Position Summary
The Plant Manager is responsible for leading all day-to-day operations of the manufacturing facility, including production, safety, quality, maintenance, and workforce leadership. This role ensures the plant runs efficiently, safely, and cost-effectively while meeting customer demands and regulatory standards. The Plant Manager drives continuous improvement and fosters a high-performance culture across the site.
Key Responsibilities
Operations Leadership
- Oversee all production activities to ensure output targets, quality, and delivery schedules are met.
- Ensure compliance with food safety, regulatory, and customer requirements (SQF, HACCP, FDA, USDA as applicable).
- Manage plant budgets including labor, materials, waste, and energy usage.
- Optimize production workflows, resource allocation, and equipment utilization.
People Management
- Lead, develop, and coach supervisors, team leads, and hourly employees.
- Build a positive culture focused on accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
- Oversee hiring, training, performance evaluations, and workforce planning.
Safety & Compliance
- Ensure a strong safety culture aligned with OSHA and internal standards.
- Enforce safe work practices, investigate incidents, and drive corrective actions.
- Oversee environmental compliance and sustainability initiatives.
Quality & Food Safety
- Partner with QA to ensure all products meet or exceed quality standards.
- Monitor and enforce GMPs, sanitation protocols, and food safety programs.
- Support audits (internal, customer, regulatory) and corrective actions.
Maintenance & Reliability
- Work with Maintenance leadership to reduce downtime and improve equipment reliability.
- Support preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
- Identify and prioritize capital improvement projects.
Continuous Improvement
- Lead Lean, Six Sigma, or CI projects to improve throughput, yield, cost, and safety.
- Implement best practices in process standardization and waste reduction.
- Track KPIs and use data to drive decision-making.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Food Science, or related field (preferred).
- 5–10+ years of leadership experience in manufacturing, ideally food & beverage.
- Strong knowledge of food safety, GMPs, regulatory requirements, and SQF/HACCP.
- Proven success leading teams in a high-volume production environment.
- Experience with Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies.
- Strong communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to manage budgets, scheduling, cost savings, and plant performance metrics.
Key Competencies
- Leadership & team development
- Operational excellence
- Decision-making under pressure
- Strategic planning
- Safety-first mindset
- Strong analytical and financial skills
