Production Manager - Womens Fashion

About us:

Our brands Stella and Estelle are designed in our Port Melbourne head office and produced off shore for delivery to Australia and USA. The brands are wholesaled and retailed through department stores and various online platforms. 

Partnering with our China sourcing office, various trading companies and our warehouses in Melbourne and Los Angeles we maintain competitive quality and price, and consistent delivery.

About the role:

In this newly created position, you will manage the production process and follow critical path from receipt of order to on-time shipment according to our customer's expectation. 

Previous experience is essential as you lead our team through factory sourcing, fabric selection, price negotiation and management of the critical path.

Key responsibilities:

• Set Critical Path timeline and communicate deadlines to Design Team
• Receive orders and source/select fabric qualities
• Send costing enquiries and negotiate FOB and ETD with factories
• Plan factory capacity according to delivery priority avoiding production bottlenecks and maintaining sea freight
• Ensure Purchase Orders are raised and sent to the relevant parties
• Ensure systems are up to date and aligned eg Critical Path, Shipping Report, Margin Report
• Manage Critical Path flagging potential delivery issues
• Work through and find solutions to production problems/delays keeping positive relationships with suppliers
• Confirm ETDs with suppliers and operations up to 4 weeks in advance
• Ensure factories have all required information for production including fabrics, trims, packaging and barcodes.
• Manage WIP meeting with team including account manager, operations and QC
• Communicate and prioritise Workbook/PP sample deadlines to QA team
• Work with operations to ensure smooth payment of factory invoice
• Analyse and report for shipment statistics and supplier performance
• Source new factories and suppliers as required

The ideal applicant will have:

• 5+ years experience in off-shore apparel production
• Solid garment construction and fabric knowledge
• Strong attention to detail and accurate data entry skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Organised and able to manage deadlines
• Ability to problem solve
• Excellent Microsoft Excel skills
• Working knowledge of ERP systems (Indigo8) 

Salary commensurate with experience