Factory Head for one of the garment manufacturing company-Kolkata

Job Description:

Position name- Factory Head

Role Overview

Location: Kolkata • on site • full time

We are hiring a Factory Head to run the factory. You own capacity, output, quality, cost and people across planning, cutting, stitching, machine and hand embroidery, and finishing

The floor runs on experience today, not numbers. Putting the measurement systems in place is your first-year mandate. Production is order-wise: many small, unique orders, each with its own specs and finishing notes, on delicate fabrics. The floor also runs on a few key people — part of the first year is building a named backup for every section so no section depends on one person.

Core Responsibilities

1. A) Planning & Capacity

• Confirm capacity for every order before Merchandising commits a dispatch date
• Own the factory production plan
• Decide line loading and sequencing
• Plan manpower, machine and shift capacity against the forward order book

1. B) Production Execution

• Run cutting, stitching, machine and hand embroidery, and finishing to the TNA
• Receive dyed and printed inputs from the dyeing and printing unit; flag input problems to QC and Merchandising the same day
• Hand over finished, QC-approved goods for packing against Merchandising’s packing instructions

1. C) Embroidery — In-House

• Own the full embroidery operation: both machine lines, hand embroidery
• Supervise job work timeline and technical quality through to acceptance

1. D) Measurement Systems & Reporting

• Install the factory’s measurement layer: SAM, section-wise efficiency, defects per hundred units, wastage, machine downtime, manpower productivity
• Set the daily and weekly MIS and run production reviews off the numbers
• Send a daily production report by section; manage production planning with capacity numbers in hand

1. E) Quality Process

• Build quality controls into cutting, stitching and embroidery so defects are prevented, not inspected out
• Act on in-process QC findings the same day — QC’s pass/fail stands
• Own rework and rejection cost; drive right-first-time up section by section

1. F) People, Industrial Relations & Compliance

• Settle worker disputes, grievances and indiscipline at floor level
• Manpower planning, attendance, contract labour and deployment, with HR
• Skill grading and a training plan for the floor; build a named backup for every section incharge
• Floor discipline, safety, statutory floor compliance and buyer audit readiness

1. G) Cost, Resource & Automation

• Drive down cost per garment: manpower deployment, overtime control, fabric and trim wastage, machine utilisation
• Identify automation and mechanisation opportunities; cost them, put them up, and run them to installation
• Machine maintenance schedule and downtime control

Ideal Candidate Background

Experience

• 10+ years in garment manufacturing, including minimum 3 years as Factory Head, Plant Head or Unit Head with the full floor reporting to you — deputy or second-in-command tenure does not count
• Export house background — has produced for international buyers and faced buyer QA and audits
• Has run a factory of 100 or more workers through section incharges
• Has put measurement systems in place where none existed — SAM, efficiency, DHU, productivity tracking
• Has delivered factory projects as the accountable head: line setup, layout change, capacity expansion or automation
• Has worked with a planning executive or industrial engineer to run capacity and line balancing
• Has handled industrial relations directly: worker disputes, grievances, contract labour
• Has run embroidery-heavy production — machine and hand, in the same unit
• Order-wise production: many small, unique orders — not bulk repeats with an occasional custom job
• Has managed outside job work: briefing, follow-up, quality acceptance

Education

• Graduate degree preferred; apparel or textile education
• Industrial engineering or productivity certification is an advantage
• Floor track record outweighs paper qualifications for this seat

Non-Negotiables

• Three years as the head of a factory — the seat where the floor’s output was your number, not your manager’s
• Export background — buyer standards, buyer audits, export delivery discipline
• Management temperament — you get it done through your incharges; the best operator on the floor is a mis-hire in this seat
• Industrial relations capability — can settle a worker dispute yourself, the same day, without it reaching the Director
• Runs on numbers — if a section’s efficiency cannot be stated, it is not being managed
• Dual embroidery fluency — machine and hand; embroidery sits in the middle of almost every order here
• Order-wise temperament — bulk-factory playbooks do not translate to this floor
• Bengali and Hindi with floor authority; basic English reporting

Key Skills & Attributes

Hard / Technical Skills

• Capacity planning, line balancing and line loading for multi-section production
• Industrial engineering fundamentals: SAM, operator productivity, cost per minute
• MIS design and production reporting without an ERP
• Quality process design; DHU and right-first-time tracking
• Industrial relations, contract labour and Factories Act limits
• Machine maintenance planning and downtime control
• Wastage and consumption control
• Automation and mechanisation evaluation
• Job work vendor selection and technical assessment

Soft Skills

• Command presence — supervisors, in charges and workers take this person seriously without theatrics
• Delegates and holds accountable; does not take over the task to get it done
• Calm in a dispute — hears the floor out, decides, and makes the decision stick
• Questions process — nothing survives because it has always been done that way
• Calm sequencer of competing priorities; decides by dispatch risk
• Develops people — the named-backup rule is a mindset, not a chart entry
• Fair and firm in discipline; consistent, documented, no favourites
• Low ego, high ownership — fixes the system, not the blame

KPIs (Monthly / Quarterly)

1) Delivery

• On-time handover to packing: 95%+
• Capacity confirmation before every committed dispatch date: 100%

2) Measurement System Build

• Section-wise measurement live — efficiency, DHU, downtime, wastage: by month 3
• Daily production MIS running without prompting: by month 3
• Every section operating against a stated target: by month 6

3) Efficiency & Quality

• Section-wise efficiency baselined within 90 days, improving against baseline after
• Defects per hundred units tracked weekly and falling
• Right-first-time at final QC: 90%+
• Rework and rejection cost tracked and falling

4) People & Industrial Relations

• Named, working backup for every section incharge: by month 6
• Absenteeism: under 5%
• Worker disputes settled at floor level without Director escalation: 90%+

5) Cost & Resource

• Overtime: under 10% and inside legal caps, with no delivery slippage
• Fabric and trim wastage tracked and falling
• Machine downtime: under 3%
• Two costed automation or process-improvement proposals per year

6) Compliance

• Statutory and safety compliance on the floor: zero adverse findings
• Buyer or third-party audit readiness maintained at all times

Knockout Questions (Ask Before CV Review)

All applicants must answer these in writing before any CV is reviewed. No exceptions.

1. How many years have you worked in garment manufacturing, and how many as Factory Head, Plant Head or Unit Head with the full floor reporting to you? How many workers, direct and indirect?

2. Have you worked in an export house producing for international buyers?

3. Have you put measurement systems in place where none existed — efficiency, SAM, DHU, productivity tracking?

4. Have you handled worker disputes and industrial relations yourself?

5. Have you delivered a factory project as the accountable head — new line, layout change, capacity expansion or automation?

6. Have you managed both machine and hand embroidery production in the same unit, including embroidery job work outside?

7. Have you produced order-wise — many small, unique orders rather than bulk repeat styles?

8. Have you produced on delicate fabrics — silk, chiffon, organza, satin?

9. Are you based in Kolkata, or willing to relocate?

10. What is your earliest possible joining date?

11. What is your last drawn CTC, and what is your expected CTC?