Profile of a plant manager

The food production veteran (pictured right) is currently manager of Leaf’s Malaco Denmark plant which produces mixed bag confectionery for the Scandanavian market and will wrap up his career along with the closure of the facility at the end of the year.

In October,​ Leaf announced its plans to increase capacity by 13 per cent at its Slovakian plant with the transfer of its Malaco brand powder line from the facility Löfving runs in south Denmark.

The key is “Lean thinking” ​

Löfving puts much of his success down to his dedication to the 'lean management' system, which he believes plays a vital role in the organisation of a food production facility.

The goal of the management philosophy, developed from the Toyota Production System, is to develop ways to maximize customer value while minimizing waste.

According to Löfving, it is vital to get the management team and people across different parts of the organisation to ‘think lean’​ and adopt a way of working that will help the plant to develop in an efficient way.

As a plant manager, you need to lead from the front and be first to “do the right thing”​ in order to show employees that dedication to this system is key to efficiency, he said.

Career challenges​

One of the biggest challenges of Löfving’s career was when he was managing the under-performing Leaf plant in Gävle, Sweden with pressure to “turn the factory around”​ in one year. Löfving said the team succeeded and he claims today that particular plant is one of the most successful in the confectionery group.

He puts that achievement down to a dedicated management team and good communication between staff, as well as working to the lean manufacturing philosophy.

Working efficiently and quickly​

The plant manager said that using this approach helps the team develop a system that boosts speed and efficiency to maximise up-time

“To do a changeover, it should take no more than 10 minutes maximum,”​ he said.

Löfving said that one way he achieves this is by using the Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) technique for reducing waste in a manufacturing process.

This systematic method, used by organisations to reduce set-up or changeover time, is a rapid way of changing the machine set-up from one product to another.

Advice to young entrants​

Higher education in economics or mechanical engineering forms a good foundation for entrants interested in becoming plant managers, he advices.

Working in a logistics department as a production manager or production leader could also be one possible route into the career.

In terms of personal qualities, Löfving said, you need dedication and must be able to show people that you can think and plan ahead. Communication skills are also key as one of the main parts of the job involves working with employees on the shop floor.

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CV: Sven-Arne Löfving ​

Plant manager for four Leaf International plants: 1990-2011​

2008 – Present (3 years): Malaco, Leaf Denmark

2001-2007: Gävle, Leaf Sweden

1994-2001: Malmö, Leaf Sweden

1990-1994: Malaco, Leaf Sweden

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Production manager​

Marabou chocolate company​

1988 – 1990

Engineer in technology department​

Hemglass, ice cream plant,​ Sweden​

1974 – 1988

Education:​

Mechanical engineering degree​

Eskilstuna Tekniska ETSF

1966 – 1970

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