About the Group
The Prakriti Group of Companies is a diversified, multi-sector business group with operations across apparel manufacturing, textiles, food processing, hospitality, and healthcare. Founded in 1973 by Mr. Ranjit Shah and now led by Mr. Ranvir Shah, our Group has grown from its roots as a Chennai-based garment manufacturer into a diversified enterprise with presence across Apparel Manufacturing, Textiles, Food Processing, Hospitality, and Healthcare.
For more details, visit us at https://www.theprakritigroup.com
About the Company
For over 50 years, P.S. Exports & Consolidates (previously P.S. Apparels) has been a trusted partner for brands in North America, Europe, and Japan, crafting high-quality woven garments with a focus on sustainability. Our vertically integrated supply chain ensures meticulous quality control at every stage.
Our head office in Kelambakkam is our base for corporate as well as design, library, archives and merchandising. Our NYC design studio allows us to deliver innovative designs to our clients. Our New York office (OMTC) supplements research and design activity.
Role Purpose
The General Manager is the single-point business owner of the woven garments manufacturing facility. The role carries end-to-end accountability for the plant's profit & loss, on-time-in-full delivery, product quality, cost competitiveness, people engagement, statutory and buyer compliance, and the long-term capability of the unit.
The incumbent will bridge the boardroom and the shop floor. H/She will translate the company's strategic intent into operating reality across cutting, sewing, washing/finishing, and packing, while simultaneously driving merchandising rigor, design responsiveness, industrial engineering discipline, and a culture of ownership.
This is a hands-on leadership role. The successful candidate is expected to walk the floor every day, read a costing sheet as confidently as a critical-path tracker, and be equally comfortable negotiating with a global buyer's sourcing head and resolving an issue on a sewing line.
Key Result Areas
Strategic P&L Leadership
- Own the annual operating plan, monthly P&L, EBITDA, and working-capital metrics for the plant.
- Build the 1-year operating roadmap and the 3-year capability roadmap (capacity, capex, automation, product mix, buyer portfolio).
- Translate revenue and margin targets into department-level KPIs and review cadence.
- Drive cost-down initiatives across material, manpower, overheads, and reject/rework.
- Partner with the leadership team on capex planning, expansion, and new-line commissioning.
Production & Manufacturing Excellence
- Direct oversight of all departments viz., cutting, sewing, washing/finishing, embroidery/printing, packing operations etc.,
- Ensure adherence to production plans, line-balancing efficiency, daily/weekly throughput, and cycle-time targets.
- Drive lean, Kaizen, 5S, Six Sigma, and continuous-improvement programmes across the plant.
- Resolve daily production bottlenecks through structured problem-solving and shop-floor presence.
- Approve and monitor capacity allocation across styles, lines, and buyer accounts.
Merchandising & Buyer Management
- Serve as the senior plant-side relationship owner for international buyers and brands.
- Oversee order acceptance, costing, T&A (time & action) calendars, and order execution health.
- Lead pre-production meetings, fit/PP sample signoffs, and critical-path reviews with merchandising teams.
- Personally engage with buyer sourcing/quality heads on escalations, audits, and strategic reviews.
- Drive on-time-delivery (OTD), order fill rate, and buyer scorecard improvement.
Design & Product Development
- Partner with the design and product development team on new-season collections, samples, and innovations.
- Ensure speed and accuracy in sampling, fabric development, trim sourcing, and approvals.
- Champion fabric, finish, and silhouette innovation relevant to woven categories — shirts, trousers, dresses, blouses, jackets, outerwear, and casual wear, as applicable.
Industrial Engineering & Productivity
- Drive SAM (Standard Allowed Minutes) discipline, line balancing, operator skill-matrix mapping, and incentive structures.
- Improve plant efficiency, machine productivity, and operator-per-line throughput.
- Lead method studies, time studies, layout optimization, and workstation engineering.
- Sponsor automation and digitization initiatives — auto-spreaders, auto-cutters, RFID/barcode tracking, real-time production dashboards, ERP/PLM rollouts.
Quality Assurance & Compliance
- Own end-to-end quality from inline to final, against AQL standards and buyer-specific protocols.
- Ensure first-pass yield improvement and defect-rate reduction.
- Maintain readiness for buyer technical audits, social audits, and certifications such as SA8000, BSCI, Sedex (SMETA), WRAP, GOTS, BCI, OEKO-TEX, Higg Index, and ZDHC.
- Drive a zero-tolerance culture on shipment quality and ethical compliance.
Supply Chain, Sourcing & Inventory
- Oversee fabric and trims sourcing, vendor performance, and material on-time availability.
- Optimize stores operations, FIFO discipline, fabric-relaxation protocols, and inventory turns.
- Drive working-capital efficiency through inventory norms, slow-moving liquidation, and shipment-cycle reduction.
People & Culture
- Build and lead a high-performing leadership team across functions; coach and develop second-line successors.
- Own workforce planning for a medium operator base (typically 400-600+ employees), including recruitment, training, and skill development.
- Champion welfare, grievance redressal, and a respectful, safe, and inclusive workplace — particularly given the predominantly women workforce typical of Tamil Nadu's woven garment cluster.
- Drive engagement, attendance, and attrition metrics; build a culture where supervisors and operators feel heard.
- Partner with HR on industrial-relations matters and statutory frameworks under the Tamil Nadu Factories Act, ESI, PF, Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, POSH, and applicable state legislations.
Compliance, Safety & Sustainability
- Ensure full statutory compliance — labour, environmental, factory, GST, customs, and tax
- Drive EHS standards, fire safety, building safety, and emergency preparedness.
- Lead the plant's sustainability agenda — water, energy, chemicals, waste, and carbon — aligned with buyer ESG expectations and group sustainability commitments.
Financial & Commercial Stewardship
- Own plant budgeting, monthly MIS, variance analysis, and corrective-action plans.
- Approve costings, sampling charges, and price negotiations within delegated authority.
- Drive cash-conversion cycle, receivables, and shipment-to-billing discipline in coordination with commercial and finance teams.
Candidate Profile
Education
- Graduate in Engineering / Textile Technology / Apparel Production, plus a postgraduate qualification from NIFT, NID, ATDC, or an MBA (Operations / General Management) from a reputed institute.
Experience
- 7-10 years of progressive experience in the apparel / woven garments industry.
- Minimum 5–7 years as Plant Head, Unit Head, Business Head in a manufacturing unit, ideally for an export-oriented woven garments operation.
- Demonstrated full P&L ownership of a unit with at least 400+ employees and meaningful annual revenue/throughput.
- Direct, hands-on exposure across all core functions: production, industrial engineering, merchandising, design & product development, quality, sourcing, and compliance. Generalist plant leadership experience is essential — pure-functional career paths will not fit this role.
- Prior experience working with international buyers and brands
- Familiarity with the Chennai / Tamil Nadu apparel cluster — its vendor ecosystem, fabric/trim sources, contract-labour landscape, and SEZ/EOU operating realities — is strongly preferred.
Functional Competencies
- Deep: fabric knowledge, washing & finishing processes, and buyer-specific quality protocols.
- Fluency in lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, Kaizen, TPM, and IE tools.
- Comfort with ERP / PLM / shop-floor digitization systems.
- Strong commercial acumen — costing, margin levers, working-capital, and capex evaluation.
- Sound grasp of compliance frameworks: SA8000, BSCI , GOTS
Leadership Competencies
- People leadership at scale. Proven track record of building, leading, and retaining large teams, with clear evidence of developing successors and growing internal talent.
- Hands-on grounding combined with strategic perspective. Equally comfortable on the cutting floor and in the boardroom.
- Bias for action. Decisive, structured, and outcome-oriented under pressure.
- Buyer-grade communication. Confident representing the business to senior buyer counterparts.
- Cultural sensitivity and empathy — particularly for managing a large, diverse, predominantly women workforce.
- Integrity and ownership. Operates as a true business owner, not as a department head.
Personal Attributes
- High energy and shop-floor stamina; willing to start the day early and stay late on shipment-critical days.
- Calm under pressure during peak-season escalations.
- Strong command of English language.
- Open, listening leadership style; visibly accessible to supervisors and operators.
- Willing to travel to buyer offices, exhibitions and group sites as required.
- Willing to handle calls with buyers during late evenings.
Kindly go through the JD before applying. If you are interested and meet the criterions, apply through https://forms.gle/sVfDL6VrChmFScSZ7
