Colombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka
An industry recognised Production/Operations/Quality & Technical Group Director with 30+ years of proven experience spanning from product development to bulk manufacturing based on best in class global management frameworks. A versatile innovative leader who pioneers in setting up operational strategies & capable of simultaneously managing globally distributed manufacturing plants servicing renowned brands such as NIKE, Lululemon, Patagonia and Polo Ralph Lauren. Ability to play senior leadership roles at director level cultivated upon demonstrated results in delighting NIKE partnership over the past decade on behalf of MAS Holdings with more than 99.5% on time performance in full with ZERO chargebacks and ZERO product recalls. Driven by innovative & transformative leadership attributes that motivates multi-national teams to come together to achieve the brand’s promise to their end consumers while meeting organisational expectations everyday. Efficient and effective team player with strong collaboration skills in planning, scheduling and managing operations at manufacturing plants to ensure factories are in compliance with all brand protocols. Energetic and strategic expertise leader in setting up & operating management systems. Thorough knowledge in material inspections, testing, garment construction and in machine gauges & folders. An error proof solution driven leader with experience in digitization.
-Overseeing 07 manufacturing locations along with Sample Room / Planning / Central Industrial Engineering, Maintenance and Research & Development / LEAN and Pre-Production. -Monitoring and managing daily operations to ensure the plan budget, earnings / SAH and efficiencies. -Developing short term /medium term and long term strategies to meet company objectives. -Ensuring all operations comply with company policies and procedures -Ensuring all departments work collaboratively to achieve company goals. -Adhering to specified quality processes and systems to ensure final product compliance based on customer requirements. -Developing and implementing strategic cost saving initiatives across operational departments. -Conducting performance review appraisals and people development. Key Customers: Marks & Spencer, H&M, TCHIBO, Tesco, TWILLORY.
-Managing 10 manufacturing locations with a capacity of 80 million pieces per year including Jordan (3 plants) & Indonesia (1 plant) operations as well as offsite operations. -Setting up operational strategies, policies and goals driving organisational wide profitability while delighting customers. -Accountable and drives end-to-end overall quality management systems across the entire value stream from product development to manufacturing which enables retention and strengthen the partnership with strategic customers such as Nike. -Facilitated in setting up Quality systems & procedures based on customer requirements since commissioning stage of the MAS manufacturing plants in Sri Lanka/China/India/Jordan & Indonesia to ensure final product is in compliance to high quality standards. -Fostering a Quality engineering culture with a focus towards “Right First Time” behaviour along side exploring & implementing new innovations, autonomation/error proofing solutions to enhance both quality & productivity at the source. -Analyse quality data & trends to drive continuous improvements using lived experience to uncover potential risks. -Be a catalyst to drive systematic problem solving with quality assurance tools using LEAN philosophies. -Delegating and empowering for day to day operational decision making while tracking the effectiveness. -Lead all product safety activities across the division ensuring zero product safety failures at the consumer end. -Conducting mid-year/annual performance appraisals for direct reports. -Providing mentorship and coaching support for plant and divisional quality teams. Accomplishments - Achieving GOLD rating in consecutive 24 quarters in global quality score card.
-Managed Sri Lanka and Pakistan factories from a product integrity stand point. -Lead new plant accreditation and on-boarding process. -Liaised with developers/regional teams to drive prevention of non-conformances at upstream. -Facilitated implementation, training & monitoring of the quality management systems and procedures across all manufacturing plants. -Reviewed & approved pre-production samples whilst providing CTQ’s (Critical to Quality) & CTP’s (Critical to Process). -Trained and certified factory auditors and conducted annual re-certifications. -Evaluated Annual Product Safety Assessments & followed through corrective actions. -Conducted training & workshops on customer product and process requirements to factory management & staff. -Lead performance review meetings with factory top management teams for continuous improvements. Accomplishments - Contributing towards achieving regional best vendor quality awards across regional manufacturing plants.
-Lead in plant evaluation and onboarding. -Lead health and safety, social compliance function. -Lead in Product Risk Assessments and Product Safety Management. -Lead in Proto, Size set & Pre-production sample approvals. -Fabric TOP approvals, embellishment strike of approvals, shipment approvals. -Systems & process implementations based on specific customer quality requirements. -Managed manufacturing Quality Assurance Technicians to execute QA function preventing, controlling and rectifying product non-conformances. -Conducted pre-production meetings & provide technical expertise in accordance with customer quality requirements. -Organised QA allocations for pre-production, in-line and final inspections. -Conducted quality trainings to enhance both technical & interpersonal skills for direct reports (25-30 personnel). Accomplishments - Collaborative contribution towards achieving regional best quality awards.