Director of Manufacturing Operations

The Director of Manufacturing provides strategic and hands-on leadership for manufacturing operations across Central Coated Products and Sun America. This role builds consistent operating standards across both facilities, with primary focus on three priorities: improving overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), controlling and reducing labor cost, and leading the manufacturing side of new product development (NPD) from trial through launch, all while maintaining safety, food safety, quality, customer service, and employee engagement in a GMP food-grade manufacturing environment.

The Director partners with Executive Leadership, site leaders, planning, maintenance, quality, safety, warehousing, supply chain, finance, sales, and Human Resources to align production priorities, labor plans, and new product launches with customer requirements and company objectives. This position requires a visible presence on the plant floor and the ability to move easily between strategic planning and day-to-day execution.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Multi-Site Manufacturing Leadership

• Provide overall leadership, direction, and accountability for manufacturing operations at both CCP and SA.

• Establish consistent operating expectations, management routines, and performance standards across both facilities while recognizing site-specific needs.

• Maintain a strong floor presence across all shifts, reviewing performance, staffing, workflow, and equipment constraints.

• Lead tiered daily accountability meetings and serve as the senior manufacturing leader in the absence of the VP of Operations.

Safety, Food Safety, and Quality

• Reinforce a culture where safety and quality are non-negotiable, including lockout/tagout, machine guarding, PPE, and powered industrial truck rules.

• Partner with Safety and Quality leadership to ensure compliance with OSHA, company policies, customer standards, and quality systems.

• Enforce GMP, sanitation, foreign-material control, and food-contact requirements on every line and every shift.

• Support investigations and corrective actions for incidents, near misses, quality concerns, and customer complaints, ensuring timely close-out.

• Own production-side readiness for customer, third-party, and regulatory audits in partnership with the VP of Quality and Safety.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

• Own OEE performance for all production lines; establish one consistent OEE definition, calculation, and data-collection standard across both sites.

• Set baseline and target OEE by line and product family; track availability, performance, and quality losses and drive year-over-year improvement.

• Implement accurate downtime, reason-code, and speed-loss tracking, using loss Pareto analysis to prioritize improvement work.

• Partner with Maintenance on preventive/predictive maintenance and reliability; reduce changeover time through SMED and standard work.

• Use OEE and capacity data to support scheduling, capital justification, and decisions on shifts, equipment, or headcount.

Labor Cost Management

• Own direct and indirect manufacturing labor cost, including regular hours, overtime, and temporary/agency labor.

• Establish labor standards (crew sizes, units per labor hour, earned hours) by line and product, and measure productivity against standard.

• Build weekly labor plans that flex staffing to the production schedule, minimizing unplanned overtime.

• Review overtime and temporary labor weekly with managers and Finance; require corrective plans for budget variances.

• Identify labor-saving opportunities through line balancing, crew optimization, automation, and process redesign without compromising safety, quality, or service.

New Product Development and Commercialization

• Serve as the manufacturing lead on NPD, partnering with Sales, Quality, Engineering, Purchasing, Planning, and customers.

• Evaluate new product requests early for manufacturability, equipment fit, capacity, tooling, and materials.

• Plan and lead production trials, first-article runs, and scale-up, confirming customer, quality, and food-contact requirements before release.

• Provide accurate run-rate, labor, scrap, and changeover assumptions for costing and quoting, and track actual launch performance against them.

• Ensure correct ERP setup (BOMs, routings, run standards) and that work instructions, quality checks, and operator training are in place before handoff to steady-state production.

Continuous Improvement

• Drive improvement in throughput, schedule attainment, scrap, and waste using data and KPIs.

• Standardize best practices across both companies and lead root-cause analysis, CAPA, 5S, standard work, and lean practices.

• Identify automation, process redesign, and equipment improvements; support capital justification, installation, and start-up.

Production Planning, Staffing, and Service

• Align capacity, materials, and labor with customer demand in partnership with planning, sales, supply chain, warehousing, and maintenance.

• Monitor schedule attainment, on-time delivery, backlog, and capacity constraints; coordinate recovery plans as needed.

People Leadership and Development

• Lead, coach, and develop Site Managers, supervisors, team leads, and operational teams across both organizations.

• Partner with Human Resources on workforce planning, recruiting, training, and performance management, ensuring fair and consistent application of policy.

• Build bench strength and succession plans; develop internal talent along the manufacturing career pathway.

Financial and Business Performance

• Develop and manage manufacturing, labor, overtime, and capital budgets in partnership with Finance and the VP of Operations.

• Monitor conversion cost, labor cost per unit, scrap, and consumables; explain variances and identify cost-reduction opportunities.

• Provide timely updates, forecasts, and recommendations to Executive Leadership and input to annual operating, capital, and staffing plans.

• Promote accurate use of ERP and production systems and support standardized reports and dashboards for multi-site operations.

HOW SUCCESS IS MEASURED

• Safety: Recordable and lost-time incident rates; near-miss reporting; on-time corrective action closure

• Food Safety and Quality: Audit results; customer complaints; defect and hold rates; GMP compliance

• Delivery: On-time, in-full shipments; schedule attainment; backlog

• OEE: OEE by line and site vs. target; unplanned downtime; changeover time

• Labor Cost: Labor cost per unit; units per labor hour vs. standard; overtime %; temporary labor usage

• New Products: On-time launches; trial-to-launch cycle time; first-run yield; performance vs. costing assumptions

• People: Retention; attendance; open positions filled; training completion; leader bench strength

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Engineering, Operations Management, Business, or related field; equivalent progressive manufacturing leadership experience may be considered.

• 7–10 years of progressive manufacturing or operations leadership experience, ideally with responsibility for multiple departments, shifts, or facilities.

• Proven track record improving OEE, including downtime/loss tracking and loss-reduction initiatives.

• Proven experience managing manufacturing labor cost, including labor standards, staffing models, and overtime control.

• Experience leading new product introductions from trial through scale-up and launch.

• Experience in a GMP, food-grade, food-contact, or other regulated manufacturing environment.

• Strong financial acumen and ability to manage through data and KPIs; advanced Excel skills and experience with ERP and manufacturing systems.

Preferred

• Experience leading operations across more than one facility or business unit

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central experience

• Experience in converting, coating, packaging, or thermoforming operations

• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt, or equivalent CI training

• Working knowledge of SQF, BRCGS, or other GFSI schemes and HACCP principles

• OSHA 30-Hour General Industry certification

WORK ENVIRONMENT AND PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Regular presence in manufacturing and warehouse environments with exposure to noise, moving machinery, powered industrial trucks, and temperature variations.

• Extended standing and walking; climbing stairs, bending, and reaching; occasionally lifting up to 50 pounds.

• Must follow all GMP, hygiene, and PPE requirements (hair/beard nets, safety glasses, hearing protection, safety footwear) in production areas.

• Availability for early, late, weekend, and on-call coverage as business needs require.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.