We’re ZEISS Vision Care UK, based in Birmingham; an exciting place to work, where individuals make a real difference every day. As part of the ZEISS group, we are an international leader in the field of optics, with over 34,000 employees across 50 countries around the globe. As the branded leader in lenses, we offer premium and pioneering products; innovation is at the heart of everything we do. Our brand enhances the lives and vision of millions of people around the world. In fact, 2 people every second put their trust in ZEISS lenses. We are proud of our heritage and have been at the forefront of scientific discovery and innovation since our creation in 1846. We are a foundation; this means we reinvest 12% of our revenue to fund research and education, supporting progress within the optical industry and across the community. We are more successful today than we have ever been, having celebrated double digit growth for the past ten years. We‘re not stopping here because we are focused on accelerating our growth even further, aiming to double our revenue by 2025. If you want to be part of making this difference, then ZEISS Vision Care UK is the right place for you! This is a critical role within the Carl Zeiss Vision UK (“CZV UK”) team, which requires a driven, ambitious and enthusiastic Manufacturing professional to help develop, drive and deliver the UK Manufacturing strategy for the UK&I business to achieve its considerable growth ambition as part of our strategy, Agenda30. The role provides a great opportunity to shape the future of the local Manufacturing agenda within Carl Zeiss Vision UK, along with key involvement with Group Manufacturing functions, and provides a great opportunity for someone passionate to make an impact in the company and the wider Operations function. This person will manage the end-to-end production process and facility in Birmingham, delivering expertly finished lenses to all our customers, whilst creating an engaging place to work for the lab team and transforming our current operation to ensure we maintain our position as best in industry, delivering a showcase lab environment for our staff and customers. Key Objectives: Responsible for the delivery of the CZV UK manufacturing strategy in line with strategic objectives. Develop a deep understanding of the business, it’s processes, people, customers, and suppliers. Harness this understanding to analyse the Manufacturing requirements for the CZV UK business. Develop and implement a Manufacturing strategy to support the accelerating growth of the CZV UK business and its strategic objectives, in conjunction with the broader ZEISS Manufacturing strategy, ensuring that the UK Manufacturing facility is robust to address future challenges and growth. Identify ways to transform a well-established manufacturing operation in order to drive efficiency and operational excellence to remain best in industry. Ensure appropriate KPI’s are set, maintained and embedded within the Manufacturing Function and ensure that these are monitored and reported on to drive continuous performance improvement year on year. Establish an effective relationship with the ZEISS Vision Group Operations Management team to ensure alignment of local and global strategies and to leverage global ZEISS agreements. Ensures the lab maintains its status as best in industry and uses the latest technology and equipment to build a market leading production facility. Provide strong leadership to the Manufacturing team. Create and maintain a consistently high performing team aligned to the agreed strategic growth plans. Mentor, Coach and develop the team, enabling them to be the best that they can be and empowering the team to drive high performance. Ensure the structure is supporting the strategic direction as well as optimising the capabilities of the team so that Manufacturing Operations delivers a high-quality reliable service. Design and deliver a manufacturing environment that is a great place to work. Maintain best in industry levels of compliance within the manufacturing facility and its processes. Ensure a safety-first culture is maintained and that UK operations are compliant with UK legislation and Group standards. Ensure the manufacturing facility and its processes are compliant with ISO standards. Maintain best in industry quality results through active participation in the quality assurance program and being an advocate of best in industry quality and quality first mindset. Recognised as the ‘manufacturing expert’ in the business. Be the go-to for all Manufacturing related matters. Share manufacturing expertise and awareness within the business. Keep up to date on legislative changes and proactively update the business and manage any impact accordingly. Responsible for overall manufacturing productivity and continuously driving improvement. Continuously improve the end-to-end manufacturing processes using continuous improvement and lean methodologies and improve the overall customer experience, driving value through efficient manufacturing and reducing the total cost per lens. Ensure operational requirements are achieved through effective planning and scheduling, following up on work results with the team members. Oversee the maintenance of laboratory supplies inventory, anticipating needs, placing and expediting orders and verifying receipt. Engage in cross-functional product planning and launch activity, to ensure production capacity is available to support business plans. Implements new programs, instrumentation and procedures by investigating alternatives and preparing proposals. Own the manufacturing information system identifying information needs and problems. Recommend improvements, establish priorities and oversee testing and training to maintaining security and confidentiality. Overall equipment and manufacturing system maintenance responsibility ensuring robust maintenance programmes are in place and adhered to, enabling best in industry equipment utilisation and output quality. Maintains manufacturing equipment performance by establishing quality standards and troubleshooting procedures to drive high quality output. Ensure team compliance to standards through regular monitoring of adherence to maintenance and cleaning schedules. Achieve excellent levels of accuracy through certifying instrument performance, arranging timely equipment replacement, service, and repair. Maintain an excellent understanding of the technology available to us and make recommendations to invest and develop when appropriate. REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE Must have: Proven experience of transforming a Manufacturing operation Proven academics: Degree qualified Proven experience of leading and transforming teams and supporting individuals to become the best that they can be Proven experience of managing a Manufacturing function and delivering business improvement outcomes Proven experience managing a maintenance programme and achieving excellent equipment utilisation Experience of working within a regulated manufacturing or laboratory environment Proven experience of successfully managing projects and achieving the desired outcomes for quality, timeframe and budget Ability to think strategically beyond Manufacturing and understand key business drivers that ensure decisions and actions provide value Ability to summarise complex problems and communicate key information and actions to the Senior Leadership Team Continuous improvement mindset and experience leading a Lean production system Excellent coaching, development, and staff engagement skills Hands on approach to leading the team Excellent communication and influencing skills Strong verbal and written communication skills Resilient, Self-aware and open to change Competent in problem solving, team building, planning and decision making Proven track record of managing and delivering performance excellence Desirable: Experience using SAP within a Manufacturing environment Accredited member of relevant professional body Qualifications in Lean six sigma Qualification in Project Management Experience implementing and managing automation Knowledge of the optical market, products and processes Your ZEISS Recruiting Team: Kate Campbell