New Product Development
Responsible for the implementation of new products developed by the NPD Team in the factories that will ensure a successful production launch, ensuring that product consistency is achieved throughout the entire process
Schedule and manage production line trials and re-evaluations making sure that everything has gone to plan
Understand company production processes and flagging up any potential problems to the NPD team at early development stages.
Initiate solutions to production issues / problems / capacity constraints.
Develop and co-ordinate practical schedules for product launches
Liaise with purchasing colleagues to ensure that all incoming stock for factory trial runs are in place.
Management of the critical path from factory trial stage to ensure projects are successfully completed in line with agreed timescales and keeping key personnel aware of any updates and delays.
Technical & Quality Management
Ensure that Factory Trials take place with the outcomes reported to all relevant teams, measure yields and make sure that everything complies with customer expectations.
Facilitate customer visits during production trials.
Initiate and trial new processing equipment - either in support of a new product launch or to make improvements to current production processes.
Conduct ongoing investigations into production processes and making recommendations for improvements if necessary.
Ensure that operating procedures, quality contracts and specifications are written correctly for each new product and available to relevant staff
Technical Expertise and Insight
Identify any critical issues, make recommendations regarding processes of equipment for improvements.
Support initial production runs and being available to trouble shoot and provide expert advice if necessary
Compile reports capturing key data, scale-up and methods, QAS, qualitative and quantitative standards, yields and process waste.
Ensuring that kitchen components and finished product samples are retained for reference and future benchmarking against 1st trial & customer launch sign offs.
Organise and perform shelf life and organoleptic testing of retained samples to ensure product safety and quality against agreed QAS.
Monitor any changes to the NPD recipe and processes that will result in increased product costs. Report any deviations whilst agreeing corrective actions as appropriate.
To arrange and conduct factory trials and full scale up 1st production runs ensuring that the technical information supporting the new product is correct and up to date.
Ensure factory manufactured products adhere to customer specifications throughout the product lifecycle by attending taste panel and customer reviews.
