Operation Supervisor

Operations Supervisor

About Firestone Pacific Foods

Firestone Pacific Foods (FPF) grows, freezes, and packs frozen fruit products on behalf of food retailers and foodservice companies in the United States and overseas. Our fruit is harvested at the peak of ripeness, processed, and packed in our state-of-the art facilities shipment with a keen attention to quality and food safety.
 The Firestone Family began farming in the Vancouver, WA, in 1896. In 2019, an impact investment fund managed by Agriculture Capital acquired FPF to build out a low cost, vertically integrated supply chain of high quality, organic blueberries operating at scale to address growing global demand for this nutritious fruit.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Production Manager, the Operations Supervisor is responsible for the overall management and performance of the Operations Team. The position is tasked with ensuring that team members are properly trained, executing at a high level, and driving costs out of the process. Additionally, the Operations Supervisor ensures the overall food safety & quality of raw materials and finished products meet the established standards. The Operations Supervisor will ensure all inventory movements are accurately captured in the ERP system. Duties include ensuring supplies and materials are in a positive flow and that all equipment is functional and adhere to safety standards.  

Essential Job Functions:

Operations: 

• Effectively supervise and develop the Operations Team, by creating a culture of continuous learni  and knowledge sharing, with a focus on high performance. 
• Support and assist the onboarding process of new hires, ensuring they receive the proper timely training. 
• Create and oversee an employee training schedule that emphasizes productivity and resource conservation. 
• Conduct thorough annual performance reviews of the Operations Team. 
• Ensure compliance with all professional standards such as occupational health and safety, food safety and customer requirements. 
• Maintain a clean and safe working environment utilizing 5S principals and organizational skills. 
• Monitor and prioritize workflow of production to meet deadlines. 
• Collaborate and provide ideas to improve and optimize the production schedule. 
• Monitor and evaluate each step of the process to ensure maximum efficiency, while removing any waste. 
• Maintain open lines of communication between employees, management, and executives. 
• Ensure all resources and assets are used properly and efficiently. 

Quality:

• Develop and lead a culture of food safety according to Firestone Pacific Foods food safety & quality policies. 
• Review and trend daily quality production reports for continuous improvement.  
• Continual monitoring of plant processes on the floor and timely reporting of quality related issues. 
• Troubleshoot quality deviations as they arise during production.  
• Provides technical and process knowledge for fruit grading, tote grading, product testing, and finished package testing. 
• Place non-conforming product on HOLD as needed.  
• Oversees team execution of key food safety pre-requisite programs such as GMP compliance, sanitation, documentation and recordkeeping, regulatory audits, etc.  
• Ensures compliance with all health & safety regulations including food safety. 
• Support investigations associated with non-conformances.  
• Work with plant management to determine appropriate support activities for non-conforming goods and new products. 

Inventory: 

• Ensure all that all work in process (WIP) movements are properly reconciled and closed. 
• Support and train team members to use ERP specific inventory functions, ensuring storage and inventory controls are performed according to prescribed SOPs. 
• Ensure compliance with all regulatory, industry, company, or customer requirements. 
• Help adopt and socialize 5S and other CI tools. 
• Troubleshooting process and operation problems utilizing structured problem-solving techniques to reveal and address root causes of issues. 
• Other duties as assigned. 

Safety: 

• Enforce safety policies and procedures (both in-house and regulatory) to decrease the potential for employee injuries on the job. 
• Ensure proper PPE is worn in all designated areas. 
• Ensure annual Safety trainings are performed.  
• Observe safety practices and act upon to improve plant safety. 
• Ensure that certifications for specific equipment are issued. 
• Team performs huddle stretches before each shift. 

Qualification & Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in agriculture, Mechanical Engineering. related field or  
• High proficiency in MS Office Suite such as Excel.
• Strong working knowledge of performing data queries in an ERP system/ inventory management system. 
• Previous experience in a supervisory capacity 
• 4 years’ manufacturing plant experience 
• Ability to create and follow schedules. 
• Organization skills and willingness to assume accountability for plant practices required. 
• Ability to stand for long periods of time and carry loads of 50 lbs necessary. 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills 
• Sharp production focus with a drive for accurate results 
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills 
• Exceptional negotiation and conflict resolution attributes 
• Flexible to work long hours as required to meet project deadlines. 
• Able to sit, walk, move around for long hours at a time.

Other:

• Willingness to work extended hours, weekends, or irregular hours especially during fresh processing season.  
• Passion for great tasting and nutritious fruit products, including smoothies, would be a big plus.
   
   

Company Benefits:

• Eight (8) paid holidays.
• Full- time, exempt employees receive vacation based on length of service.
  1. 0-3 years: 2 weeks paid vacation.
  2. 4-7 years: 3 weeks paid vacation.
  3. 8 years: 4 weeks paid vacation.
• Paid bereavement leave.
• Medical insurance: United Health Care
• Dental insurance: Principal 
• Vision insurance: Principal [company covers 100% of premium for employees]
• 401(k) plan: company matches up to 4% of employee’s base compensation.
• Discounted bus passes

This document describes the general nature and level of work performed by personnel assigned to this job classification. This document is not, however, an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so assigned.   Firestone Pacific Foods reserves the right to add, revise, or delete job duties at any time.

Firestone Pacific Foods, Inc. is both Equal Opportunity, and At Will employer. The company does not discriminate on basis of race, age, sex, religion, marital status, or sexual orientation. Either Company or Employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time for any legally permissible reason. Reasonable accommodations will be made for qualified candidates/employees with disabilities.