Production Operations Manager

The Production Operations Manager is a pivotal member of the Operations leadership team, responsible for establishing the strategic direction and providing effective leadership for the Production and Warehouse departments. This individual will deliver a robust Manufacturing Excellence Program through Total Productive Manufacturing (TPM), Total Quality Management (TQM), and Lean-Six Sigma methodologies, ensuring balanced delivery across Quality, Cost, Delivery, Environmental-Health-Safety, and People pillars.

Primary Responsibilities

• Ensure food safety as a key accountability; report all food safety and quality issues to the immediate Supervisor and/or head of Quality, taking immediate action as appropriate per Quality procedures.
• Maintain a safe and clean work environment, ensuring audit readiness by educating and directing personnel on control points, equipment, and resources.
• Uphold compliance with established policies and procedures, developing timely corrective actions for all non-compliance situations.
• Supervise and evaluate the performance of production and warehouse personnel, providing feedback, setting goals, coaching, and creating development plans while maintaining attendance records, training, and other relevant documentation.
• Maintain workflow by monitoring process steps, setting processing variables, observing control points and equipment, and facilitating corrections to malfunctions while fostering cooperation within and between departments.
• Oversee the inventory counting processes within the warehouse. This role involves conducting regular counts and implementing inventory control procedures to minimize discrepancies. The ideal candidate will have strong attention to detail and excellent analytical skills. Develop andimplement inventory control procedures to enhance accuracy and efficiency.
• Communicate and coordinate effectively across departments (Quality, R&D, Warehouse,
• Maintenance, and Production) to ensure seamless operations.
• Collaborate with Operations, R&D, QA/QC, Procurement, and Planning teams to optimize  scheduling and ensure safe, efficient, and timely delivery.
• Ensure production and warehouse departments meet or exceed quality standards by adhering to SOPs, FDA, HACCP, GMP, and OSHA regulations.
• Monitor operating specifications of each workstation and respond to abnormalities in daily operations.
• Manage production and warehouse budgets and expenses by estimating costs and developing financial plans.
• Assess and determine the necessary resources, including workforce, production supplies, raw materials, and packaging.
• Create and prioritize maintenance work requests; collaborate with maintenance teams to define maintenance requirements, including spare parts and preventative measures.
• Lead regular employee meetings for updates on business operations, safety, quality, cost, and customer service priorities.
• Monitor employee performance and conduct formal reviews in accordance with policy; assess and review direct reports' performance.
• Drive employee engagement, training, and development initiatives to maximize safety, quality, and productivity.
• Troubleshoot and develop solutions for production-related issues.
• Lead continuous improvement projects and activities as required.
• Utilize TPM, TQM, and Lean Six Sigma principles; educate and train employees in Lean methodologies.
• Participate in the capital process within the Production and Warehouse departments; identifying, developing, submitting, and implementing CAPEX projects; oversee equipment purchases.
• Implement production and warehouse control systems consistent with lean material flow systems, including pull systems and level scheduling.
• Conduct weekly/monthly reporting on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Production; develop tools to measure and visualize production performance using available reporting tools (SAP, BI, COGNOS, Lumira, E-maintenance, etc.).
• Oversee inventory management on the production and warehouse floor; ensure accurate receiving/shipping of raw materials and finished goods, ensure timely closure of process orders, verify raw material consumption, and resolve any process order issues.
• Develop and implement strategies to continuously improve productivity and meet production budgets.
• Establish and implement effective root cause corrective actions within the Manufacturing and Warehouse function.
• Assess staffing levels across production and warehouse operations, proposing solutions to address short- and long-term staffing gaps in partnership with HR and third-party agencies.

Prior Knowledge/Experience

• 5+ years experience in operations with at least 3 years experience in a managerial role within a production/operations and warehouse environment;
• Bachelor’s degree preferred
• Prior Knowledge/Experience
• Proficient in SAP, spreadsheets, databases, and presentations (Word, Excel, Access,
• PowerPoint).
• Demonstrated experience with Continuous Improvement, TQM, and/or Lean tools, including Six
• Sigma, value stream mapping, 5S, Root Cause Analysis, Pareto, DMAIC, and Kaizen events
• Proven track record of driving performance in production and warehouse departments, including
• capacity increases and workforce optimization.
• Working knowledge of OEE principles to eliminate downtime and drive performance
• enhancements.
• Familiarity with master scheduling practices and capacity analysis.
• Experience working with a unionized workforce.
• Strong project management and maintenance experience.
• Excellent organizational, planning, influencing, presentation, and follow-up skills.
• Annual pay based on skills and experience ranging from $123,503 – $135,000
• 10 % targeted annual bonus with potential to receive 200% of your targeted amount based on personal and company performance.
• Total compensation includes a 4% 401(k) match, over 5 weeks of available time off in your first year, wellbeing incentives and more!

Looking for a Career for Good?

Puratos is a global purpose-driven company focused on bringing people together through food innovation for good. We offer a full range of innovative food ingredients and services for the bakery, patisserie, and chocolate sectors, serving artisans, retailers, industrial and food service companies in over 100 countries around the world. Our passion for innovation, pioneering spirit, and core values continue to propel our global ambitions. This coupled with our commitment to our communities is what makes working at Puratos so magical.

We offer a competitive compensation and benefit package, designed to promote a Happier, Healthier You.  This includes:

• Insurance coverage beginning the first of the month—no extra waiting period to get started
• Immediate 401(k) eligibility including a fully vested matching contribution
• Receive over 5 weeks total of paid time off within your first year of service
• Free life coaches, convenient onsite health exams, 24/7 access to Registered Nurses
• Puratos-paid insurance coverage to protect you and your family including Life and Disability insurance

If you are a solution oriented and analytical thinker with a passion for leading and inspiring people, we invite you to experience the magic of being yourself and join us for “a career for good.”

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