POSITION DESCRIPTION
Plant Head - CV Precision Components Plant
The Hi-Tech Gears Ltd. · Bhiwadi Plant
Function
Plant Operations & Commercial — Bhiwadi
Reporting To
Managing Director
Location
Bhiwadi, Rajasthan
Level
AGM or GM Senior Leadership
Works With
Production Head (Reports to this role), Purchase and Commercial Teams
ABOUT THE HI-TECH GEARS
The Hi-Tech Gears Ltd. (NSE/BSE listed) is one of India's leading auto component manufacturers, specialising in high-precision powertrain solutions — transmission gears and shafts, driveline components, engine gears, and power take-off components. With fully integrated manufacturing capabilities from forging through to finished sub-assemblies, the company serves OEMs across passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and off-highway segments in India and globally. The Bhiwadi facility is one of Hi-Tech Gears' key manufacturing locations, producing commercial vehicle transmission components with a highly export-oriented customer base.
THE OPPORTUNITY
The Bhiwadi plant is a technically complex, export-heavy operation — a significant contribution of its output serves international customers. Despite its strategic importance and strong product capabilities, requires a focused intervention on both the operational and commercial fronts.
A Production Head is already in place managing day-to-day operations. What is needed now is a senior turnaround leader — a professional who can work with the Production Head with a singular, time-bound mandate: restructure the plant operationally and commercially and return it to profitability within a defined timeframe.
This is not a steady-state management role. It is a high-accountability, high-complexity turnaround assignment that requires someone who can diagnose problems quickly, act decisively, and drive change across manufacturing processes, cost structures, and customer contracts simultaneously — all without disrupting the plant's ability to serve its existing customer commitments.
This role is designed for a leader who thrives on complexity, has done this before, and is energised by the challenge of turning a capable operation into a profitable one.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Operational Turnaround
- Conduct a rapid and rigorous diagnostic of the plant's operational performance — identifying the root causes of current losses across cost, capacity, productivity, and process
- Develop and execute a structured turnaround plan with clear milestones, accountability, and a realistic path to profitability
- Ensure fulfilment of all existing customer demand commitments without disruption during the turnaround period — maintaining delivery reliability as a non-negotiable baseline
- Identify and eliminate waste across manufacturing processes — applying lean and Theory of Constraints thinking to unlock capacity and reduce cost
- Fully utilise existing plant capacity — addressing current underutilisation as an immediate priority and building a plan to sustain full utilisation going forward
- Strengthen shopfloor discipline — 5S, visual management, daily management systems, and shift-level accountability structures
Manufacturing & Quality Excellence
- Lead with the Production Head to drive delivery performance, OEE improvement, and zero-defect quality standards across CV and off-highway product lines
- Champion TPM across the plant — establishing pillar-based implementation, building ownership at the shopfloor level, and working towards JIPM recognition as a long-term marker of operational maturity
- Drive a First Time Right (FTR) philosophy across all manufacturing processes — from design and process engineering through to production and dispatch — reducing rework, rejections, and customer returns at their root cause rather than managing them at inspection
- Own the reduction of customer PPM levels as a strategic priority — setting ambitious targets per product line, building real-time visibility of defect data, and ensuring quality issues trigger structured corrective action rather than short-term fixes
Cost Reduction & Manufacturing Efficiency
- Build a detailed cost structure analysis — understanding fixed, variable, and avoidable costs across the plant P&L
- Drive systematic cost reduction through manufacturing process improvements, scrap reduction, rework elimination, and energy efficiency
- Identify and implement value engineering opportunities in partnership with the product and engineering teams
- Establish a culture of cost ownership at every level of the plant — ensuring managers and supervisors are accountable for their cost lines
Commercial Turnaround
- Work in close partnership with the commercial teams to lead renegotiation of pricing with existing export and domestic customers
- Build a clear picture of the commercial drivers of the plant's loss — identifying which contracts, customers, and product lines are margin-dilutive and why
- Represent Hi-Tech Gears credibly in senior customer conversations, holding commercial positions firmly while maintaining long-term partnership intent
- Ensure that new commercial terms negotiated are sustainable and supported by the plant's actual cost structure
Stakeholder Management & Reporting
- Provide the MD with a clear, regular, and honest view of turnaround progress
- Build a constructive and trust-based working relationship with the Plant Head, ensuring the turnaround agenda is jointly owned.
- Engage the broader Hi-Tech Gears leadership team where the plant's agenda intersects with their mandates
- Manage relationships with key export customers during the transition, ensuring confidence in Hi-Tech Gears' commitment to their business is maintained
Transition & Capability Building
- Ensure that the turnaround is not dependent on the continued presence of this role: Build processes, systems, and capabilities that will sustain the plant's performance after the engagement closes
- Develop the Production Head and senior plant team's capability to manage a profitable, high-performance operation independently
- Document the turnaround playbook — so that the learning from this engagement is institutionalised within Hi-Tech Gears
CANDIDATE PROFILE
Experience & Background
- 20–25 years of experience in manufacturing operations, with demonstrated experience in plant turnarounds or operational transformation mandates
- Strong working knowledge of TPM and experience in handling all TPM pillars.
- Strong background in precision components manufacturing, experience in auto components, transmission systems, or similarly complex engineered products strongly preferred
- Prior exposure to export-oriented manufacturing environments, familiarity with international customer expectations, quality standards, and commercial dynamics
- Track record of delivering measurable cost reduction and productivity improvement in a manufacturing setting
- Comfortable operating at the intersection of operations and commercial, has either led or worked closely with customer-facing commercial negotiations
Leadership & Personal Characteristics
- Structured and logical thinker — diagnoses problems systematically, builds clear plans, and works through options and scenarios before acting
- High drive and energy — operates with an owner's mindset and takes full personal accountability for the turnaround outcome
- Anticipates obstacles and prepares contingency plans — does not wait for problems to surface before thinking through responses
- Strong prioritisation ability — can manage a high-complexity, multi-workstream turnaround without losing focus on the critical path
- Balances data with intuition — draws on both rigorous analysis and seasoned manufacturing judgement
- Affable and collaborative — works with and through the Plant Head and the broader team; does not bypass or undermine existing leadership
- High integrity — trusted by customers, the MD, and the plant team; consistent and transparent under pressure
- Strong dealmaker — able to construct and hold commercial positions in customer negotiations while preserving the relationship
Education
- B.E. / B.Tech in Mechanical, Production, or Industrial Engineering — essential for this role
- MBA or equivalent management qualification — an advantage but not mandatory given the primacy of operational and commercial experience
MEASURES OF SUCCESS
Specific targets will be defined and agreed with the incoming candidate at onboarding, in consultation with the MD. The dimensions on which performance will be measured are:
Metric
Basis of Measurement
Plant Profitability
Movement towards EBITDA-positive — trajectory and timeline agreed at onboarding
Cost Reduction
Reduction in plant cost base through manufacturing interventions and process improvements
Capacity Utilisation
Improvement in utilisation of installed capacity
OEE Improvement
Measurable improvement in Overall Equipment Effectiveness across key production lines
Customer PPM
Reduction in customer-reported defects across CV transmission product lines
TPM Maturity
Progress on renegotiation of loss-making customer contracts in partnership with President – Commercial
Scrap & Rework
Progress against TPM pillar implementation and improvement in equipment reliability
Capability Development
Plant team capability to sustain performance independently
Job Reference: V6863R88LocationBhiwadi, Rajasthan, IndiaHeadcount1SeniorityseniorExpected closeSalaryNegotiable-6,000,000.00(INR)Package Details
Pay: Up to ₹6,000,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
