Industrial Manager

At Russell Stover
, not only do we love chocolate, but we love our jobs! Every day we go to work exhibiting our values of excellence, innovation, entrepreneurship, responsibility, and collaboration. Working at Russell Stover you’ll be part of the leading manufacturer of boxed, seasonal, and sugar‑free chocolates. For over 100 years, Russell Stover Chocolates, Whitman’s, and Pangburn’s have been crafted with the finest ingredients to bring happiness to generations.

Today, we produce over 55 million pounds of chocolate annually, and our legacy brands can be found in 13 company‑owned stores and over 9,000 wholesale accounts. Join our team and let’s continue making chocolate lovers happy.

As an Industrial Performance Manager
, you will play a vital role in developing and tracking the Operations strategy for the plant, focused on driving efficiency and continuous improvement. You will compile, review, and communicate key performance data and collaborate with operations leaders to identify improvement opportunities. On the production floor, you will conduct Gemba walks, identify process inefficiencies, and train others to use Lean tools to implement solutions.

Operating as a change agent, you will support the optimization of new products, operational knowledge, and our digital transformation. Every day, your goal will be to optimize performance for existing and new processes, reduce waste, and support a culture of operational excellence.

• Ensuring the factory focus is on top priorities by developing the Operations strategy in partnership with the Plant Director
• Measuring performance and prioritizing losses:
  Resources Utilization, Conversion Cost, Productivity, Efficiency, and Material losses
• Analyzing data to make decisions that drive change and improve performance with all levels of Operations management
• Maintaining performance‑tracking systems to monitor and take actions on manufacturing performance
• Working with site management team to determine objectives and strategy for the production department; translate agreed strategies into production team and individual goals, activities and deliverables
• Generating and maintaining operational standards: waste, rework, over usage, labor, routings, nominal speeds, OEE, Technical Efficiency
• Supporting line trials and providing input to optimize new products
• Leading implementation of our Operational Excellence program
• Implementing best practices from other departments, plants, companies
• Ensuring that training is effectively provided throughout all levels of operations organization
• Supporting digitization efforts within Operations to transform our tools and unlock improvement opportunities
• Adhering to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to ensure product quality and maintain compliance with food safety standards
• Completing and following FSQA training and programs to comply with regulatory requirements, ensuring consumer safety, and support the plant’s food safety and quality objectives
• Promptly reporting and taking appropriate action on any observed or potential food safety hazards, process deviations, or non-conformities by notifying the designated plant supervisor, in accordance with your role and responsibilities
• Actively contributing to the continuous improvement of the company’s Food Safety Culture through engagement and actions aligned with your role
• Accountability for maintaining performance-tracking systems, leveraging data for decision-making, and actively supporting digital transformation initiatives (ERP/SAP, digitized tools, performance systems).

This job posting is not all inclusive and other duties may be assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
• 3+ years in a manufacturing environment in a management role
• Previous people management experience
• 3+ years of Operational Excellence or TPM program experience
• Strong computer literacy in MS Office
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to speak, read, and write English fluently, with or without an accommodation
• Ability to influence others and gain support for Operational Excellence initiatives