Red Stag Wood Solutions Limited (Red Stag) is seeking a quality Operations or Plant Manager to be responsible for its Engineered Wood Product (EWP) plant in Rotorua within the greater Red Stag site.

Red Stag is New Zealand’s largest Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) manufacturer in the country, and is in the process of becoming the largest manufacturer of Glue Laminated Timber (GLT) in New Zealand.  Red Stag is also a leading independent manufacturer of timber frames and trusses and prefabricated building solutions for the residential and commercial construction industry.

Red Stag’s expansion into EWP provides the company with the opportunity to integrate CLT and GLT processing into its portfolio in conjunction with stick timber wall panels and floor cassettes to provide the market with an integrated timber solution for residential, mid and high rise construction. 

Red Stag is seeking a leader that has the right attitude, aptitude and skills to be successful and autonomous in the role.  It is not essential to have direct industry experience in CLT, or EWP as Red Stag believes firmly that the right team member with transferrable related experience can be equally successful. 

As this is a new and expanding manufacturing facility, Red Stag is seeking an energetic, hands on leader that can support bringing teh new production facility up to speed, while supporting the broader project team to expand the new factory and add more capacity.  

The role will be responsible for supporting the plant expansion commissioning, drive recruiting and training, coordinate production scheduling, manage working capital, drive production efficiency and quality, manage Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) and support with managing customer interfaces.

Red Stag has successfully developed a constructive team culture since its establishment, therefore the new Operations or Plant Manager with have the support of a broader team in Rotorua and Hamilton.

The Operations or Plant Manager will report to and be supported by the Company Managing Director and will form part of the senior management team.   

In addition to managing the production/manufacturing activities, the role will lead and coordinate all site quality, engineering services/maintenance, Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), Human Resource administration, scheduling and Health and Safety.

Key attributes and accountabilities ideally suited, but not necessarily essential for this role include:

• Personnel Management: Experience in recruiting, training and managing a team and driving a positive constructive and productive culture – ideally associated with production related business(es) or similar.
• A strong focus on uncompromised quality and detail.
• Understanding the drivers for productivity and being able to implement mechanisms to sustainably improve the metrics.
• Experience with modern manufacturing processes, ideally within the wood processing sector.
• Customer relationship skills.
• Strong scheduling, planning and organisational skills.
• Ability to problem-solve and the ability to simplify and break down challenges into manageable elements.
• Business/finance skills – the ability to understand the economic drivers to being successful in business and how the Operational activities contribute to the overall business performance and profitability.
• Experience with procurement and stock management.
• Analytically minded with strong organisational skills.
• Good communicator/articulate – verbal and written.
• Initiative and enthusiasm.
• Solid experience in timber processing and/or advanced manufacturing.
• Ideally a reasonable understanding of, or experience with building/the building industry.
• Ability to integrate and transfer skills and experience to the team, to develop a best in class production facility.
• Capable computer skills to support system development and the integration with computer-controlled production elements and equipment.
• Initiative and enthusiasm.
• Structured and systematic.

In coming into the team, this position will be pivotal in the overall business productivity, combined with customer and staff management.  You will be responsible for controlling the operational activities, and transitioning a plant from from post commissioning into scale production.  The successful candidate must have a strong focus on production, ideally timber processing, efficiency, quality, resource management and system development.

Attention to detail and a systematic philosophy are important.  It is not essential that the successfully candidate have the direct experience in the EWP sector; however, experience in the wood processing sector, construction sector, advanced manufacturing and the associated contributing disciplines would be very beneficial.

In return for your valued contribution, a competitive compensation package is on offer.  If you have skills in the applicable areas and aspire for a new career path within the advanced timber processing sector, and are looking forward to your next challenge within a growing business with a great team environment, we would like to hear from you.

To be considered for these positions, please apply online and attach a current CV and any relevant educational and employment related certificates.