Warehouse Manager

Warehouse Manager

The Warehouse Manager is responsible for the safe, efficient, and accurate operation of warehouse activities within a food manufacturing facility. This position leads receiving, storage, inventory control, material movement, and shipping activities to support production and customer service requirements while maintaining food safety, quality, regulatory, and workplace safety standards. The Warehouse Manager develops the warehouse team, manages labor and resources, drives inventory accuracy and operational performance, and partners cross-functionally to ensure reliable material flow throughout the facility.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead day-to-day warehouse operations, including receiving, unloading, inspection, put-away, storage, replenishment, staging, material movement, order picking, loading, and shipment of raw materials, packaging, ingredients, supplies, and finished goods.
• Ensure materials and finished goods are stored, handled, rotated, and shipped in accordance with company requirements, product specifications, lot controls, FIFO/FEFO practices, and applicable temperature or storage requirements.
• Maintain high levels of inventory accuracy through disciplined transaction practices, cycle counting, physical inventories, reconciliation, root-cause analysis, and corrective action.
• Ensure accurate and timely system transactions in the applicable ERP, warehouse management, or inventory systems, including receipts, transfers, production-related material movements, adjustments, holds, and shipments.
• Coordinate warehouse activities with Production, Planning, Quality, Customer Service, Maintenance, and other functions to support production schedules and customer commitments.
• Develop daily and weekly labor plans, assign work, balance priorities, and adjust staffing and equipment resources to meet changing production and shipping requirements.
• Establish and monitor warehouse performance indicators such as safety, inventory accuracy, service, productivity, labor utilization, dock performance, damages, and on-time shipping; implement actions to address performance gaps.
• Maintain effective dock, trailer, yard, and carrier coordination practices, as applicable, to support safe and efficient inbound and outbound traffic flow.
• Manage relationships and daily execution with carriers, third-party warehouses, or other logistics service providers when used by the facility.
• Ensure compliance with company food safety and quality programs, including GMPs, sanitation, allergen controls, foreign-material prevention, traceability, product hold procedures, pest-control requirements, and applicable audit standards.
• Maintain warehouse areas in a clean, organized, inspection-ready condition and ensure storage locations, aisles, racks, docks, and staging areas are used in accordance with established standards.
• Promote and enforce safe work practices, including powered industrial truck requirements, pedestrian safety, dock safety, trailer restraint/chocking procedures, rack safety, lifting practices, and use of required personal protective equipment.
• Partner with EHS, Quality, and Maintenance to investigate incidents, product damage, inventory discrepancies, equipment issues, or process failures and implement sustainable corrective and preventive actions.
• Identify and implement continuous improvement opportunities related to layout, material flow, slotting, space utilization, labor productivity, inventory control, technology, and standard work.
• Maintain warehouse procedures, training materials, records, and documentation necessary to support consistent execution, regulatory compliance, audits, and business continuity.
• Participate in capital planning and operating expense management for warehouse equipment, racking, material-handling resources, technology, and other assigned cost areas.
• Support new product, packaging, process, system, or facility changes that affect warehouse capacity, storage requirements, material flow, or shipping execution.
• Ability to work a schedule that supports facility operations, including early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, or off-shift coverage as business needs require.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned to support facility and business needs.

Minimum Job Requirements:

Education/Certifications and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Business, Operations, or a related field preferred. An equivalent combination of education and relevant experience may be considered in lieu of the preferred degree.
• Typically requires five (5) or more years of progressive warehouse, distribution, logistics, or inventory-control experience, including at least three (3) years of leadership or supervisory experience.
• Experience in food, beverage, consumer packaged goods, or another regulated manufacturing environment strongly preferred.
• Experience with ERP and/or warehouse management systems required; SAP experience preferred where applicable.
• Powered industrial truck or other material-handling equipment certification may be required based on facility responsibilities.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Strong knowledge of warehouse operations, inventory control, receiving, storage, material movement, shipping, and distribution practices.
• Working knowledge of food safety, GMP, sanitation, traceability, lot control, allergen, quality-hold, and product-rotation requirements within a food manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of warehouse and material-handling safety practices, including powered industrial truck, pedestrian, dock, trailer, and rack safety.
• Ability to lead, coach, develop, and hold employees accountable while creating a respectful, performance-oriented work environment.
• Strong planning, prioritization, problem-solving, and decision-making skills in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Ability to analyze inventory, labor, service, and productivity data; identify trends and root causes; and translate findings into corrective actions.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively across functions and levels of the organization.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and respond effectively to production changes, customer requirements, labor constraints, and operational disruptions.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and the ability to learn and effectively use company ERP, warehouse, reporting, and labor-management systems.
• Knowledge of lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, 5S, standard work, or similar operational excellence practices preferred.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Manage and develop direct reports in accordance with organizational needs.
• Work requires supervising and monitoring work performance of direct reports, including making or recommending hiring and disciplinary decisions in accordance with company policy, evaluating work objectives and effectiveness, and realigning work and staffing assignments as needed.
• Develop functional responsibilities of individuals who report to this position and ensure consistent, high-quality output.
• Ensure employees are properly trained and qualified for assigned warehouse, food safety, quality, equipment, and safety responsibilities.
• Promote employee engagement, accountability, cross-training, succession planning, and development of warehouse leadership capability.

Working Conditions and Physical Effort:

• Regularly operates in warehouse and food manufacturing environments with exposure to material-handling equipment, moving vehicles, noise, dust, and varying temperatures; may also work in refrigerated, frozen, ambient, or outdoor dock/yard conditions depending on the facility.
• Frequently walks and stands for extended periods and may climb stairs, bend, reach, or work around racks, docks, trailers, and production support areas.
• May be required to lift, carry, push, or pull materials or equipment weighing up to 50 pounds occasionally, with reasonable accommodation where applicable.
• Must wear required personal protective equipment and comply with facility hygiene, GMP, food safety, and safety requirements.
• May occasionally work in a professional office environment using standard business equipment and technology.

Expectations:

• Will demonstrate, promote, and exemplify the Company's Core Values.

At C.H. Guenther, we value transparency in compensation. By providing the salary range for this role, we aim to promote fairness and help candidates make informed choices about their career. The salary range for this role is:

$82,757.00 - $150,222.00

Actual compensation may vary based on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as geographic location.

C.H. Guenther & Son will never offer or pay a wage or salary that is not compliant with applicable local, state, or federal pay laws, including minimum salary thresholds.

We also offer a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, retirement savings options, flexible spending accounts, employee assistance programs, educational assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays.