Plant Manager

Food Plant Manager – Elk Grove Village, IL IRCA is a prominent international provider of semi‑finished ingredients for the bakery, pastry, and gelato markets, catering to independent producers as well as large food manufacturers. The Plant Manager is accountable for leading the overall operations at our plant located in Elk Grove Village, IL. The Plant Manager will build capability throughout the plant team to ensure sustainable performance and growth of the site through capacity, resource, and talent planning in close partnership with relevant functional leaders. The Plant Manager will ensure strong collaboration with our various leaders throughout Irca Group and our commercial colleagues to connect with our overall manufacturing planning and performance. The Plant Manager will work to ensure that our plant teams are clear on our vision and our purpose, including clearly understanding how their roles and collective plant performance help contribute to us being our customers’ most valued partner. Key Responsibilities Development of plant strategy, underpinned by a master schedule in line with growth plans and relevant manufacturing strategy Lead a performance management and measurement discipline across the plant, with focused analysis of plan performance data, recognizing individual/team achievements, setting clear plans to address performance gaps, understanding trends and proactively identifying opportunities for improvement Working with our manufacturing and broader functional leadership to ensure a connected view of plant priorities and connectivity to our EUM/commercial strategy, in line with customer segmentation criteria – ensuring a clear representation of plant perspectives, ideas and considerations needed to inform best decision making for the company Work with manufacturing leadership to ensure that all plants are sharing best practice across the plant network, participating in our Plant Leadership community Driving proactive resolution for areas that or could potentially impact plant performance through partnering with the relevant function in IO (QSHE, Engineering, Supply Chain, Procurement) Leading out on improvement of plant Organizational Health targets (including active & clearly communicated engagement plans across selected areas of priority) Lead plant level productivity across areas of asset management, performance, and efficiencies in line with agreed business terms Lead and embed a CI mindset across the plant, actively seeking improvements and efficiency of operations, demonstrating an ability and team encouragement to identify and drive continuous improvement initiatives Lead key change initiatives across the plant (and connect to plant master schedule), with required functional support e.g., automation, digital, sustainability etc. Play an active part in New Product Development (NPD) processes in line with agreed ways of working, partnering with RDA and commercial as required to bring clarity to implications e.g., cost, service levels, OTIF etc. Professional Skills & Education 8 + years of progressive experience in food manufacturing and plant operations at a leadership level BA/BS/MS in Engineering, Business, Food Science preferred Demonstrated success as a change agent & developing/implementing continuous improvement initiatives and accountability programs Strong hands‑on leader who leads by example and actively engages in day‑to‑day operational challenges. Demonstrated success assessing, developing, and retaining top talent Proven ability to drive process improvements, adhere to budgets, and maintain regulatory compliance Financial analysis acumen and experience maintaining budgets or capital spend Ability to deliver business result Fluent in verbal and written English required. Ability to verbally communicate in Spanish preferred Proven ability to lead direct and in direct reports Strategic Thinking, Managing Change, Critical Thinking, Continuous Cost Focus, Technical Expertise, Influence and Delivery of Sustainable Results Develop strong working relationships with colleagues across various departments, including financial, supply chain, sales and commercial entities, and seniority level leaders Strong People leadership skills Ability to coach and develop the work force Multi–tasking, organizational and time management expertise Salary $190,000 - $205,000 a year Why Join Us Irca Group offers career growth opportunities as well as competitive compensation and benefits: Medical, Dental, & Vision, 401(k) matching, Paid Vacation, and Holidays, Employee Education Tuition Reimbursement Program. Annual Salary Base Range of $190K-$205K for Employees Located in Illinois. The “base salary range” provided above is a good faith estimate of what we expect to pay for this position. The range provided is for Illinois employees as Irca group is required by Illinois State Law to post pay rates. Irca group reserves the right to pay outside of the given range based on a variety of factors including but not limited to candidate skills and experience, complexity of the job, budgetary factors, and location/geography. Irca group conducts regular reviews of compensation ranges and therefore reserves the right to alter this range at any given time. #J-18808-Ljbffr Medium