Factory Manager Job Description, KRAs and Skills

A Factory Manager runs a single factory end to end, usually in an owner-managed or mid-sized company that has no separate plant head. They answer for output, cost, quality, safety, workforce discipline, inspector visits and dispatch commitments, and they are the person the owner calls when anything goes wrong on the shop floor. A good factory manager keeps the factory running to plan with a stable, safe workforce and gives the owner a clear cost per unit every month.

Detail	For this role
Department	Production
Level	Senior management
Reports to	Managing Director
Direct reports	Production Supervisor, Maintenance Supervisor, Quality Supervisor, Store Keeper, Time Office Executive
Experience	12+ years in manufacturing, including 5 or more years running a factory or a large production department

Factory Manager job description template

Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.

Job title: Factory Manager

Department: Production

Reports to: Managing Director

Location: [City], [office, branch or site]

About the role

Key responsibilities

Convert the monthly sales plan agreed with the owner into a production plan by product, machine and shift, and confirm raw material cover with purchase.
Hold a morning meeting with supervisors, maintenance and quality to review yesterday's output, rejections, breakdowns and absentees, and fix the day's priorities.
Deploy manpower across sections every day, balancing permanent workers, trainees and helpers against the machines that must run.
Approve material issues, scrap disposal and job work challans, and check the stores reconciliation for major raw materials every month.
Enforce safety on the shop floor, including machine guards, PPE, permits for hot work and electrical jobs, and regular fire drills.
Handle visits by the factory inspector, pollution control board and other authorities, and keep licences, registers and returns ready with the HR and admin team.
Settle worker grievances, discipline cases and wage or overtime disputes early, and keep relations with workers and any union steady.
Track cost per unit, power consumption, overtime hours and scrap every month, and present causes and corrective actions to the owner.
Plan preventive maintenance with the maintenance supervisor and schedule the annual shutdown so it does not clash with peak dispatch months.
Coordinate dispatch with sales and logistics so customer orders leave on the promised date with correct invoices and documents.
Approve requests for small machines, tools and fixtures, and oversee installation and trial runs of new equipment.

Requirements

BE or BTech in Mechanical, Production or Chemical Engineering
Diploma in Engineering with long shop floor experience is accepted in many MSMEs
A certificate in industrial safety or a management diploma is an advantage
12+ years in manufacturing, including 5 or more years running a factory or a large production department

KRAs and KPIs for a Factory Manager

Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.

Key result area	How to measure it
Production to plan	Monthly output at 95 percent or more of the approved production plan, by product
Cost per unit	Conversion cost per unit within the budget agreed with the owner for the year
Safety	Zero reportable accidents, and every near miss investigated with actions closed within 15 days
On time dispatch	At least 95 percent of customer orders dispatched on or before the promised date
Statutory readiness	No adverse notice from factory, pollution or labour inspections during the year
Workforce stability	Unplanned absenteeism below 6 percent each month and worker attrition within the yearly target

Skills and tools

Production planning and controlShop floor managementCost control and budgetingFactory safety practiceLabour compliance basicsPreventive maintenance planningExcel and MIS reportingDecision making under pressureFirm but fair people handlingNegotiation with workers and vendors

Tools used day to day: SAP Business One or Tally Prime, MS Excel, Daily production report, Maintenance log books, CCTV system.

Reporting line and career path

Moves up from: Production Manager, Works Manager
Next roles: Plant Head, General Manager Operations, Head of Manufacturing

Interview questions for a Factory Manager

Your factory missed dispatch for a key customer last month. How would you find the real cause in your first week?
How do you decide how many workers each shift needs when orders swing from week to week?
What would you check before an inspector's visit, and who would you involve?
Tell me about a time you reduced conversion cost. What actually changed on the shop floor?
A supervisor is accused of favouring some workers when he hands out overtime. How do you handle it?
How do you plan the annual maintenance shutdown without losing customer orders?

Managing a Factory Manager in ZeniaHR

AttendancePut the factory manager on a flexible shift with minimum hours rather than the fixed General 9 to 6 shift, because the day often starts before the first shift and ends after a night call. They punch at the gate biometric device like everyone else, and My Team shows their whole reporting tree as working, late or not in yet before the morning meeting.LeavePlan the factory manager's long leave outside the annual shutdown, peak dispatch months and customer audits. Their own leave goes to the managing director and then HR. While they are away, the company head can decide pending leave and overtime approvals for the factory, so shop floor requests do not pile up.Performance and KRAsCreate an annual review cycle and add the KRAs above as weighted KPI goals, giving safety and output the highest weights. The monthly MIS review with the owner happens outside the system; carry its findings into the year-end rating so the score reflects all twelve months.

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Frequently asked questions

What does a factory manager do?

A factory manager runs the day-to-day working of a factory: production planning, manpower, safety, maintenance coordination, cost control and dispatch. In smaller companies they also handle inspector visits, worker grievances and discipline. They report to the owner or managing director and are held to account for output, cost per unit and a safe, orderly shop floor.

What is the difference between a factory manager and a plant head?

A factory manager is usually the senior-most person in a single, often owner-run, factory and is closely involved in daily production. A plant head runs a larger plant inside a multi-plant company, with functional managers for production, maintenance, quality and HR below them, and spends more time on budgets, capital projects and plant strategy than on shift-level problems.

What qualifications do you need to become a factory manager?

Most factory managers hold a BE or BTech in mechanical, production or chemical engineering, though experienced diploma holders are common in MSMEs. More important is 12 or more years on the shop floor covering production, maintenance and people management. Knowledge of safety practice and labour compliance, and comfort with cost numbers, matter as much as the degree.

Is a factory manager responsible for safety?

Yes. The factory manager is accountable for safe working on the shop floor: machine guarding, PPE, safe work permits, fire readiness and incident investigation. A safety officer may run daily checks, but the factory manager sets priorities, funds the fixes and deals with the authorities when something goes wrong.