sales and Operations Plan, including volume and cost. 

Maintenance 

• Responsibility over the condition and operation of the facility’s assets.  

• Improve machine up-time, reduce frequency and severity of machine breakdowns. 

• Invest focused effort to modernize our operations and improve the site’s footprint.  

Leadership 

• Direct reporting responsibility over the production, quality, engineering, maintenance, CI, EHS teams and dotted line reporting over the HR, finance, and supply chain teams.  

• Coach team members to enhance their performance and support their development. 

• Cross-functional, cross-GBU, cross-regional collaboration with the rest of the organization.  

Additional Responsibilities

• Reviews production orders or schedules to ascertain product data such as types, quantities, and specifications of products and scheduled delivery dates in order to plan department operations. 

• Plans production operations, establishing priorities and sequences for manufacturing products. 
  Prepares operational schedules and coordinates manufacturing activities to ensure production and quality of products meets specifications. Reviews production and operating reports and resolves operational, manufacturing, and maintenance problems to ensure minimum costs and prevent operational delays. 

• Assures that production departments are provided with sufficient resources to meet quality, on time delivery, and safety goals, including appropriate staffing, materials, and machines 

• Develops or revises standard operational and working practices and assures works comply with standards 

• Assures the process for handling, packaging, storage and protection of materials, parts and products to preserve the conformity of product through delivery 

• With the supply chain team, reviews, maintains and controls raw material inventory levels to support sales forecast 

• Identifies training needs, prepares action plans, schedules training, and measures effectiveness of training of production employees 

• Responsible for compliance and proactive measures for environmental, health and safety 

• Supports and works closely with the manufacturing and process engineering department 

• Is responsible for the quality systems and quality of the product as it travels through the plant 

Minimum Qualifications and Education Requirements: 

•  Degree in Engineering (Mechanical or Aerospace), Supply Chain or equivalent, or equivalent experience in Operations Management 

• Progressive managerial experience in Operations Management 

• Demonstrated experience in performing a leadership role in a manufacturing facility 

• Experience working in machining, assembly or finishing plants 

• Advanced English and Spanish language skills 

• Experience in working with complex production environments  

• Lean/Six Sigma qualification is an advantage 

• Proven experience leading large teams in organizations exceeding 700+ employees 

• Demonstrated experience in performing a leadership role in a manufacturing facility 

• Operations and Continuous Improvement background with strong Maintenance understanding preferred 

• Manages departmental managers who supervise employees in the Facilities and Manufacturing departments. Is responsible for the overall direction, coordination and evaluation of these units. Carries out management responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws.  

• Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems. Additionally, responsible for driving the safety culture in the facility to the operational level and driving towards zero incidents. 

Key Competencies:  

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; critical thinking and problem-solving skills; planning and organizing; co-ordination and control; time management; attention to detail; decision-making; communication skills; persuasiveness; negotiation; influencing and leading; delegation; teamwork; conflict management; adaptability; stress tolerance 

Physical Requirements: 

• Must be capable of walking and standing for long periods of time 

• Must be capable of climbing stairs 

• Must be able to lift 35 pounds 

• Must be capable of traveling within the US and occasional travel abroad 

• • This job description does not state or imply that all duties to be performed are specifically identified above. Employees are required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested or instructed by an authorized person of the Company. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at-will” relationship. 

Morgan Advanced Materials is an EEO/AA/M/W/D/V Employer Ind-1