Packaging Team Leader - Newlands Brewery

In brief

**Overview** This role is for a Packaging Team Leader at South African Breweries (SAB) within their Newlands Brewery. The position focuses on overseeing packaging operations, ensuring safety, quality, cost management, efficient production, and effective team leadership and development. **What you will do** As a Packaging Team Leader, you will be responsible for: * **Safety & Environmental Leadership:** * Owning and enforcing SHE standards, PPE compliance, SAM Safety Access to Machines, LOTOTO, Permit‑to‑Work PTW, machine guarding, and safe work procedures. * Conducting safety observations, toolbox talks, risk assessments, and layered audits, correcting deviations immediately. * Ensuring incident and near‑miss reporting, investigation, and close‑out with effective corrective and preventive actions. * Maintaining 5S/housekeeping and ensuring safe isolations during maintenance or breakdowns. * Proactively managing environmental compliance (spills, waste streams, energy/water discipline) with zero non‑compliances as the target. * **Quality Assurance & Process Control:** * Ensuring all process and product checks are completed at prescribed frequency and properly recorded (SPC charts, MES / VPO systems). * Verifying and trending quality data, responding early to drift, triggering reaction plans, and containing, correcting, and escalating per standards. * Leading/triggering QFR, 5 Why, and Abnormality Report events according to defined triggers, ensuring actions are assigned, closed, and verified for effectiveness. * Safeguarding traceability, material and batch control, and non‑conformance management. * Partnering with the Quality Lab for escalations and completing start‑up and post‑maintenance quality verifications. * **Cost & Resource Management:** * Managing and tracking line losses (speed, minor stops, breakdowns, rework, start‑up losses, material waste) and driving loss elimination using VPO tools. * Controlling material usage (caps, closures, labels, film, pallets, glue, GLY/OSE, utilities, and scrap), upholding FEFO/traceability practices. * Optimizing manpower deployment, overtime, and planned activities (cleaning days, maintenance days) to minimize cost per hectolitre. * Applying basic financial discipline, including adherence to budgets, approval matrices, and accurate administrative records. * **Operations & Production Management:** * Interpreting and executing the daily/weekly production plan (changeovers), balancing resources against SKU mix and constraints, and coordinating with Planning and Logistics. * Monitoring OSE (Availability, Performance, Quality) in real time, acting on losses and abnormalities, and calling in specialist resources when triggers are met. * Ensuring the team completes Autonomous Operations steps (cleaning, inspection, lubrication, tightening, basic adjustments) and validating defect tagging and closure. * Supporting artisans during breakdowns: safe stop, initial troubleshooting, fault isolation, documentation, and post‑repair validation (ramp‑up, checks, early loss detection). * Operating equipment when needed to protect the schedule and coaching correct standards on the floor. * Ensuring robust shift handover (leader‑to‑leader and operator‑to‑operator) regarding machine status, quality status, defects, material constraints, and planned interventions. * Ensuring compliance with SOPs, work instructions, VPO standards (audits), and documentation requirements. * Completing accurate end‑of‑shift reports (results, losses, quality, materials, safety, 5S) and ensuring robust leader handover. * **Leadership & People Development:** * Leading people towards a shared dream, communicating vision, purpose, and standards clearly, and celebrating successes visibly and often. * Building team autonomy by enabling operators to detect, contain, and correct abnormalities and coaching on VPO methods, 5 Why, reaction plans, and standard work. * Conducting one‑on‑ones, holding regular performance and team target reviews, Training Needs Analysis (TNA), and competency assessments (e.g., SKAP), facilitating planned training and cross‑skilling. * Managing attendance, timekeeping, and workforce issues on shift, upholding people policies and a healthy IR climate. **Requirements (from the original advert)** * National Diploma or equivalent in Engineering (Elec, Mech, Industrial, Instrumental) * Bachelor’s degree in Engineering will be an added advantage * Minimum 2-5 years FMCG / Manufacturing industries experience * Completed Packaging Traineeship, ABInBev Leadership, or Artisan Training * Planning experience will be an added advantage * 3–5 years of factory production experience * Proven shift production expertise, and a strong performance record marked by discipline, problem-solving skills, and a drive for continuous improvement **Who should apply** The ideal candidate should possess proven shift production expertise and a strong performance record, marked by discipline, problem-solving skills, and a drive for continuous improvement. They should also be capable of leading people and building team autonomy. **Deadline** October 27, 2026 **Reference** Original posting: https://www.myjobmag.co.za/job/packaging-team-leader-newlands-brewery-the-south-african-breweries-1 Source: myjobmag

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• At least 3 years of experience.

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