Sr Director Operations (Willamette Valley)

OPC is family owned and headquartered in the beautiful Pacific Northwest of the United States. We started over 45 years ago as a small family farm and have been blessed to grow significantly with our farm fresh quality and the care we show our customers. We currently own, or control through long-term leases, over 140,000 irrigated acres. We also now have a network of processing plants throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Michigan to bring the bounty of our farms to you.

The roots of our heritage offer us complete focus, from farming through the entire process. We are committed to innovation, quality and customer service. The OPC Family of companies is dedicated to sustainable agricultural practices throughout our farming operation, giving us the ability to give our customers “Seed to Fork” varieties of quality potato products, other vegetables, and fruits.

Position Summary

As the Sr. Director of Operations, you will provide overall leadership for the three processing plants and approximately 1,900 acres of farm ground owned by Oregon Potato Company in the Willamette Valley Area. These plants include the National Frozen Foods located in Albany, PNW-Veg Norpac located in Brooks and Willamette Valley Fruit located near Salem. Responsibilities include personnel safety, production efficiency, product quality, ag. services, food safety, regulatory compliance, physical asset management, and cost control. Direct reports include the three Plant Managers and the Farm Supervisor.

Position Expectations

• “Hands-on” manager who is highly motivated in the areas of employee safety, production efficiencies, quality, agricultural operations and drives continuous improvement using lean manufacturing tools and methods.
• Accountable for the achievement of KPI financial goals as set by the Vice President of Manufacturing/Operations.
• Manages with passion and energy motivating teams through strong leadership skills that include valuing team members for their contributions.
• Assist plant managers in developing and executing plant-specific strategic vision, goals and objectives to assure continuous improvement and alignment with Company objectives.
• Employee engagement, training and development to optimize safety, quality, and productivity.
• Oversite of capital planning for the Valley operations.
• Provide direct oversight of the plant managers and farm supervisor including safety, quality, production, maintenance, ag services, field shop, maintenance, planning, procurement, warehousing, logistics along with a strong connection to both finance and human resources.
• Provide leadership accountability for assessing and enhancing plant capabilities.
• Develop key manager succession plans and mentor key management members for both company and career success.
• Assure regulatory compliance including but not limited to OSHA, GMP, EPA, DEQ, FDA, PSM, EEO, and NLRB.
• Develop a culture based on open/honest dialog and involvement of all team members that demonstrates the value of their input/engagement in improving performance.
• Drive a culture of high performance and accountability in employee and product safety as well as other aspects of the business.
• Collaborate with Human Resources and other function leaders to create and execute effective employee relations processes and develop managers to do the same in order to maintain a positive working environment and support the labor relations philosophy.
• Goal oriented and team accountability including annual reviews with all direct reports.
• Any other duties assigned by the Vice President of Manufacturing/Operations and/or company leadership.

Position Experience/Skills Requirements

• Manufacturing experience in food processing or related industry required to include experience with individually quick frozen (IQF) product manufacturing.
• Lean manufacturing experience and use of these programs and tools is required including but not limited to GEMBA, 5S, RCA, VSM, Kaizen, TPM, OEE, etc.
• Manages with passion and energy motivating teams through strong leadership skills that include valuing team members for their contributions.
• Ability to create/maintain a positive team culture.
• Change Management skills required including project management.
• Experience with FDA preferred.
• Experience in labor union negotiations preferred.
• Business, analytical and financial acumen required.
• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation skills required.
• Strong analytical problem solving.
• Computer knowledge and ability to learn and navigate reports and MS office suite.
• Have working knowledge of HACCP and food production quality programs.
• Experience with and successful management of state and local regulatory agency standards.

Education Requirement

• Bachelor’s Degree required (i.e. Business, Industrial Management, Engineering, Food Science, Management, Operations).

Experience Requirement

• 10 years manufacturing experience required.
• 5 years’ experience in a significant leadership role preferred. (i.e. Plant Manager, Director).
• 2 years of lean manufacturing tool use and training experience required.

Pay: $170,000 – $210,000 per year/DOE

Benefits:

• 401(k) with match
• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Paid time off