Production Manager

Production Manager

MUSH is a place where driven individuals unlock their highest potential, and as part of a team of high performers, accomplish extraordinary feats. If you want to build a reputation of doing hard things well, and aspire to make the world a little healthier, MUSH may be a great place for you.

Our first product line of ready-to-eat overnight oats pioneers a new category for the breakfast occasion, offering a healthy, satiating, and convenient alternative to traditional morning meals. By making healthy food more accessible, we believe that humankind can feel, think, and do better.

In just a few years, we've expanded from weekend farmers markets to over 10,000 retail doors including Whole Foods, Costco, Sprouts, Target, and 7-Eleven as well as many high-end specialty stores, coffee shops, and gyms. We are ready to build a world class team that can execute on the huge opportunity ahead of us.

Role Description

The Production Manager will provide first-level support to front line employees and drive continuous improvement in our facility's production lines. The ideal candidate possesses a quality-first mentality, excellent technical aptitude, outstanding soft and leadership skills, and a relentless work ethic. He/she will manage the process, people, and productivity related to manufacturing across all shifts.

Specific Responsibilities - General Manufacturing

• Manage a team of 45-60 associates to ensure safety, quality, and productivity goals are met
• Conduct pre-shift meetings with incoming team to discuss daily objectives and topics related to previous shift, gmps, metrics, and general plant updates
• Review and study production schedule to identify gaps and risks while collaborating with performance manager, supervisors, and other peers to balance work schedule
• Regularly review and update departmental sops to ensure they are current and being followed by all team members
• Uphold product quality, sanitation, and traceability standards by performing regular line and paperwork checks
• Develop and motivate the team to solve day-to-day operational issues and achieve goals
• Work closely with other departments within operations to ensure production continuity:
• HR: support your staff, identify gaps, and strengthen your roster
• Maintenance: troubleshoot and improve equipment uptime
• Quality: an ally to drive efficiency and first-pass quality

Specific Responsibilities: Personnel Management

• Set consistent expectations and drive accountability for daily schedule attainment, employee attendance, and performance
• Champion the involvement and development of all employees to promote an engaging workplace where winning becomes a habit
• Provide regular formal and informal evaluations and feedback on the performance of hourly associates to ensure you have the right team in place and satisfy production goals
• Develop weekly employee schedule; validate the time and attendance of your team through daily/weekly reviews of team timecards on bamboohr
• Conduct necessary training for new and existing employees to ensure adherence to performance, safety, and quality standards
• Address employee concerns and personnel issues within your team and administer disciplinary actions for performance, attendance, and other violations as needed

Specific Responsibilities - Manufacturing Performance and Continuous Improvement

• Manage production plans on a shift by shift basis to prevent issues and operational inefficiencies
• Ensure production attainment goals are met
• Identify and drive continuous improvement initiatives within the production department
• Collaborate with performance manager on conducting root cause analysis on days attainment is not met and take action to address the issues
• Perform root cause analyses, problem solving, and follow-up related to operational and safety incidents within the department
• Develop root cause analysis using 5-why, fishbone diagram, etc. to re-align operational performance with goals and objectives
• Quantify waste; initiate projects to eliminate it; prove results quantitatively
• Request and allocate resources to ensure we meet production demands (capacity & personnel)
• Execute efforts to track process performance to include productivity and cost based on performance manager's direction

Tactical Requirements

• B.s. in industrial (or related) engineering; m.s. a plus
• 5-7 years experience in food manufacturing to include leading teams
• Be a true people leader, understand how to rally teams and get them to perform
• Live and breathe lean/tps manufacturing practices - jit, 5s, 5 why, production leveling, kaizen, standard work, etc
• Mastery of production kpis, chiefly oee and what drives it
• Courageous: have the courage to try new things and make difficult decisions
• Self starter, with a desire to learn, grow, and evolve as a professional
• Ability to multitask, prioritize and work in an extremely fast-paced environment
• Impeccable attention to detail and exceptional organizational skills
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills
• A beginner's mind and hands-on approach: genchi genbutsu!

Cultural Requirements:

• Teammate: know when to follow, know when to lead; always serving others
• Beginner's mind: provide possibilities, options, and solutions
• Communicator: use tact and precision to communicate ideas, issues, and feedback
• Self-starter: there is no turn-key manual for success, you are helping to build one
• Results driven: you demand results, but focus on the robust processes that yield them
• Attention to detail: unwavering discipline with little things that make big differences
• Relationship builder: customer first mentality with all internal & external counterparts
• Problem solver: expect the unexpected; be agile & effective in combating issues
• Thrive on adversity: our goals are lofty and our values are grounded in humility. We bite off more than we can chew and roll our sleeves up when the situation calls for it.
• Fun: check the fun box every day. Love what you do & do it well.