The Spice Operations manager will be responsible for providing overall leadership and strategic direction for the spice processing and powdering operations at Synthites Ongole plant.

The role will be accountable for end-to-end plant performance, covering raw material processing, cleaning, grinding/powdering, blending, packing, production planning, quality, maintenance, utilities, food safety, cost optimization, and operational excellence.

The incumbent will work closely with Sales, Supply Chain, Procurement, Quality, Engineering, R&D;, Finance, and HR to ensure that production is aligned with business requirements while maintaining the highest standards of product quality, food safety, safety, productivity, and regulatory compliance.

The role will play a key part in driving the plant towards world-class manufacturing standards, continuous improvement, cost competitiveness, and sustainable growth.

Key Responsibilities

1. Plant & Operational Leadership

- Provide overall leadership and strategic direction for the Ongole spice processing and powdering plant.
- Oversee end-to-end manufacturing operations, including raw material handling, cleaning, processing, grinding, powdering, blending, packing, storage, and dispatch coordination.
- Ensure production plans are achieved in line with sales requirements, customer commitments, inventory norms, and business priorities.
- Develop and implement annual and long-term operational plans for the plant.
- Establish clear operational KPIs and drive accountability across all functions.
- Ensure optimum utilization of manpower, machinery, utilities, and plant capacity.
- Identify operational bottlenecks and implement timely corrective and preventive actions.

2. Production & Process Management

- Drive efficient and consistent production of spice powders while ensuring required quality, yield, productivity, and throughput.
- Optimize production processes to minimize material losses, rework, rejection, and process variation.
- Monitor and improve yield, conversion efficiency, machine utilization, production throughput, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
- Ensure effective production planning and scheduling based on raw material availability and customer requirements.
- Introduce and institutionalize best practices in spice processing and powdering.
- Drive process standardization and ensure adherence to approved SOPs and work instructions.
- Evaluate opportunities for automation, mechanization, and process technology improvements.

3. Raw Material & Yield Management

- Work closely with Procurement, Quality, and Supply Chain teams to ensure availability and suitability of raw materials.
- Ensure effective utilization of spices and minimize processing losses.
- Monitor material yield at different stages of processing and establish benchmarks for key products.
- Drive initiatives to reduce wastage, contamination, product loss, and quality deterioration during processing and storage.
- Ensure appropriate systems for raw material traceability, storage, handling, and inventory control.

4. Quality & Food Safety

- Ensure that all manufacturing activities comply with applicable food safety, quality, regulatory, and customer requirements.
- Work closely with Quality and Food Safety teams to maintain consistent product quality.
- Ensure strict adherence to GMP, HACCP, food safety systems,



hygiene standards, and applicable statutory requirements.
- Drive reduction in customer complaints, quality deviations, rejection, and reprocessing.
- Ensure effective root-cause analysis and implementation of corrective and preventive actions.
- Promote a strong culture of quality ownership and food safety across the plant.
- Ensure product and process traceability throughout the manufacturing cycle.

5. Engineering, Maintenance & Utilities

- Partner with Engineering and Maintenance teams to ensure high equipment reliability and plant availability.
- Drive preventive and predictive maintenance programs to minimize unplanned downtime.
- Ensure effective maintenance of grinding, pulverizing, conveying, blending, packing, material handling, and utility systems.
- Identify opportunities for equipment modernization, automation, and capacity enhancement.
- Monitor energy, water, compressed air, steam, and other utility consumption and drive efficiency improvements.
- Ensure effective management of critical spares and maintenance resources.

6. Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

- Champion Lean Manufacturing, TPM, 5S, Kaizen, Six Sigma, and other continuous improvement initiatives across the plant.
- Identify and eliminate process waste, bottlenecks, non-value-added activities, and productivity losses.
- Drive improvement projects focused on cost reduction, yield improvement, productivity, quality, energy efficiency, and capacity utilization.
- Establish a structured performance management system using daily, weekly, and monthly operational reviews.
- Benchmark plant performance against internal and external best practices.
- Build a culture of data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement.

7. Cost & Business Performance

- Own the operational cost performance of the plant.
- Develop and monitor manufacturing budgets and operating expenses.
- Drive initiatives to reduce conversion costs, energy costs, manpower costs, material losses, maintenance costs, and overall manufacturing costs.
- Balance cost optimization with product quality, food safety, employee safety, and customer requirements.
- Monitor key financial and operational indicators and take corrective action to achieve business targets.
- Support capacity expansion and capital investment proposals through appropriate technical and financial evaluation.

8. Safety, Environment & ESG

- Establish and promote a strong Safety-First culture across the plant.
- Ensure compliance with all applicable occupational health, safety, environmental, and statutory requirements.
- Identify operational hazards and implement effective risk mitigation measures.
- Drive initiatives to reduce energy consumption, water usage, waste generation, and environmental impact.
- Ensure responsible management of spice-processing waste and other plant waste streams.
- Promote sustainable manufacturing practices and support the company's ESG objectives.
- Monitor and report key safety, environmental,



energy, and sustainability KPIs.

9. People & Leadership

- Lead, mentor, and develop Plant Operations, Production, Engineering, Quality, and other functional teams.
- Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, ownership, collaboration, safety, and continuous improvement.
- Develop robust second-line leadership and succession plans for critical operational positions.
- Identify capability gaps and drive appropriate training and development initiatives.
- Ensure effective manpower planning and workforce productivity.
- Foster solid collaboration between Production, Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, Procurement, Finance, and HR.
- Promote employee engagement and a positive work setting.

10. Compliance & Risk Management

- Ensure compliance with all applicable statutory, regulatory, food safety, quality, environmental, and company requirements.
- Maintain readiness for internal, customer, certification, and regulatory audits.
- Identify operational and business risks and establish appropriate mitigation plans.
- Ensure effective documentation, SOP adherence, incident reporting, investigation, and corrective action systems.
- Maintain business continuity and contingency plans for critical plant operations.

Key Requirements

Education

- Bachelors degree in Chemical / Mechanical / Food Technology / Industrial Engineering or a related discipline.
- Master’s degree in Operations, Manufacturing Management, Business Administration, or a related field will be an advantage.

Experience

- 15 to 20 years of progressive experience in manufacturing operations, preferably in spices, food processing, FMCG, ingredients, agro-processing, or related industries.
- Minimum 5 years of experience in a senior plant/operations leadership role.
- Strong experience in managing large-scale manufacturing operations with significant manpower and production volumes.
- Experience in spice processing, grinding/powdering, blending, packing, or food ingredient manufacturing will be highly preferred.
- Proven experience in plant expansion, capacity enhancement, process optimization, and operational transformation will be an advantage.

Technical & Functional Competencies

- Strong understanding of spice processing and powdering operations.
- Expertise in production planning, process optimization, yield management, and manufacturing efficiency.
- Strong knowledge of OEE, TPM, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Kaizen, and 5S.
- Good understanding of food safety and quality management systems such as HACCP, GMP, FSSC/ISO 22000 and other relevant standards.
- Strong understanding of plant engineering, maintenance, utilities, and automation.
- Experience in manufacturing cost management and productivity improvement.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
- Good understanding of statutory and environmental compliance.

Leadership Competencies

- Strategic and business-oriented mindset.
- Strong people leadership and team-building capabilities.
- Excellent decision-making and problem-solving skills.
- Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Ability to manage complex operations in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
- Strong communication, influencing, and negotiation skills.
- High ownership, accountability, and execution orientation.

📌 Operations Manager (Ongole)
🏢 Synthite
📍 Ongole