Manufacturing Operations Consultant – Plant Optimization & Operational Excellence
Contract (3–6 Months)
Location: Onsite / Hybrid (Customer Manufacturing Facility)
About the Role
FourthSquare is seeking an experienced Manufacturing Operations Consultant to support a plant improvement and operational excellence initiative for one of our manufacturing customers. This role is ideal for a hands-on manufacturing professional who has worked directly in plant and shop floor environments and has practical experience improving manufacturing operations, plant performance, throughput, efficiency, and operational visibility.
The ideal candidate will bring deep operational manufacturing knowledge across production, warehouse operations, maintenance, planning, and operator workflows. Experience within Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and Food & Beverage manufacturing environments is required. This individual will work closely with plant leadership, operations teams, maintenance personnel, supply chain stakeholders, and technology teams to identify operational improvement opportunities and support the implementation of process, data, and technology-driven improvements.
Key Responsibilities
Manufacturing Operations Improvement
- Analyze and improve overall plant effectiveness and operational performance
- Identify opportunities to improve throughput, utilization, labor efficiency, and operational consistency
- Support continuous improvement initiatives across manufacturing operations
- Evaluate current-state manufacturing processes and recommend future-state operational improvements
Shop Floor & Production Operations
- Assess and improve:
- Line efficiency
- Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
- Changeover performance
- Downtime reduction
- Quality operations
- Production flow optimization
- Work with operators and supervisors to identify operational bottlenecks and inefficiencies
- Support operational KPI definition and measurement
Warehouse & Materials Management
- Review warehouse workflows and inventory movement processes
- Identify opportunities to improve:
- Inventory accuracy
- Material flow
- Warehouse efficiency
- Materials handling operations
- Production staging and replenishment
Maintenance & Reliability
- Work with maintenance teams to improve equipment reliability and uptime
- Support preventive and predictive maintenance initiatives
- Analyze downtime trends and maintenance effectiveness
- Help establish operational reliability improvement recommendations
Planning & Scheduling
- Evaluate production planning and scheduling processes
- Identify operational constraints impacting production execution
- Support improvements in scheduling efficiency and production coordination
Operator Workflows & Data Capture
- Analyze operator workflows and shop floor data collection methods
- Identify opportunities for process simplification and operational visibility improvements
- Support operational reporting and data standardization initiatives
- Assist with operational technology and manufacturing system alignment where applicable
Required Qualifications
Experience
- 10+ years of manufacturing operations experience
- Direct hands-on experience working in plant/shop floor manufacturing environments
- Proven experience improving manufacturing operations and plant performance
- Experience leading or supporting operational excellence initiatives
Manufacturing Expertise
Strong experience in one or more of the following:
- Production operations
- Plant operations
- Shop floor management
- Continuous improvement
- Lean manufacturing
- OEE improvement
- Manufacturing KPIs
- Downtime reduction
- Changeover optimization
- Maintenance coordination
- Warehouse and inventory operations
Industry Experience
Mandatory experience in:
- Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
- Food & Beverage manufacturing
- Process manufacturing
- High-volume manufacturing operations
Preferred Qualifications
ERP & Manufacturing Systems
Experience with one or more ERP or manufacturing platforms is highly desirable:
- SAP
- Oracle
- JD Edwards
- Dynamics 365
- MES systems
- Manufacturing reporting systems
Operational Improvement Methodologies
Preferred experience with:
- Lean Manufacturing
- Six Sigma
- TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
- Continuous Improvement programs
- Kaizen initiatives
Soft Skills
- Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills
- Ability to work directly with plant leadership and operators
- Hands-on, practical problem-solving mindset
- Strong analytical and operational assessment capabilities
- Ability to bridge operations and technology discussions
- Self-driven and execution-oriented
Engagement Scope
This is a 3–6 month consulting engagement focused on:
- Manufacturing operational assessments
- Shop floor improvement initiatives
- Plant operational efficiency analysis
- Workflow and process optimization
- Manufacturing data and operational visibility improvements
- Supporting broader operational transformation initiatives
Best Regards,
Praveen
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