Hartwell Manufacturing is a family-run engineering business with nearly 50 years of experience delivering high-quality acoustic enclosures and heavy steel fabrication projects. From our Sheffield facility, we support clients in the power, data centre and industrial sectors with engineered solutions built on precision, collaboration and reliability. The culture is hands-on, team-focused and proud of the work we produce.
We are actively seeking a Night Shift Production Manager with the following attributes to join our team in Sheffield:
Production Performance and Shift Control
- Take full ownership of shift performance across output, quality, safety, labour efficiency, attendance, housekeeping and delivery.
- Ensure daily production targets are achieved across the relevant production areas.
- Monitor progress throughout the shift, identifying risks early and taking action before issues become failures.
- Maintain clear visibility of production performance, including output achieved, deviations from plan, downtime, labour utilisation, quality issues and urgent customer/order requirements.
- Ensure accurate, timely and meaningful shift handovers are completed, with clear escalation of issues, actions and priorities.
- Plan and organise daily labour requirements to ensure production areas are properly resourced, balanced and able to meet demand.
- Escalate issues appropriately, while taking ownership for resolving problems within the control of the role.
People Leadership and Team Development
- Lead by example, demonstrating the behaviours, standards and attitude expected within Hartwell Manufacturing.
- Build a capable, accountable and engaged production team through clear expectations, consistent communication and visible leadership.
- Coach Lead-fabricators and fabricator/platers to improve performance, capability and confidence.
- Address underperformance, poor behaviours, attendance concerns and lack of accountability promptly and professionally.
- Carry out performance reviews, return-to-work meetings and day-to-day people management activities in line with company expectations.
- Maintain and actively use the training matrix to identify skills gaps, plan cross-training and build a more flexible workforce.
- Create an environment where people understand not only what is expected of them, but why it matters to the wider business and customer.
Continuous Improvement and Problem Solving
- Actively review systems, processes, working practices and team behaviours to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Use production data, downtime information, quality trends, labour performance and shopfloor observation to identify root causes of underperformance.
- Challenge repeat issues, recurring excuses and inefficient ways of working.
- Lead practical improvement activity that delivers measurable benefits in output, quality, rework, efficiency, safety, communication or team capability.
- Support a culture where problems are surfaced, understood and resolved rather than tolerated or worked around.
- Contribute ideas and improvement actions that make the department and wider business stronger.
Quality, Standards and Customer Delivery
- Ensure products are manufactured to the required quality standards and that quality expectations are understood and followed by the team.
- Monitor and respond to quality issues, remakes, rework and non-conformance trends.
- Work with relevant colleagues to reduce repeat quality issues and improve first-time-right performance.
- Ensure urgent orders, first runs, second runs and customer-critical requirements are understood, prioritised and effectively communicated.
- Support consistent OTIF performance by ensuring production activity is aligned with customer and business priorities.
Health, Safety and Housekeeping
- Ensure all team members work safely and in line with SOPs, risk assessments and required PPE standards.
- Maintain a clean, organised and safe working environment, with strong housekeeping and minimal disruption.
- Challenge unsafe behaviours immediately and ensure health and safety expectations are consistently reinforced.
- Support accident prevention, near-miss reporting and practical safety improvements within the department.
Stock, Materials and Operational Discipline
- Manage stock levels within the department, ensuring stock accuracy and timely completion of stock-related tasks.
- Ensure material, labour and machine issues are identified, communicated and escalated appropriately.
- Support effective line balancing and ensure resources are deployed in the right areas to maximise performance.
- Maintain discipline around SOPs, production controls, time and attendance, data capture and reporting.
What Success Looks Like
The successful Production Shift Manager will be able to demonstrate clear progress in both daily control and longer-term improvement.
Success in the role will include:
- Consistent achievement of production output targets.
- Strong OTIF performance and reduction in missed or late orders.
- Improved shift discipline, communication and handover quality.
- Better visibility of production issues, risks and deviations from plan.
- Reduction in repeat quality issues, rework and remakes.
- Better use of labour across production areas.
- Improved team flexibility through effective training and cross-training.
- Stronger accountability from supervisors, team leaders and operators.
- Cleaner, safer and more organised production areas.
- Evidence of continuous improvement activity that has delivered measurable benefit.
- A team that is more capable, better organised and more consistently aligned with Hartwell Manufacturing’s standards.
Required Experience and Capability
The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:
- Proven experience leading teams in a fast-paced manufacturing, production or operational environment.
- Experience managing daily output, KPIs, quality, safety, labour planning and operational performance.
- Evidence of improving a department, process, team or performance area in a previous role.
- Strong people management skills, including coaching, performance management, communication and development.
- Experience using data and production information to identify problems and make decisions.
- Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities during a busy shift.
- Confidence in challenging poor standards, underperformance and inefficient working practices.
- Ability to communicate clearly at all levels, from shopfloor colleagues to senior management.
- A practical, hands-on approach with the ability to balance urgency with structure and discipline.
- Good computer literacy, including Microsoft Office and production/reporting systems.
- A strong understanding of health and safety expectations in an operational environment.
- First Aid trained or willing to become a First Aider.
Personal Attributes
The right person for this role will be:
- Accountable and willing to take ownership.
- Visible, approachable and respected on the shopfloor.
- Calm under pressure, but firm on standards.
- Target-driven and improvement-focused.
- Commercially aware and conscious of the impact production performance has on the wider business.
- Comfortable with high expectations and regular performance review.
- Able to move beyond day-to-day firefighting into structured improvement.
- Proactive, self-motivated and capable of bringing solutions, not just problems.
- Resilient enough to challenge established habits and raise standards.
- Committed to developing people and building stronger teams.
Candidate Evidence Required
Candidates should be prepared to discuss specific examples of where they have:
- Improved output, quality, efficiency, safety or delivery performance.
- Developed team members, supervisors or future leaders.
- Addressed underperformance or poor standards.
- Reduced downtime, waste, rework or operational disruption.
- Used data or reporting to improve decision-making.
- Introduced a new process, system, working method or improvement initiative.
- Managed labour planning, absence, training or cross-skilling.
- Improved communication, handovers or accountability within a team.
- Made a previous department or business better as a direct result of their leadership.
Success Metrics
Performance in the role will be measured against both daily delivery and improvement outcomes, including:
- OTIF performance consistently meeting or exceeding target.
- Production output achieved against plan.
- Reduction in missed or late orders.
- Quality performance, including rework, remakes and first-time-right measures.
- Downtime visibility, accuracy and reduction of repeat issues.
- Balanced and efficient staffing across production areas.
- Accurate and timely shift handovers.
- Staff time, attendance and absence management accuracy.
- Training matrix completion, skills flexibility and cross-training progress.
- Housekeeping, safety compliance and department organisation.
- Stock accuracy and timely completion of stock-related activity.
- Evidence of continuous improvement actions completed and benefits delivered.
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Benefits:
- Company pension
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
