Production Manager — Sodium Silicate

Position: Production Manager — Sodium Silicate (Wet / Hydrothermal Process)

Location: Kenya, Killi County (near Mombasa) 

Reporting to: General Manager

Reported By:  Team - Maintenance team, Electrical, RO team, Stores team, Boiler team, Silicate team

Function: Liquid sodium silicate manufacturing – full production.

Qualifications & Experience: 

• Silicate plant experience: Minimum 7–10 years’ hands-on experience operating a sodium silicate plant — essential and non-negotiable.

• Wet process: Demonstrable expertise in the wet / hydrothermal route — reactors / autoclaves, caustic soda handling, filtration and concentration.

Technical Qualification in Chemical, Mechanical or Process Engineering, or equivalent proven plant experience.

• Leadership: Track record running and supervising a continuous-process or chemical plant, leading multiple units and shift teams.
• Results: Demonstrated results in OEE, yield or cost-per-tonne improvement.

• Utilities & stores: Working knowledge of boiler operation, water treatment and engineering stores / spares management.

Role Purpose: 

Run the wet-process sodium silicate plant and own its output. This is a working management role: you operate the reactors / dissolvers hands-on and you carry accountability for the units that keep production running – RO, Boiler, Silicate and Engineering Stores. The job is to keep liquid sodium silicate flowing on-spec, on-plan and at the lowest sustainable cost per tonne, with the units operating as accountable, cost-owning teams rather than firefighting in isolation. You are the person the floor reports to and the person the GM holds answerable for production reliability, efficiency and safety.

The process you will Run: 

The Company produces liquid sodium silicate by the wet (hydrothermal) route:Silica sand reacted with caustic soda in pressurised reactors / autoclaves, using boiler steam for heat and treated (RO) water for the reaction — then filtered, clarified and concentrated to the target density and ratio. You must know this process cold.

• Run the reactors / autoclaves: charge silica sand and caustic soda accurately, and control reaction temperature, pressure and time to drive complete dissolution.
• Hit the target SiO₂:Na₂O ratio, density / Baumé and viscosity on every batch, adjusting to hold product within spec.
• Manage filtration, settling and clarification to strip unreacted sand and insolubles, then concentrate / dilute to grade.
• Control caustic soda safely and efficiently — dosing, strength, storage and handling — as your primary, and costliest, reagent.

Key Responsibilities: 

Production – hands-on wet-process operation

• Drive the daily production plan, intervene early when a batch drifts off ratio or density, and minimise rejects and rework.
• Control reagent and utility usage – caustic soda, silica sand, steam, water – against yield, and chase down every source of loss.
• Hold batch records and quality data so every tonne is traceable and on-spec.

Cross-unit leadership – RO, Boiler, Engineering Stores

• Manage the units as one operation: RO delivering reaction-grade water, the Boiler delivering reliable, efficient steam to the reactors, and Stores holding the right spares to prevent downtime.
• Own boiler efficiency and fuel consumption and water treatment performance – in the wet process these feed the reaction directly, so they are core cost and uptime levers, not background utilities.
• Engineering Stores discipline: accurate stock, critical spares available, no stoppage waiting on parts, no cash tied up in dead inventory.

Efficiency, cost and reliability

• Track and improve OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) across the plant – availability, performance and quality – and act on what the numbers show.
• Apply PVC and the other efficiency metrics that govern sodium silicate production, and use them to find and close losses.
• Bring down cost per tonne and downtime; cut both. Know your costs cold and bring the numbers to every production review.
• Move each unit toward operating as its own accountable business unit with clear cost ownership.

Safety, compliance and people

• Treat safety and compliance as non-negotiable – pressurised reactors, caustic soda and boiler operation are high-risk and run to standard, every shift.
• Lead, supervise and develop the shift teams; set clear expectations with named owners and deadlines, and hold people to them.
• Give a clear, factual production report to the GM: what produced, what it cost, what broke, what you are doing about it.

What we Are looking for: 

Someone switched on and proactive – who spots the problem before it stops the plant and acts without being told. We want an operator-manager who owns the result, not one who waits for instructions or hides behind “the team will look into it".

• Deep understanding of wet-process sodium silicate production – reactor / autoclave operation, caustic soda chemistry, ratio and density control.
• Practical command of PVC, OEE and the efficiency metrics behind silicate manufacturing, and the instinct to use them to cut cost and waste.
• Experience running boiler, water treatment (RO) and stores operations alongside core production.
• A bias for ownership – named action, real numbers, clear deadlines. No vague accountability.
• Calm under pressure: keeps the plant running while fixing the root cause, not just the symptom.
• Credible on the floor and in front of the GM – direct, factual, numbers-first.

How Performance will be Measured: 

• Production: liquid silicate output against plan, on-spec for ratio and density, with rejects and rework minimised.
• Efficiency: OEE trend, cost per tonne and reagent / fuel / water yield moving in the right direction.
• Reliability: unplanned downtime reduced; no stoppages caused by missing spares.
• Safety: zero tolerance on standards across reactors, caustic handling and boiler operation.

• Accountability: each unit reporting and owning its own costs.

Salary Structure: 

Net Salary after Tax

Furnished Accommodation with Electricity & Water.

Gas and Food expenses on Own . 

Car provided by company, with Fuel allowance 

Annual Tickets to India, Visa and Work permit

Please expedite and send the updated resume along with requested details and confirmation of interest.      

Regards,    

Pooja Raval – Sr Consultant / Team Leader

Contact  Person -Swati Sharma- Recruitment Consultant 

Send CV and Reply mail to [email protected].     

Will call you for detail discussion, if your Profile is relevant.