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.

Key Accountabilities

• 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. Review and monitor all processes that pertain to daily planning and production.
• 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 and implement 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.

Knowledge, Skills, and Requirements

• Demonstrated strong leadership skills
• Experience 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.
• Strong project management and maintenance experience.
• Excellent organizational, planning, influencing, presentation, and follow-up skills.

Work Environment

• Occasionally required to lift or move items weighing up to 20 pounds
• Role involves a blend of office-based tasks and regular walking throughout production facilities
• Utilizes a computer keyboard and monitor for more than 75% of the workday
• Requires fine motor skills and finger dexterity for frequent typing and data entry
• Must be able to remain seated for extended periods
• Compliance with all Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) protocols is mandatory when accessing the production floor

Compensation

Compensation for this position is based on skills and experience; salary range from $110,000 - $125,000 annually.