Interim COO/Chief Restructuring Officer - Manufacturing

JOB DESCRIPTION

Interim COO / Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO)

Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Engagement: Interim - 12 Months

Industry: Footwear Manufacturing / Leather / Textiles

Reporting To: Promoters / Board of Directors

Initial Phase: 4-6 Week Paid Diagnostic & Transformation Plan, followed by a 12-month operating mandate.

About the Company:

A family-owned footwear manufacturing group based in Chennai with an annual turnover approaching 200 crore, serving leading international brands. The Group has an integrated manufacturing platform comprising:

• Own tannery
• Leather processing and related operations
• Upper manufacturing
• Full-shoe manufacturing
• In-house Cut-to-Pack operations
• Production and supply-chain operations supporting international customers

The Group is therefore seeking a hands-on Interim COO / Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) who can take direct operating responsibility and drive a measurable turnaround over a 12-month period.

Role Purpose:

The Interim COO/CRO will be responsible for stabilising, restructuring and improving the operating performance of the business, with a strong focus on restoring profitability, improving cash generation and building sustainable operating systems. The successful candidate will be expected to step into the organisation, take operating authority, make floor-level decisions, establish accountability and directly drive execution.

The mandate will include:

• Operational turnaround
• Production and capacity optimisation
• Supply-chain and logistics improvement
• Working-capital and cash-flow improvement
• EBITDA/profitability recovery
• On-time delivery improvement
• Productivity and manufacturing efficiency
• ERP/KPI implementation
• Organisation and accountability restructuring
• Process institutionalisation
• Strengthening management systems and operating discipline

The ultimate objective is to create a more predictable, profitable and professionally managed manufacturing organisation that is less dependent on individual personalities.

Key Responsibilities:

A. Business Diagnostic & Turnaround Roadmap:

During the initial 4-6 week diagnostic phase, conduct a comprehensive assessment of the business covering:

• Manufacturing operations
• Production planning
• Capacity utilisation
• Production scheduling
• Labour productivity
• Quality and rejection levels
• Raw-material planning
• Inventory
• Procurement
• Supply chain
• Logistics
• Customer service and OTIF performance
• Working capital
• Cost structure
• EBITDA and cash flow
• Organisation structure
• Management capability
• ERP/MIS systems
• KPI framework
• Processes and controls

Develop a written Turnaround & Transformation Plan identifying:

• Critical issues
• Root causes
• Immediate priorities
• 30/60/90-day action plan
• 12-month transformation roadmap
• Required organisational changes
• Required authority and decision rights
• Investment requirements
• Financial impact
• Success metrics
• Governance mechanism

B. Manufacturing & Operations Turnaround:

Take direct responsibility for improving manufacturing performance across the Group. Key priorities include:

• Improve production planning and scheduling
• Increase capacity utilisation
• Improve labour productivity
• Reduce production bottlenecks
• Improve line balancing
• Reduce downtime and idle capacity
• Reduce rework and rejection
• Improve manufacturing yield
• Strengthen shop-floor discipline
• Establish daily production management
• Introduce structured production reviews
• Improve production cost visibility
• Establish clear accountability for Plant/Production Heads

The Interim COO/CRO should be comfortable spending significant time on the factory floor rather than operating primarily from a corporate office.

C. Supply Chain, Planning & Logistics:

Transform the existing planning and supply-chain processes to improve reliability and reduce working capital. Responsibilities include:

• Demand and production planning
• Raw-material planning
• Material availability
• Vendor management
• Inventory optimisation
• Warehouse management
• Dispatch planning
• Logistics optimisation
• Lead-time reduction
• Reduction of excess and obsolete inventory
• Improved coordination between production, procurement and customer commitments

A key objective will be to improve On-Time-In-Full (OTIF) delivery to international customers.

D. ERP, MIS & KPI Framework:

Lead the implementation or strengthening of a practical ERP/MIS and management KPI framework. The objective is not technology implementation for its own sake, but creation of reliable operating visibility and accountability. Establish appropriate KPIs covering:

• Production
• Productivity
• Capacity utilisation
• Yield
• Quality
• Rejection/rework
• OTIF
• Inventory
• Working capital
• Procurement
• Labour efficiency
• Cost per pair
• EBITDA
• Cash flow

Introduce:

• Daily operating dashboards
• Weekly performance reviews
• Monthly management reviews
• KPI ownership
• Exception reporting
• Corrective-action mechanisms

E. Financial & Profitability Improvement:

Work closely with the promoters/finance team to restore financial performance. Focus areas include:

• EBITDA improvement
• Cash-flow generation
• Working-capital reduction
• Inventory reduction
• Cost optimisation
• Manufacturing cost reduction
• Procurement savings
• Labour productivity
• Reduction of wastage
• Reduction of rework/rejection
• Improved asset utilisation
• Better pricing/cost visibility

The role will be expected to deliver measurable financial outcomes, not merely process improvements.

F. Organisation & People:

Assess whether the existing organisation and management structure are appropriate for the scale and requirements of the business. Responsibilities include:

• Review organisational structure
• Clarify roles and responsibilities
• Establish accountability
• Identify capability gaps
• Strengthen the operating leadership team
• Redeploy or replace underperforming managers where required
• Introduce performance management
• Establish appropriate delegation of authority
• Reduce dependence on individual personalities
• Build a professional operating culture

The Interim COO/CRO should have sufficient authority to make appropriate hiring, redeployment and performance-management decisions within the agreed mandate.

G. Systems, Processes & Governance:

Institutionalise processes that currently depend heavily on individuals. Develop and implement:

• SOPs
• Delegation of authority
• Approval processes
• Operating reviews
• Escalation mechanisms
• KPI ownership
• Management dashboards
• Production controls
• Inventory controls
• Procurement controls
• Performance-management systems

The objective is to create an organisation that can operate effectively through systems rather than personalities.

Authority & Decision Rights:

A critical element of the assignment will be the establishment of clearly documented operating authority. The engagement letter should define:

• Spending/approval thresholds
• Hiring authority
• Termination/redeployment authority
• Shop-floor decision rights
• Vendor and procurement authority
• Production prioritisation authority
• Escalation procedures
• Access to financial and operational information
• Authority to introduce new systems/processes
• Authority to restructure operating teams

The Interim COO/CRO must have real authority commensurate with the accountability assigned.

Key Success Metrics:

The final KPIs will be agreed following the initial diagnostic, but are expected to include:

Financial:

• EBITDA improvement
• Cash-flow improvement
• Working-capital reduction
• Cost reduction
• Inventory optimisation

Operations:

• Production efficiency
• Capacity utilisation
• Labour productivity
• Manufacturing yield
• Reduction in rejection/rework
• Reduction in production lead time

Customer:

• OTIF improvement
• Reduction in customer complaints
• Improved adherence to delivery schedules

Systems:

• ERP/MIS implementation or stabilisation
• KPI dashboard implementation
• Daily/weekly/monthly operating review mechanism
• SOP and accountability framework

Candidate Profile:

The ideal candidate should be a hands-on manufacturing operator and turnaround leader, rather than a conventional management consultant.

Essential Experience:

• 15+ years of relevant professional experience, preferably with substantial experience in manufacturing operations and turnaround situations
• Significant experience in footwear, apparel, textile, leather or other labour-intensive manufacturing
• Proven experience managing manufacturing plants/business units
• Experience leading operational transformation or turnaround assignments
• Strong understanding of production planning and supply-chain management
• Experience with ERP/MIS implementation or operationalisation
• Strong understanding of manufacturing KPIs
• Demonstrated experience improving profitability and cash generation
• Experience managing blue-collar/labour-intensive organisations
• Strong people-management and change-management capabilities
• Experience dealing directly with promoters/owners and Boards

Preferred Background:

Candidates from footwear manufacturing, leather products, apparel manufacturing, textile manufacturing, export-oriented manufacturing, consumer-products manufacturing, or labour-intensive industrial businesses. Experience with international customers/brands and export manufacturing would be a strong advantage.

Leadership Competencies:

The successful candidate should demonstrate strong operating orientation, high ownership and accountability, turnaround mindset, commercial acumen, strong analytical capability, ability to diagnose root causes, bias for action, ability to challenge existing practices, strong shop-floor orientation, excellent stakeholder management, ability to work with promoters/family-owned businesses, ability to manage resistance to change, strong negotiation skills, high integrity and discretion, and ability to make difficult decisions under pressure. Most importantly, the candidate must be comfortable getting into the organisation and driving execution personally.

Engagement Structure:

Phase 1 - Diagnostic: 4-6 Weeks:

• The initial engagement will be structured as a bounded diagnostic assignment. Deliverables will include:
• 1. Business and operational diagnostic
• 2. Root-cause analysis
• 3. Financial and operational baseline
• 4. Organisation assessment
• 5. ERP/MIS assessment
• 6. KPI framework
• 7. Immediate turnaround priorities
• 8. 30/60/90-day action plan
• 9. 12-month transformation roadmap
• 10. Required authority matrix
• 11. Proposed organisation changes
• 12. Investment/resource requirements
• 13. Clearly defined success metrics
• 14. Proposed structure and scope for the subsequent 12-month Interim COO/CRO mandate
• At the conclusion of the diagnostic, the promoters will decide whether to proceed with the full 12-month operating mandate.

Phase 2 - Interim COO/CRO: 12 Months:

Subject to successful completion of the diagnostic phase, the selected leader will assume direct operating responsibility for the agreed transformation mandate for 12 months.

Reporting & Governance:

The Interim COO/CRO will report directly to the Promoters / Board. A structured governance mechanism should include:

• Daily/weekly operating reviews
• Weekly turnaround dashboard
• Monthly Board/Promoter review
• KPI-based performance tracking
• Financial impact tracking
• Action tracker with clear owners and deadlines
• Escalation mechanism for critical issues

Duration & Location:

Interim Operating Mandate: 12 months.

Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The role requires a high degree of on-site presence and regular engagement with the manufacturing facilities, management team, and shop floor.

Key Deliverable:

At the end of the 12-month assignment, the Group should have a materially improved and more profitable manufacturing business with stronger cash generation, improved production efficiency and delivery performance, institutionalised systems and KPIs, a stronger management structure, and substantially reduced dependence on individual personalities.

The Fundamental Requirement:

This is an operating mandate, not a consulting assignment. The successful Interim COO/CRO must be prepared to take charge, make decisions, hold people accountable, change processes and teams where necessary, and personally drive the turnaround on the ground.