JOB DESCRIPTION PLANT HEAD

Automotive Cable / Wiring Harness Manufacturing

Position: Plant Head / Head Plant Operations
Industry: Automotive Cables / Wiring Harness / Electrical Components
Location: Chennai
Reporting To: Managing Director / COO / Business Head
Experience: 15 to 25 Years
Qualification: B.E./B.Tech Electrical / Electronics / Mechanical / Production / Automobile

Roles and Responsibilities :

- We are looking for an experienced Plant Head to lead the complete manufacturing operations of an Automotive Cable / Wiring Harness manufacturing plant.
- The incumbent will be responsible for Production, Quality, Maintenance, Manufacturing Engineering, PPC, Stores, Logistics, Safety, Cost and overall plant performance, ensuring achievement of customer requirements related to Quality, Cost, Delivery and Productivity.
- The candidate should have strong experience in automotive wiring harness, cables, wire processing, crimping, terminal assembly, connector assembly, harness assembly and testing processes.
- 15 to 25 years of experience in Automotive Wiring Harness / Automotive Cable / Electrical Components manufacturing.
- Engineering degree preferred Electrical / Electronics / Mechanical / Production / Automobile.
- Should have handled complete plant operations.
- Strong experience in wire processing and wiring harness manufacturing.
- Should understand crimping, cutting, stripping, terminal insertion, connector assembly, splicing, ultrasonic welding and electrical testing.
- Experience working with Automotive OEM / Tier-1 customers preferred.
- Strong knowledge of IATF 16949, APQP, PPAP, PFMEA and Control Plan.
- Strong exposure to Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Kaizen and OEE improvement.
- Experience in greenfield / brownfield projects is an added advantage.
- Should have handled significant manpower and plant capacity.
- Strong leadership, customer management and problem-solving skills

Key Responsibilities

1. Overall Plant Operations

- Lead complete plant operations and ensure smooth day-to-day functioning.
- Drive achievement of Production, Quality, Cost and Delivery (PQCD) targets.
- Establish and monitor plant-level KPIs.
- Ensure effective coordination between Production, Quality, Maintenance, PPC, Stores, Purchase, Logistics and Engineering.
- Develop and execute annual plant operating plans.

2. Production Cable / Wiring Harness

Manage and improve manufacturing processes including:

- Wire cutting and stripping
- Wire crimping
- Terminal crimping
- Applicator and tooling management




- Terminal insertion
- Connector assembly
- Wire twisting
- Ultrasonic welding
- Splicing
- Taping
- Heat-shrink operations
- Conduit / tube assembly
- Harness assembly
- Continuity / electrical testing
- End-of-line testing
- Visual and dimensional inspection

Ensure optimum machine utilization, manpower productivity, line balancing and capacity utilization.

3. Productivity & Operational Excellence

- Improve OEE, line efficiency and labour productivity.
- Drive Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, 5S, TPM and continuous improvement.
- Reduce cycle time, manpower cost, rejection and rework.
- Improve line balancing and optimize manpower deployment.
- Identify production bottlenecks and implement corrective actions.
- Drive automation wherever commercially viable.

4. Quality Management

- Ensure adherence to IATF 16949, ISO 9001 and customer-specific requirements.
- Drive zero-defect manufacturing.
- Monitor customer PPM, rejection, rework and warranty-related issues.
- Ensure effective implementation of PFMEA, Control Plan, SPC, MSA and APQP.
- Lead root-cause analysis using 8D, 5 Why, Fishbone and CAPA.
- Improve First Pass Yield and reduce internal rejection.
- Ensure process audits and product audits are conducted effectively.

5. Automotive OEM Customer Management

- Work closely with customer quality, engineering and purchase teams.
- Ensure timely response to customer complaints and quality issues.
- Support new product development, trials and production ramp-up.
- Ensure timely PPAP and SOP readiness.
- Understand customer-specific requirements and ensure implementation at plant level.
- Manage customer audits and ensure closure of observations.

6. Maintenance & Manufacturing Engineering

- Ensure maximum availability of wire-processing and harness manufacturing equipment.
- Drive preventive and predictive maintenance.
- Monitor MTBF, MTTR and machine downtime.
- Ensure proper maintenance of:
- Wire cutting machines
- Crimping machines
- Applicators
- Crimping presses
- Ultrasonic welding machines
- Testing equipment
- Harness assembly boards
- Conveyor systems
- Automatic processing equipment





- Drive automation and process engineering improvements.

7. Tooling & Process Control

- Ensure effective management of crimping tools, applicators, dies, fixtures and gauges.
- Monitor crimp height, pull force and terminal quality.
- Ensure proper calibration and preventive maintenance of tooling.
- Reduce tooling-related rejection and downtime.
- Improve process capability and repeatability.

8. Planning & Supply Chain

- Ensure production plans meet customer schedules.
- Coordinate with PPC, Purchase, Stores and Logistics.
- Ensure availability of wires, terminals, connectors, tapes, conduits and other raw materials.
- Optimize WIP and finished-goods inventory.
- Ensure On-Time Delivery (OTD).
- Identify and resolve material shortages and production constraints.

9. Cost Management

- Control overall manufacturing cost.
- Reduce:
- Labour cost
- Scrap
- Rejection
- Rework
- Overtime
- Energy cost
- Tooling cost
- Conversion cost

- Drive cost-saving and productivity improvement projects.
- Prepare and monitor plant budgets and CAPEX.

10. Recent Product Development / New Projects

- Support recent product introduction and customer development programs.
- Lead plant readiness for new projects.
- Coordinate machine procurement, installation and commissioning.
- Plan manpower, capacity, tooling and infrastructure.
- Support APQP, PPAP, pilot runs and SOP.
- Experience in greenfield / brownfield plant setup is preferred.

11. People Management

- Lead the plant leadership and functional teams.
- Manage large blue-collar and white-collar workforce.
- Drive manpower planning and productivity.
- Develop production managers, quality managers, maintenance managers and supervisors.
- Build a culture of accountability, discipline and continuous improvement.
- Work closely with HR/IR on manpower and employee-related matters.

12. Safety & Compliance

- Ensure Zero Accident / Zero Incident culture.
- Ensure compliance with EHS and statutory requirements.
- Conduct regular safety audits.
- Implement corrective and preventive safety measures.
- Ensure proper training and PPE compliance.

Key KPIs

- Production Achievement %
- OEE
- Labour Productivity
- Line Efficiency
- Customer PPM
- Internal Rejection %
- Rework %
- First Pass Yield
- On-Time Delivery %
- Scrap %
- Conversion Cost
- Machine Downtime
- MTBF / MTTR
- Inventory Turnover
- Manpower Productivity
- Customer Complaints
- Kaizen / Cost Savings
- Safety Performance

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📌 Plant Head (Chennai)
🏢 Amor Management Consultants
📍 Chennai