Plant Manager

Full-time or part-time: Full-time

Job title: Plant Manager

Job Location: 3990 Sunnyside Road, Lena, IL 61048

Job Description :

Provide the leadership to the facility activities in processing, packaging, sanitation, maintenance, and dry goods warehouse. Contribute to capital project initiatives which will position the organization to meet the business and customer demands and educate the company leadership in the specialty cheese business. Integrate with other department leaders to manage for cost, quality, safety, delivery and morale in the facility and the continuous improvement of results in those areas. Play a key role in new product development by driving the operations initiatives through our production system based on Continuous Improvement (CI) from development phase to product launch. Accountable for P&L for the plant so strong financial management skills are needed. Establish financial and operating objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for area of responsibilities. Monitor all established KPIs on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, identify all deviation vs. objectives and implement pro-actively all required corrective action plan and follow-up with Industrial Director. Foster and operate in a continuous improvement environment. Manage the maintenance team to develop/maintain proactive preventive maintenance program and to repair and maintain as needed. Maintain cooperative and productive relationships with employees. Define organization and evolution in relation with the Long-Range Plan (LRP), and propose training, promotion and adjustment to reach the targeted organizational goal. Coordinate with other departments to develop and implement plant safety, food safety, environmental and quality initiatives. Coordinate plant scheduling with Supply Chain Department to maximize the order fill rate and minimize all material/finished goods inventories. Responsible for developing and implementing plant annual operating plan in line with budgeted performance and financial objectives. Coordinate with the Engineering Manager the implementation of capital projects. Must ensure the plant is run in an efficient & effective manner utilizing Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP's) to maintain a quality product manufactured in a safe environment. Contribute to the Production System based on CI implementation by promoting CI improvement tools in the CI project. Ensure adherence to Company policies, procedures and practices. Define with the Industrial Director the annual budget for this facility, assure the follow-up of this budget and the implementation of corrective actions. Responsible for identification and implementation of cost reduction opportunities. Propose the capital project for the plant as defined in the budget. Study, with the support of the Engineering Manager, the project and implementation. Ensure new product industrialization on production lines with the support of Technical and R&D Departments. Strive for fast continuous systematic planned improvement. Ensure full compliance with all Regulatory Requirements. Involved in developing Capex requests and building / maintaining Bill of Material (BOM) requirements. Conduct routine team meetings (daily/weekly/monthly as applicable), including continuous improvement routine meeting participation. Maintain documentation and performance logs of employees. Provide yearly reviews for employees.

Supervises 7 subordinates: Production Supervisor; Packaging Supervisor; Shift Supervisor; Maintenance Manager; Goat Supervisor; CI and EHS Manager; Maintenance Coordinator

Minimum Education & Experience Requirements:

Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Agronomy, or related field or foreign equivalent plus 6 years of experience in job offered or any research scientist/cheese related job titles. Applicants must have 6 years of experience in the following: (1) Dairy/Cheese manufacturing; (2) Lean manufacturing, Continuous Improvement Tools, CI implementation; (3) Financial management in manufacturing environment; (4) building/maintaining Bill of Material requirements; (5) software applications including: SAP, Labware, and Maestro as applied to manufacturing processes; (6) supporting food safety management systems and communicating food safety issues to the Quality Department; and (7) USDA, 3rd party and customer audits, SOP's, HACCP, FDA, OSHA, EPA and GMPs.

10% domestic travel required to visit cheese-making facilities for training/education/process improvements. Occasional evening and weekend work may be required as job duties demand.

Compensation for role: $192,611-$200,000/year