General Manager – Manufacturing

Company: Norquest Brands Pvt. Ltd.

Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat (on-site, factory-based)

Reports to: Managing Director

Experience: 10+ years in manufacturing operations, with at least 5 running a production floor Type: Full-time

About Norquest

Norquest Brands manufactures custom cotton bags and sustainable packaging for premium brands across the US, UK, Europe and Australia. Our customers specify fabric to the GSM, approve every sample, and measure us on whether tens of thousands of units arrive on the exact date we committed to weeks earlier.

Getting that right is a production problem before it is anything else. That is the job.

The role

You run the manufacturing floor — cutting, printing, stitching, finishing, packing, dispatch — and you own what comes off it: output, efficiency, quality and delivery dates.

We are not looking for an administrator. We want someone who is on the floor daily, who can look at a line and see where it is losing time, who fixes the method rather than adding people, and who can build a supervisory team that holds the standard when they are not watching.

What you'll own

Production and delivery

- Plan capacity against the order book, commit realistic dates to Merchandising, and hit them.
- Sequence and schedule orders across lines to keep utilisation high and changeovers low.
- Own daily output targets and the daily production review.

Efficiency and line balancing

- Balance lines by operation — measure SAM/SMV, allocate operators to the bottleneck, cut idle time.
- Improve layout, workflow and material feeding so the line never waits for the previous stage.
- Drive down cost per unit through fabric utilisation, marker efficiency and wastage control.
- Reduce rejection and rework by catching defects inline, not at packing.

People

- Lead supervisors, line in-charges, QC and operators across the unit.
- Hire,



train and retain skilled tailors and machine operators in a tight local labour market.
- Build a supervisory layer capable of running the floor independently — your job is to make the plant work without you standing in it.
- Own discipline, attendance, safety and floor culture.

Systems and upkeep

- Machinery uptime, preventive maintenance schedules, and capex recommendations.
- Keep the unit in shape for buyer and third-party audits (SMETA, GOTS, GRS) — the documentation is supported by the compliance team, but the floor conditions and process discipline are yours.
- Manage external stitching and jobwork partners to the same standard as in-house lines.

How you'll be measured

- On-time in-full dispatch against committed dates.
- Line efficiency and output per operator per day.
- Right-first-time % — rejection and rework rate.
- Cost per unit and fabric wastage %.
- Operator attrition and safety incidents.

What we're looking for

Essential

- 10+ years in manufacturing operations in bags, garments, home textiles or a comparable stitched-product unit.
- At least 5 years running a full production floor with accountability for output and cost — not supervising a single department.
- Genuine command of industrial engineering fundamentals: SAM/SMV, line balancing, capacity calculation, bottleneck analysis, wastage control.
- A track record of moving a number — efficiency up, rejection down, cost per unit down — that you can explain in detail.
- Proven ability to lead a large floor team, including hiring and training operators.
- Comfort with data. You should be reading a production MIS daily, not waiting for a monthly summary.

Bonus

- Experience scaling a unit — new lines, current machinery, or a second facility.
- Print operations (screen, digital or heat transfer) under your belt.
- Lean, 5S or Six Sigma exposure applied on a real floor, not just certified.
- ERP implementation on the production side.

📌 General Manager Manufacturing (Ahmedabad)
🏢 Norquest Brands Private
📍 Ahmedabad