Plant QC & Lab Operations Manager

Our client is a globally celebrated, European-headquartered multinational manufacturer and market leader in gourmet beverage solutions, premium flavored syrups, specialty sauces, and advanced fruit preparations. Renowned for culinary innovation and strict international quality benchmarks, their state-of-the-art automated manufacturing facility in Selangor serves as the primary production engine for the Asia-Pacific region. To lead their active, high-turnover testing laboratories and maintain absolute product compliance, they are seeking a highly technical, hands-on Plant QC & Laboratory Operations Manager.

• This is NOT a pure desktop auditing, documentation-heavy, or desk-bound QMS role.
  

• We are specifically seeking a highly present, floor-active technical leader who thrives on the physical production lines, actively manages chemical/microbiological testing laboratories, directs raw material trial runs, and makes real-time, high-stakes food safety and process validation decisions directly on the factory floor.

The Plant QC & Laboratory Operations Manager holds full operational accountability for the day-to-day inspection, raw material verification, in-process control, laboratory accuracy, and final product release mechanisms of the plant. Operating as the primary defense against production defects, this role focuses heavily on chemical/microbiological laboratory supervision, resolving physical vendor material failures, and managing technical floor trials, while maintaining the plant's overall GFSI and regulatory compliance frameworks.

1. Shopfloor Quality Control, Lab Management & Real-Time Decision Making

• Active Plant Control: Lead and manage all daily Quality Control (QC) operations on the manufacturing floor, including incoming raw materials, in-process parameters, high-speed automated line testing, and final release protocols.

• Laboratory Leadership: Manage the physical laboratory infrastructure, ensuring chemical, physical, and microbiological testing setups are fully resourced, calibrated, and compliant.

• On-Floor Incident Response: Serve as the immediate technical authority on the line for food safety, contamination, process variations, or physical/chemical deviations, making swift, data-driven decisions to halt, release, or adjust batches.

• Culture Leadership: Drive a zero-defect, high-accountability food safety and quality culture among production line operators and QC technicians.

2. Vendor Quality Management & Technical Line Trials

• Supplier Performance Monitoring: Develop and run the supplier quality program, managing incoming raw material/packaging non-conformances and driving corrective actions with key suppliers.

• Raw Material Trials: Personally lead the quality validation, physical testing, and line trials for all new raw materials, trial ingredients, and packaging components prior to factory scaling.

• Incident Investigations: Investigate and resolve customer complaints linked to raw material failures, performing deep-dive root cause analyses alongside suppliers.

3. Pragmatic QMS, Audits & Compliance Support

• Practical System Alignment: Support the Food Safety Team Leader (FSTL) in maintaining active, functional alignment with GFSI standards, HACCP protocols, SMETA social compliance, and local regulatory mandates.

• Audit Frontline: Serve as a key technical representative during third-party certification audits, corporate reviews, and customer inspections.

• CAPA Execution: Ensure that all non-conformances identified during audits translate into concrete, practical shopfloor habits, preventing administrative paper-only resolutions.

4. B2B Client & Online Spec Management

• Account Specifications: Supervise the compilation, verification, and timely submission of technical product specifications and online portals for premium regional B2B key accounts.

Education & Professional Registrations

• Education: Bachelor's Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Engineering, Chemistry, or a closely related science-based technical discipline.

• Professional Edge: Active registration as a Registered Food Analyst with the Malaysian Ministry of Health (KKM) is highly advantageous.

Technical Competencies & Experience

• Professional Background: Minimum of 5+ years of active managerial experience directly leading hands-on QC operations and laboratory departments within a food, dairy, liquid beverage, or FMCG manufacturing facility.

• Hands-on Mastery: Strong, demonstrable experience managing chemical/microbiological lab testing, instrument calibrations, on-line process validations, and physical trial runs.

• Regulatory Compliance: Practical experience managing audits for GFSI certifications (such as FSSC 22000, BRCGS, or SQF), HACCP frameworks, and SMETA requirements.

• Software Literacy: Familiarity utilizing enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms (such as JD Edwards/JDE) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) databases is highly preferred.

• Root Cause Analytical Skills: Highly structured approach to problem-solving, with proven mastery of tools such as 5-Why Analysis, Ishikawa (Fishbone) diagrams, and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA).

Personal Attributes

• Assertive Decision Maker: Comfortable standing ground on the production floor when defending quality standards, with the interpersonal skills to influence production leaders positively.

• Bilingual Capability: Strong verbal and written English communication skills to interface effectively with global suppliers, corporate auditors, and regional key account representatives.