What are the responsibilities and job description for the Assistant, Operations Manager position at USPL NUTRITIONALS LLC?
Job Description
Date
02/2025
Location
1300 Airport Rd North Brunswick NJ 08902
Title
Assistant, Operations Manager
Department
Manufacturing
Reports to
Vice President, Operations
FLSA (Exempt or Non-Exempt
Non -Exempt
Role Overview
The Assistant Operations Manager will provide leadership and oversight for the daily operations of the third shift in our nutraceutical manufacturing facility. This includes direct supervision of the probiotics production process and oversight of all maintenance staff, who report directly to the Engineering department. The Assistant Operations Manager will ensure efficient production workflows, adherence to quality standards, and compliance with safety and regulatory requirements in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.
Areas of Responsibility
Production
- Third Shift Operations Oversight: Supervise and manage the third shift’s daily activities in the manufacturing plant, ensuring smooth and efficient operations of probiotics production to meet production schedules. Lead and support production teams, ensuring they meet productivity goals. quality standards, and compliance requirements.
- Regulatory Compliance: Maintain control over production operations to meet regulatory requirements by ensuring the accuracy of batch documentation, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in the production process, including the handling of probiotics, and other critical documentation. Ensure equipment is well-maintained and calibrated, training is up-to-date, and high standards of housekeeping are maintained.
- Maintenance Staff Oversight: Supervise maintenance personnel responsible for keeping equipment in optimal working conditions. Oversee routine preventive maintenance schedules and coordinate unplanned maintenance or repairs to minimize downtime.
- Safety and Compliance: Ensure a safe working environment by enforcing strict adherence to safety policies, procedures, and best practices. Conduct regular safety audits and work with the team to address safety concerns or potential risks.
- Continuous Improvement & Process Optimization: Identify inefficiencies in manufacturing processes and suggest improvements to enhance productivity, reduce waste, and maintain high-quality output. Work with production teams and engineering to implement new technologies, processes, or equipment to improve operations.
- Team Leadership & Development: Supervise and provide guidance to the production staff, fostering a collaborative and results-driven team environment. Conduct regular performance evaluations, provide coaching and training, and ensure that staff are adequately trained on equipment and safety protocols.
- Interdepartmental Interaction: Support cross-department collaboration between operations, engineering, quality assurance, and regulatory teams.
- Reporting & Documentation: Maintain accurate records of production outputs, maintenance activities, safety incidents, and any other key performance indicators. Provide regular reports to senior management on third-shift performance, including production metrics, equipment status, and team performance.
- Inventory & Resource Management: Ensure the proper management of materials, including probiotics ingredients, packaging, and other resources necessary for production. Assist in inventory control, minimizing stock-outs and ensuring that materials are available for third-shift production needs.
Quality
- Deviation Investigations: Participate in investigations for deviations involving batch records.
- GMP Compliance: Maintain proper gowning and hygiene to ensure product integrity according to cGMPs and company policies.
- Procedure Adherence: Follow batch records, SOPs, and cGMP guidelines to meet product specifications and tolerances.
- Policy and Procedure Compliance: Ensure full compliance with company policies, procedures, GMPs, Ethical Business Practices, and SOPs at all times.
- Documentation: Ensure operation logs, batch records, and other documentation are fully completed, signed, and comply with company standards and regulatory requirements.
- Quality Standards: Ensure products meet applicable quality standards, including inspection for quality during operations and performing required sampling and testing.
People
- Foster Collaboration: Create an environment that respects and values diverse backgrounds.
- Effective Communication: Establish and maintain effective relationships with peers, team members, and senior managers to ensure clear communication.
- Provide Direction: Set clear directions and expectations for direct reports, ensuring tasks and responsibilities are understood.
- Goal Setting: Align goals and objectives with the organization for self and direct reports, create action plans, set milestones, and deliver progress reports and development plans for team members.
- Employee Development: Develop employees to contribute to daily line success and prepare them for supervisory roles.
- Communication: Maintain open lines of communication with employees, peers, and management.
- Production Efficiency: Ensure efficient, timely, and accurate completion of production functions.
- Cross-functional Support: Learn and understand specific manufacturing operations to provide support in other areas as needed.
- Performance Evaluation: Evaluate employee performance and create corrective action plans where appropriate.
- Personnel Decisions: Assist with hiring, terminations, attendance management, wage decisions, transfers, and promotions.
- Policy Interpretation: Explain company policies to employees to ensure understanding and application and apply policies fairly and consistently.
- Identify Strengths and Weaknesses: Assess team members to ensure optimal performance and assign tasks accordingly.
Other Responsibilities Including Safety
- Safety and Responsibility: Work safely and responsibly to create an injury-free and incident-free workplace.
- Training Compliance: Comply with all job-related safety and other training requirements.
- Communication with Management: Keep management informed of area activities and significant problems.
- Extended Hours: Work extended hours and occasional weekend overtime as required.
- Other Duties: Perform other duties as assigned.
Requirements
Education & Qualification:
- Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing, Operations Management, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
- At least 3-5 years of experience in a manufacturing environment, preferably in the nutraceutical or pharmaceutical industry, with experience in probiotics or fermentation processes.
- Prior experience of managing third-shift operations and supervising production and maintenance teams.
- Strong understanding of GMP, FDA regulations, and industry standards for nutraceutical manufacturing.
- Hands-on experience with any of the following equipment used in probiotics production, such as fermenters, dryers, and packaging machinery Blending/Granulation, Tablet Compression and/or Film Coating, Encapsulation, Pharmacy/Pre-Weigh Dispensing
- Experience with maintenance management and preventive maintenance schedules.
Skills & Ability
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to interact with teams at all levels.
- Excellent Leadership, organizational, problem-solving skills and team management for third-shift operations.
- Troubleshooting and problem-solving for both production and maintenance challenges.
- Familiarity with probiotics, manufacturing processes and equipment.
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality and compliance.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
- Ability to mentor and develop team members.
Physical Requirements (Lifting, etc.):
- Ability to navigate office, lab, and plant floor working environments.
- Ability to sit and work at a computer for up to 8 hours a day and perform tasks that require close vision.
- Must be able to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) such as safety glasses, hairnets, lab coats, gloves, and safety shoes when required.
Work Environment (Office, Warehouse, temperature extremes, etc.):
- Manufacturing facility, primarily overseeing third-shift operations (typically from 10:00 PM – 6:00 AM, subject to change).
- Requires ability to adapt to shift schedules and may occasionally involve overtime based on production demands.
- Exposure to typical manufacturing environments, including equipment noise, safety hazards, and varying temperatures.
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the job responsibilities, duties, skill, or working conditions. In addition, this document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an "at will" relationship.
