Senior Director of Operations

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Formulates and implements manufacturing programs to maintain and improve the competitive position and profitability of the operations.
• Oversee the day-to-day operations of manufacturing plants to ensure safety, quality, cost, efficiency and people standards are consistently met.
• Promote and encourage the development of people to ensure leadership continuity.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, positive engagement and empowerment of employees.
• Develop and execute on continues improvement and lean manufacturing initiatives with focus on on-time delivery, labor productivity, cost reduction and overall margin improvement.
• Drives a strong and healthy safety culture that is compliant with regulations and engages employees to effectively decrease injury rate.
• Ensure all locations comply with environmental, health and safety regulations.
• Develop, monitor, and report on operating costs relative to budget. Communicate circumstances that may cause significant budget overruns and identify ways to lesson impact on overall budget.
• Partner with Plant Managers and Human Resources to continually evaluate opportunities to enhance and improve teamwork, while developing leaders at all levels.
• Identify, monitor, and improve key performance indicators within span of control.
• Rapidly communicate to Vice President of Operations any significant challenges or failures that may pose a risk to the business.
• Leads the development and implementation of TPM strategies that maximize operational effectiveness/performance while partnering with other divisions to develop actionable plans to improve overall operational effectiveness.
• Develop and implement strategies to drive continuous improvement in safety, productivity, product quality, customer service, quality of work life, and lowers manufacturing costs.
• Responsible for the financial results of plant operations by preparing annual manufacturing budget, analyzing costs of plant improvements and leading cost improvement initiatives.
• Provide leadership to the product planning and materials activities of the locations to ensure that the inventory levels are efficient to maximize cashflow while minimizing cost.
• Support Warehouse and Distribution activities to assure 100% on-time delivery of goods to our customers.
• Indirect leadership of the Quality Assurance activities of the location to ensure product integrity while maintaining Good Manufacturing Practices and eliminating foreign material.
• Ensures site compliance with regulatory agencies.
• Verifies GMPs and Safety standards are maintained at all times and take action and/or follow-up when deficiencies are noted.
• Provide strategic guidance to the organizations through leadership of strategic planning sessions.
• Participates in new product development and planning by researching the cost and ability to produce the product.
• Performs all other duties as assigned.

Education/Certifications and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Food Science, or other related field.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in a production facility, with a minimum of 5 years leading a facility, preferably in food baking manufacturing. Multi-site leadership experience preferred.
• Experience with SAP is preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Proficient use of a computer, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote), and other related applications or software.
• SQF-Working knowledge of and implementation/maintenance of SQF Level III Certification in a manufacturing environment.
• Excellent technical knowledge of equipment, products, and processes within baking operations.
• Strong background in HACCP, safety, GMP’s, and AIB.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and possess the ability to develop interdepartmental relationships.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills along with coaching skills.
• Ability to work effectively with diverse groups of associates and customers ranging from entry level to executive level positions.
• Ability to work with multiple departments including but not limited to Cost Accounting, Purchasing, R & D, Supply Chain, HR, EH&S, Quality Assurance, and Information Services.