Position
Plant Manager
Location
Catalca Istanbul/Turkey
Department
Operation
Company description
Cordstrap (1965) is a dynamic and agile private company who has been at the forefront of a revolution in the protection of Cargo. It is a mid-sized organization which has built a leading position globally over the last 50 years through an innovative suite of products and solutions that continue to disrupt traditional markets and set new standards for the cargo securing industry. Cordstrap works in partnership with customers to provide advice and solutions to their global shipping needs- whether transporting dynamic cargo, dangerous chemicals or difficult to transport capital goods.
Cordstrap is headquartered in Oostrum, the South-East of the Netherlands, and maintains a global footprint of sales offices, factories, and distribution partners in over 50 countries worldwide. It generates €160mio of revenue with 500 employees present in 22 countries worldwide.
Cordstrap’s sales are led by a global team of account managers and specialists who approach end-user manufacturers and shippers to provide application expertise, technical advice, and product solution training to ensure that customer ‘s cargo reaches its destination free of damage.
The company provides a unique mixture of global operational reach and multinational professionalism with an entrepreneurial and agile culture and style oriented towards impact. Held by long term private equity-oriented shareholders, the organization focuses on long term growth and value creation for shareholders, employees, and customers.
Current situation
Cordstrap’s Dunnage Bag manufacturing site in Istanbul is in a pivotal phase of transformation. While a plant leadership structure has been established over the past year and is beginning to align with the global operating model, the operational maturity across core functions remains at an early stage. The fundamentals are in place, but execution consistency and cross-functional integration need significant improvement.
The plant continues to face workforce-related challenges, especially due to high manpower turnover, ongoing inflationary pressures in Turkey, and skill gaps across operator levels. Training systems, skill matrices, and team development efforts require formalization to support long-term capability building.
On the shop floor, there is limited adoption of continuous improvement and operations excellence practices. Uptime and downtime performance remain inconsistent due to weak preventive maintenance and reactive issue handling. A “can-do” mentality and cost-conscious culture are still emerging. Decision-making often depends on individuals rather than embedded systems or standardized processes.
Over the last year, the QESH function has brought foundational improvements in safety and quality practices, and the supply chain team has progressed in inventory control, procurement efficiency, and logistics, supported by the global operations network. However, system usage and digital tools are still underutilized — data is available but not consistently turned into insights or actions.
The mindset across operations remains reactive. There is limited delegation and ownership across mid-level leaders, and operator engagement is low — with many following instructions mechanically rather than owning outcomes. There is a critical need to engage and motivate operators, assess role clarity and productivity, and raise expectations for initiative and accountability.
Role objective
Our organization is a leading global manufacturer committed to delivering exceptional quality products to our customers worldwide. We pride ourselves on innovation, reliability, and excellence in every aspect of our operations.
As a Plant Manager, you will be responsible for leading the operations of one of our global manufacturing plants based in Istanbul, Turkey handling the manufacturing for our dunnage bag products. This includes overseeing all aspects of production, maintenance, and leading functions such as QESH and Supply Chain (warehouse, planning, procurement, logistics).
You will ensure efficient, high-quality, and safe manufacturing processes while optimizing costs and driving continuous improvement initiatives. Additionally, you will hold full financial accountability for the plant's P&L, striving to maximize profitability and operational efficiency in line with Cordstrap’ s strategic goals.
This is a leadership role aimed at driving plant performance and fostering a culture of excellence, safety, and engagement across the entire site.
Key responsibilities
The role will focus on these areas:
- Operational Leadership
– Lead the daily operations of the production, maintenance, supply chain, and QESH functions.
– Ensure that production targets are met in terms of quantity, quality, cost, delivery time, productivity.
– Drive continuous improvement initiatives, including lean manufacturing, TPM, and operations excellence.
– Oversee equipment maintenance schedules to maximize uptime and extend asset lifespan.
– Foster a safety-first culture in compliance with all company, regulatory, and industry standards.
– Promote risk management practices and contribute to business continuity planning for potential events such as major equipment failures or plant shutdown scenarios.
- Team Leadership
– Manage and develop a diverse team including direct reports such as the shift leaders, QESH Leader, Supply Chain Leader and maintenance technicians.
– Provide coaching, performance feedback, and career development opportunities.
– Promote a culture of collaboration, accountability, and high performance.
– Lead talent pipeline development and succession planning, ensuring long-term team strength and growth across operational functions.
– Ensure change management to adopt new standards and global policies
- Strategic Planning and Execution
– Develop and execute operational plans to support the broader business strategy.
– Identify and implement best practices to improve productivity, operational efficiency and plant competitiveness.
– Lead efforts to manage and support local and global projects related to product development and changes, process improvements, or technology and automation.
– Collaborate with stakeholders across the organization to align goals, share insights, and resolve cross-functional challenges.
- Financial Accountability
– Full P&L responsibility for the plant operations.
– Develop and manage operational budgets, drive cost optimization, and ensure financial targets are met.
– Analyze financial and operational data to make informed decisions and course corrections.
– Lead the execution of capital investment projects to support capacity expansion and efficiency improvements.
– Identify and drive cost-down opportunities through operations excellence, process redesign, and automation.
- Supply Chain Management
– Oversee the supply chain function, which consists of warehousing, procurement, raw material planning, production scheduling, and logistics operations. Collaborate with the global supply chain functions to align local operations of warehousing, procurement, planning, and logistics activities with corporate processes and policies to ensure optimal inventory management and efficient customer deliveries.
– Provide strategic input into the vendor relationship process in collaboration with the procurement team, with plant priorities such as cost, lead time, quality, and reliability – while not directly owning the material purchasing function.
– Support improvements in data visibility, forecasting accuracy, and ERP integration to strengthen supply chain resilience.
– Collaborate on technology and digital transformation initiatives (e.g., EPICOR implementation, ERP-driven workflows, and data-enabled root cause analysis).
- Quality, Environment, Safety, and Health (QESH)
– Ensure compliance with local, national, and international regulations.
– Oversee the plant’s QESH management systems and drive continuous improvements in safety, quality, and environmental performance.
– Ensure safety culture is embedded at all levels of the organization with clear accountability and structured follow-up.
– Actively support sustainability and ESG initiatives in line with global corporate objectives.
Key challenges
- Establish a stable and capable workforce, with a clear training roadmap, retention strategy, and performance-based culture.
- Drive a shift from reactive to proactive operations, embedding preventive maintenance, standard work practices, and structured daily management.
- Embed operations excellence through TPM, Lean, and automation initiatives, reducing cost per unit and improving dunnage bag productivity.
- Build cost awareness across functions, driving continuous cost-down improvements even though direct material buying is not in scope.
- Enable data-driven operations, improving adoption and utilization of systems (ERP, dashboards, root cause tracking). This includes an upcoming ERP migration to replace the current outdated ERP system, where focus is not only on systems aspects, but also on new process adoption and change management.
- Strengthen delegation and mid-tier leadership, ensuring decision rights and responsibilities are cascaded effectively.
- Engage and motivate operators, creating ownership at all levels and encouraging contributions beyond basic task execution.
- Align closely with global manufacturing and supply chain functions, ensuring implementation of global standards and shared accountability for results.
About you
In this role, you are a dynamic and results-driven leader with a strong background in manufacturing operations. Your hands-on leadership style, combined with strategic thinking, allows you to drive operational excellence and foster a high performing, engaged team culture. You are adept at managing complex operations and take a proactive approach to solving problems, improving processes, and ensuring the plant's overall success. With strong financial acumen, you ensure the plant meets its financial goals while maintaining high standards of safety, quality, and customer satisfaction.
Your excellent communication skills facilitate seamless collaboration with cross-functional teams, driving continuous improvement initiatives and upholding the highest standards. With a customer-centric mindset, you drive manufacturing superior products, while your leadership qualities, including establishing relationships and driving excellence, inspire colleagues to meet and exceed benchmarks. Your adeptness in project management and understanding of processes ensures successful execution of initiatives, fostering a dynamic environment where innovation thrives, and collective success is celebrated through mentorship and guidance.
Why Cordstrap?
As an employee at Cordstrap you have the unique opportunity to make a difference. Your opinion matters and we take that very seriously. We have the passion to protect, based on our key values:
- Flat and open
- Integrity
- Agile and innovative
- Execution driven
- Customer centric
Location and duration
The position is a full-time job based at our plant in Catalca, Istanbul, Turkey.
Education, background and experience
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Business Administration, or a related field. advanced degrees preferred.
- Minimum 5-10 years of experience in manufacturing leadership roles, with a proven track record in production, maintenance, and operational management.
- P&L management experience in a manufacturing environment is essential.
- Strong knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, TPM, and other operational excellence methodologies.
- Experience managing multi-functional teams, cross functional collaboration across cultural and geographic contexts.
- Strong leadership and people management skills with a focus on developing high-performing teams.
- Excellent problem-solving, decision-making skills and proficiency in project management tools and techniques, with a demonstrated ability to support multiple projects.
- Strong financial acumen and ability to drive cost-efficiency without compromising quality or safety.
- Proficient in ERP systems and MS Office applications.
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to effectively collaborate with stakeholders at all levels of the organization
- Language Proficiency: Fluent in English and Turkish (writing and speaking).
Position in the organization
The role reports to the Global Manufacturing Leader and will have touchpoints with the Global Planning Team, Product & Portfolio Performance Team, Global Procurement Team, Global Safety & Quality Team & Commercial team.
The role initially has 4 direct reports: 2 Production Shift Leaders, 1 Supply Chain Leader, 1 QESH Leader.
Have you become enthusiastic about this challenging role as Plant Manager?
We look forward to your application!
