Senior Cell Leader
IPL Schoeller · Tamworth, United Kingdom
Who We Are
On July 1, 2025, IPL Plastics merged with Schoeller Allibert to form IPL Schoeller (the ‘company’). The Company’s operations are split across North America (11 manufacturing plants) and Europe (16 manufacturing plants).
The company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. IPL Schoeller is a leading manufacturer of sustainable rigid packaging solutions across a range of end market segments including returnable transit packaging, consumer and industrial packaging, environmental containers and agricultural packaging. The company employs c.4,100 employees across North America (1,600 employees) and Europe (2,500 employees.)
The role
We are seeking an experienced and proactive Senior Cell Leader to lead and develop a team of Cell Leaders within a fast-paced manufacturing environment. Reporting into the wider operational leadership team, you will take responsibility for driving operational performance across multiple manufacturing cells, ensuring that safety, quality, delivery, cost and people objectives are consistently achieved.
The successful candidate will be highly visible on the factory floor, with a strong focus on driving standards, resolving operational challenges, improving productivity and ensuring that production plans and business objectives are met.
This is an opportunity for a confident and engaging manufacturing leader who can influence at all levels, develop leadership capability and deliver sustainable improvements across the operation.
This role is based at our Tamworth Plant. The role is working on a weekly rotating shift pattern of 06:00-14:00 and 14:00-22:00.
As a Senior Cell Leader at IPL Schoeller you will:
- Leading by example, ensuring a safe and efficient workplace is maintained at all times
- Ensuring health and safety, production volume, quality and product safety standards maintained.
- As the Senior Cell Leader you will be involved in continuous improvement within the production operation.
- To schedule and utilise the required labour for achievement of the production plan.
- Responsible for allocating the team to machinery and break management.
- Ensuring that all labour is allocated in accordance with the competencies signed off on the skills matrix.
- Identifying and facilitating any training needs and be actively involved with people management.
- To drive improvement in planned machine rates, manning levels and to minimise hand over times.
- Ensuring the team obtain and comply with health and safety policies and procedures at all times to ensure a safe working environment.
- Liaising and coordinating with support functions to progress issues concerning production planning, resource and skill allocation to ensure delivery of products to schedule within all relevant quality specifications.
- Communicating with the teams by utilising the visual management, delivery shift briefs with focus on quality, cost and delivery and gathering ideas for improvement.
- Undertaking performance management and taking responsibility for team members, conducting appraisals and giving direction to aid good people performance.
- Ensuring that non-conformances are challenged and counter measures are agreed and implemented.
- Leading and motivating the team to create a high-performance culture where improvement suggestions are embraced.
- Report and act upon machinery breakdowns to Shift Technicians and Engineers.
- Contribute to the improvement of working procedures by constantly looking for solutions to ensure the best productivity results for the employees’ machinery and ensuring compliance with procedures, operating instructions and work instructions.
- Taking ownership and responsibility for production shift KPIs which will include; Output vs Target, manning levels, scrap, RG usage, safety, quality and housekeeping.
- Adhere to the production plan whilst reporting and escalating deviances from the plan.
- Working closely with the Production Manager and Engineering Manager to escalate production issues, machine breakdown or general production concerns.
- Responsible for accurately completing all compliance paperwork, daily shift reports, HR attendance reports or any other documentation or reporting as and when required by the business.
- Maintaining a consistent production flow ensuring employees are full trained and working efficiently.
- Authority and responsibility to ensure the shift is if fully staffed, ensuring absences are backfilled by IPL or agency staff.
- Reporting and managing employee welfare and accidents whilst on shift.
- Reporting machine discrepancies and ensuring efficient running of all materials where possible.
- Detailed reporting will be required for any issues, discrepancies across the shift this may include; people management, stock, machinery etc.
- Ensuring ALL staff entering BRC areas are adhering to site rules
- Changing jobs over on Intouch
- Scanning labels in & out
- Loading labels
- Taking labels out when job has finished
- Returning labels to returns desk & documenting how many labels are in the return label boxes
- Printing snap labels to go with IFS BOM
- Dotting pallets by the bagger to make sure pallet labels match snap labels.
What you will bring to the role:
- Minimum of 3 years previous experience of working within a manufacturing environment as a Shift Manager or similar supervisory role.
- Lean manufacturing or production management
- GCSE Grade C and above or equivalent Maths and English.
- ILM or equivalent certificate in Leadership. Desirable
- Able to work under pressure in a fast-growing business and meet tight deadlines.
- Understanding of health and safety processes and safe methods of working
- Displays safe and considerate working practices.
- Fully computer literate and competent using all Microsoft packages including Outlook.
- Can do will do - Showing a positive professional attitude to everyday challenged. Actively looking for the opportunity to make improvements. Willingly to engage in continuous improvement initiatives.
- Delivers Results - Leading by example. Coordinate activities for efficient service delivery across the teams. Managing and motivating the team and striving for success. Commercial acumen.
- Customer Focus – Ensuring the customer expectations and requirements are met.
- Delivers Results – Leading by example. Coordinate activities for efficient service delivery across the teams. Managing and motivating the team and striving for success. Commercial acumen.
- Communication – Competent communicating at all levels within the business. The ability to build strong relationships across all stakeholders.
- Mindset – Showing a positive and professional attitude to everyday challenges whilst continuous improving processes.
If you have the above experience and are looking for a role where you can make a real difference, apply today to find out more!