Tongaat Hulett boasts a proud 134-year history and a strong socio-economic legacy within the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa. Our Technical Operations encompass:

• Four sugar manufacturing mills along the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, from Tongaat through to Empangeni.
• A sugar refining operation located on South Coast Road, Durban.
• Voermol Feeds, an animal feeds manufacturing plant situated in Tongaat, adjacent to the Maidstone Sugar Mill.
• A Technical Operations support function comprising technical specialists who provide expert assistance to operations both domestically and internationally.

The Company’s current priority is to enhance overall business performance over the medium to long term, focusing on strategic, sustainable, efficient and profitable operations. Tongaat Hulett is committed to revitalising assets that generate cash flow and exploring new customer segments.

This position is based at Voermol Feeds, Maidstone, reporting directly to the Operations Manager. It offers a comprehensive range of administrative and interactive support across the Plant, including coordination of services and factory requirements, maintenance and reporting of production and raw material data, procurement assistance, PPE management, pest control and security checks, as well as contractor induction and safety administration. The role requires close collaboration with Heads of Department, Service Providers, Contractors and Suppliers, and is situated within a factory environment.

To provide comprehensive coordination of administrative and interactive tasks, delivering a personal assistance service to management.

The role is responsible for inputting, updating, reconciling, calculating and maintaining factory performance, efficiency, and raw material receipt and usage data on spreadsheets. It involves preparing summary and consolidated factory activity reports, supporting procurement and safety administration, managing PPE issue for staff, conducting contractor inductions, overseeing security-related checks, and monitoring pest control and cleaning services.

Coordination of Services and Factory Requirements

• Welcome visitors and callers, direct telephone calls, record messages, and manage visitor and contractor arrivals at the gate.
• Place and confirm orders with service providers for events, functions and meetings (meals, gifts, vouchers), ensuring deliveries match orders.
• Address stock, service and maintenance needs, including gas requirements for driers, identifying leaks or testing gas lines, and following up with service providers.
• Log and pursue requests with service providers for office and plant printing equipment and IT support; liaise on printing of books, reports, checklists and monitoring sheets.
• Manage incoming and outgoing mail, postage and parcels; prepare and serve refreshments for factory visitors.
• Provide personal assistance to the Factory Manager: manage meeting schedules and appointments, screen calls, type and edit minutes, reports and presentations, and reserve venues.
• Record and circulate minutes of meetings; maintain the factory filing system by organising, labelling and indexing files according to the approved filing sequence.

Factory Information, Performance and Productivity Reporting

• Input production figures from various plants (e.g. Supplementary, Wenger, Feedmill) into the system and perform reconciliations to highlight variances for management’s attention.
• Record production raw material receipts (e.g. pith, coal), calculate usage and stock levels; collect and input equipment data (e.g. driers) to calculate uptime and downtime.
• Compile overtime and working schedules for management; maintain specific registers (e.g. gas, drier maintenance, inspection registers, differential pay book) for authorisation.
• Prepare summarised and consolidated reports (e.g. raw materials, coal and pith summaries, production and equipment efficiencies) for daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reporting, distributing them to relevant contacts.
• Format and print reports and spreadsheets for circulation; back up information to designated drives or servers.

Factory Support: PPE, Procurement, Pest Control, Security and Safety

• PPE Control: liaise with service providers on PPE quality, forward samples for management and Safety Department review, distribute PPE (renewals, replacements, new issues), and maintain issue records for audit purposes.
• Procurement: collaborate with Central Procurement on requirements and procedures, prepare tender documentation and advertisements, create requisitions and Purchase Orders, monitor deliveries and verify delivery documentation for submission to Creditors.
• Pest Control: generate purchase requisitions for the pest control programme, monitor compliance with prescribed timelines, maintain registers and records, including submission of information to State Veterinary Offices for auditing.
• Security and Cleaning: maintain records of gate passes and release notes for items leaving the plant, safeguard spare keys and update the key register, and monitor cleaning service compliance with agreed quality standards.
• Safety Requirements: complete documentation and authorisations for renewal of public liability and letters of good standing, verify contractor medicals and insurance, conduct contractor site safety inductions, and liaise with managers regarding actions from the Forklift Cleaning Report.

General Administrative Support

• Participate in the Employment Equity and Wellness Day Committees; coordinate wellness programme activities.
• Respond to internal and external queries by identifying the nature of the enquiry, accessing and verifying information, and referring to the immediate superior or relevant Department Manager as appropriate.

Qualifications and Experience Required

Qualifications

• Matriculation Certificate.
• Post-matriculation one-year Certificate in Office Administration.
• Computer literacy in MS Office, with advanced proficiency in Excel.

Experience (Essential)

• A minimum of three years’ office administration experience within an industrial manufacturing or operations environment.
• At least six months’ relevant training.
• Experience engaging with Heads of Department, supervisory and operational personnel across the plant, as well as with service providers, contractors and suppliers.