Operations Supervisor

Job Purpose

The Operations Supervisor is responsible for overseeing theoverall day-to-day operations of the Truck-IT Department, ensuring effectivecoordination between transport planning, fleet readiness, manpower deployment,safety, service performance and operational control.

The role provides leadership and direction to the PlannerSupervisor and Fleet Supervisor, ensuring both functions work together toachieve departmental operational targets and customer requirements.

The Operations Supervisor shall act as the primaryoperational escalation point before matters are escalated to the TransportManager and is responsible for driving continuous improvement in safety,productivity, asset utilisation, service quality and operational efficiency.

Key Responsibilities

1. Overall Transport Operations

• Oversee the overall daily Truck-IT operations to ensure smooth and efficient execution of transport activities.
• Coordinate transport planning, fleet readiness, manpower availability and customer requirements.
• Conduct daily operational reviews covering manpower, fleet, job requirements, outstanding issues and operational risks.
• Ensure sufficient drivers, vehicles, trailers and supporting resources are available to meet operational requirements.
• Identify potential operational disruptions early and implement recovery plans.
• Ensure Planning and Fleet functions operate collaboratively and are aligned with departmental priorities.
• Act as the first senior operational escalation point for issues that cannot be resolved by the respective supervisors.
• Escalate significant operational, customer, manpower or safety concerns to the Transport Manager where necessary.

1. Planning & Fleet Coordination

• Provide overall supervision and direction to the Planner Supervisor and Fleet Supervisor.
• Ensure effective coordination between job planning and fleet availability.
• Review manpower and vehicle allocation to optimise available resources.
• Ensure transport resources are deployed according to customer requirements and operational priorities.
• Monitor vehicle downtime and ensure recovery or replacement arrangements are made where necessary.
• Review planning effectiveness and identify recurring operational gaps.
• Ensure supervisors provide timely updates on resource shortages, vehicle breakdowns, manpower shortages and other operational constraints.

1. Safety – Cargo Damage Reduction

• Lead reviews of cargo damage incidents and identify recurring root causes.
• Ensure corrective and preventive actions are properly assigned and completed within the required timeline.
• Review potential causes including planning gaps, vehicle condition, cargo handling, lashing, driver behaviour and operational processes.
• Ensure appropriate corrective actions, coaching or retraining are implemented.
• Monitor effectiveness of corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
• Conduct regular cargo damage trend reviews.
• Ensure adherence to lashing, cargo handling, photo evidence, pre-operation inspection and customer safety requirements.

1. Safety – Accident Reduction

• Review vehicle accidents, near misses and transport-related safety incidents.
• Identify accident patterns and recurring risk factors.
• Coordinate corrective actions between Planning, Fleet, Drivers and relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure accident reporting and investigation requirements are completed promptly.
• Review driver behaviour, route risks, timing constraints, vehicle condition and operational practices contributing to incidents.
• Monitor effectiveness of corrective actions.
• Work with supervisors to implement preventive measures and driver coaching where required.
• Ensure operational teams comply with company and customer safety requirements.

1. Manpower Productivity

• Monitor driver productivity and trips completed per driver.
• Review productivity by customer, route, shift and operational requirement.
• Identify excessive waiting time, driver idle time, poor job sequencing and manpower mismatches.
• Work with the Planner Supervisor to improve manpower deployment and route planning.
• Ensure manpower deployment is aligned with actual operational demand.
• Review overtime requirements and ensure overtime is operationally justified.
• Recommend manpower adjustments where productivity or operational requirements indicate a need.

1. Fleet Utilisation & Rightsizing

• Monitor fleet utilisation across vehicle types and customer accounts.
• Ensure available fleet resources are maximised before additional external resources are engaged.
• Review idle, underutilised and overcommitted assets.
• Coordinate with the Fleet Supervisor to maintain sufficient vehicle readiness.
• Coordinate with the Planner Supervisor to maximise deployment of available vehicles.
• Identify future fleet shortages or excess capacity.
• Support fleet rightsizing recommendations including rental, contractor or additional asset requirements.
• Monitor asset deployment against customer and operational requirements.

1. Load Utilisation & Route Efficiency

• Monitor loaded versus empty vehicle movements.
• Work with the planning team to improve route sequencing, job matching and backloading opportunities.
• Identify routes with excessive empty kilometres or unnecessary vehicle movement.
• Review GPS, mileage and operational data to identify efficiency improvement opportunities.
• Reduce unnecessary repositioning of vehicles.
• Ensure improvements in load utilisation do not compromise safety or customer service requirements.

1. OTIF & Service Performance

• Monitor daily and weekly On-Time-In-Full delivery performance.
• Identify recurring causes of delayed deliveries.
• Coordinate corrective actions involving planners, drivers, fleet availability and customer/site constraints.
• Ensure early escalation and recovery actions are triggered for deliveries at risk of delay.
• Review performance by customer, route, planner and driver where necessary.
• Ensure sufficient standby and recovery resources are available where operationally required.
• Drive corrective actions to improve delivery reliability.

1. Customer Service Recovery

• Act as the key operational escalation point for service disruptions and customer complaints.
• Coordinate recovery actions with Planning, Fleet, Customer Service and other relevant departments.
• Ensure customer-impacting operational failures are addressed promptly.
• Review recurring complaints and service failures to identify root causes.
• Monitor corrective actions arising from customer complaints.
• Ensure supervisors provide timely and accurate operational updates.
• Escalate significant customer-impacting issues to the Transport Manager.

1. Digital Adoption & Operational Control

• Drive the use of TMS, OBO, driver applications, GPS systems and other approved digital workflows.
• Ensure planners, fleet personnel and drivers update operational information accurately and promptly.
• Monitor real-time visibility of jobs, vehicle movements and delivery milestones.
• Reduce dependence on manual reporting where digital solutions are available.
• Identify system or process gaps affecting operational effectiveness.
• Ensure employees comply with required system usage.
• Support implementation and testing of new digital operational tools.

1. Incident Management & Corrective Actions

• Coordinate immediate operational response following accidents, cargo damage, breakdowns and other incidents.
• Ensure incident information is properly gathered and reported.
• Support investigation and root cause analysis.
• Ensure corrective and preventive actions are followed through.
• Monitor closure of incident-related actions.
• Ensure operational lessons learned are communicated to relevant staff.
• Support 8D, CAPA and customer investigation requirements where applicable.

1. Staff Leadership & Development

• Provide guidance and coaching to the Planner Supervisor and Fleet Supervisor.
• Set clear expectations and hold supervisors accountable for their respective areas.
• Conduct regular follow-up on outstanding operational actions.
• Support development of planners, fleet personnel, drivers and operational staff.
• Promote teamwork and collaboration between Planning and Fleet functions.
• Address performance, discipline and accountability issues together with the Transport Manager and HR where required.
• Identify training and development needs within the operational team.

1. Employee Engagement

• Conduct regular engagement with operational employees.
• Identify recurring concerns affecting morale, productivity and operational performance.
• Work with supervisors to implement practical employee engagement initiatives.
• Encourage effective communication between supervisors and their teams.
• Support departmental engagement, recognition and improvement programmes.

1. Compliance & Operational Governance

• Ensure compliance with company policies, SOPs, work instructions and customer requirements.
• Ensure transport operations comply with applicable regulatory and safety requirements.
• Conduct operational checks and audits where required.
• Ensure documentation, checklists and operational records are properly maintained.
• Support internal, customer and external audits.
• Ensure corrective actions arising from audit findings are completed.

1. Contractor Management

• Monitor performance of external transport contractors.
• Ensure contractors comply with company and customer operational requirements.
• Review contractor punctuality, vehicle readiness, safety compliance and service performance.
• Identify repeated contractor performance issues and recommend corrective actions.
• Support evaluation of contractor capacity requirements.

1. Performance Monitoring & Reporting

• Monitor Truck-IT operational KPIs and OKRs.
• Prepare or review operational performance reports.
• Analyse performance trends and identify areas requiring corrective action.
• Provide regular updates to the Transport Manager.
• Follow up with supervisors on underperforming areas.
• Recommend operational improvements based on performance data.

Key operational indicators include:

• Cargo Damage Rate
• Accident Rate
• Trips per Driver
• Fleet Utilisation
• Load Utilisation
• OTIF
• Digital Adoption
• Service Recovery
• Employee Engagement

1. Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with Customer Service, Store-IT, Move-IT, Safety, Workshop, HR, Finance and other relevant departments.
• Coordinate resolution of operational issues involving multiple departments.
• Support customer projects, trials and operational improvement initiatives.
• Ensure information and operational requirements are communicated clearly across departments.

1. Transport Manager Support / Deputising

• Support the Transport Manager in the overall management of Truck-IT operations.
• Provide operational updates, recommendations and risk assessments.
• Assist in manpower, fleet and operational resource planning.
• Deputise for the Transport Manager on day-to-day operational matters when authorised.
• Ensure operational continuity during the Transport Manager's absence.
• Perform other duties, projects and improvement initiatives assigned by the Transport Manager.

Authority & Accountability

The Operations Supervisor is authorised to:

• Direct day-to-day Planning and Fleet operational priorities.
• Reallocate available operational resources when required.
• Require corrective action from the Planner Supervisor and Fleet Supervisor.
• Escalate manpower, fleet, safety or customer risks to the Transport Manager.
• Stop or suspend an operational activity where an immediate safety or compliance risk exists.
• Initiate operational recovery measures during service disruptions.
• Require investigation and follow-up for recurring operational failures.

Major decisions involving headcount changes, capitalexpenditure, commercial commitments, disciplinary action, customer contractualmatters or permanent fleet changes remain subject to Transport Manager /Management approval.

Candidate’s Requirements:

• Obtained Diploma/Degreequalification in relevant discipline or similar.
• At least 3 - 5 years of experience ofsimilar professional experience
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Positive attitude, independent and proactive team player