The Client

Our client is a privately owned FMCG manufacturer in the UK, supplying home consumables to the UK, European and B2B markets. They have a market leading product portfolio of both own label and branded products, supplying to supermarkets, DIY retailers as well as a vast network of independents and professionals. With a turnover that’s more than doubled over the last five years, they plan to continue this significant growth by increasing market share; opening in new markets and acquiring new businesses. 

The Business Challenge

Due to the acquisition of a new manufacturing site, to help increase supply for their ever-increasing demand, our client required a strong General Manager to drive change through the new site. 

The Role

A new Site General Manager was needed for their recently acquired north-west site, to oversee the development of best in class practices, introduce new manufacturing principles and to enable a continuous improvement working environment. However, the biggest area to address was to drive change in the working culture of the site. Working closely with the Operations Director and further board members, the Site General Manager would be responsible for developing a five-year strategic operating plan to help align the site with the group's growth plans.

Coming from a large FMCG, building products, quarrying or large bulk processing manufacturer, the successful candidate would oversee manufacturing, engineering, procurement, supply chain and logistics. Possessing lots of energy and determination, the Site General Manager must help to motivate and develop the teams, as well as help to develop a strong succession plan to help with the future growth and development. 

The Solution

Working closely with the Operations Director and the Head of HR, Collingwood provided a full headhunt, gathering further market intelligence during the process, including salary benchmarking, in order to guide the client. From our targeted headhunt we identified a long list of candidates which Collingwood meet in person; conducting competency based interviews and behavioural profiling. From these interviews, Collingwood presented a final shortlist of four candidates from a variety of manufacturing backgrounds. Not only did they have the right skills sets to succeed, more importantly, they had the drive, energy and determination to succeed in our client's fast-paced culture. 

The Result

After two further interviews with our client’s board of Directors, the successful candidate was appointed. Collingwood helped develop an attractive package with our client ensuring a smooth offer stage was achieved.