Production Manager

About the Company:

Backpacker’s Pantry and Astronaut Foods are united by a passion for innovation, adventure, and exceptional food. Backpacker’s Pantry has fueled outdoor adventures since 1951 with high-quality freeze-dried meals, while Astronaut Foods has brought the excitement of space exploration to consumers since 1974. Based in Boulder, Colorado, American Outdoor Products is building on these iconic brands while expanding its capabilities as a specialty food manufacturer.

We are committed to producing safe, high-quality products, operating responsibly, and building the systems and discipline required for long‑term growth.

The Production Manager leads the people, processes, and daily execution of our manufacturing operation. Reporting to the VP of Operations, this role owns production performance from schedule execution through finished output, including team leadership, labor efficiency, throughput, safety, quality execution, and continuous improvement. This is not a desk‑only management role. You will be highly present on the production floor, use data to identify problems, hold yourself and others accountable for results, and build repeatable processes.

You will know when to move quickly, when to stop and solve the root cause, and how to balance daily execution with building a stronger operation for the future. You will work closely with Quality, Maintenance, Supply Chain, and Warehouse/Fulfilment teams to ensure production commitments are met safely, efficiently, and consistently as we work toward expanding our manufacturing capabilities.

• Own execution of the daily and weekly production schedule, including staffing, line assignments, material readiness, output performance, and recovery plans when production falls behind.
• Lead, coach, and develop production employees by setting clear expectations, providing timely feedback, addressing attendance or performance issues, and building a culture of accountability and teamwork.
• Own production KPIs, including schedule attainment, throughput, labor efficiency, downtime, scrap, yield, rework, changeover performance, overtime, and safety; review results regularly and ensure corrective actions are completed.
• Manage production labor and controllable costs, including staffing levels, overtime, temporary labor, production supplies, waste, and departmental spending.
• Translate demand requirements into a practical production plan that balances customer priorities, labor, material availability, equipment capacity, sanitation, allergen controls, and food‑safety requirements.
• Analyze capacity, labor requirements, equipment utilization, and operational constraints to recommend changes to staffing, shifts, equipment, facility layout, or capital investment.
• Maintain a safe production environment by enforcing safety procedures, identifying and correcting hazards, investigating incidents and near misses, and ensuring corrective actions are sustained.
• Own the implementation and consistent use of production SOPs, standard work, logbooks, batch records, training materials, and documentation required for GMP compliance and lot traceability.
• Ensure production transactions and records are complete, accurate, and timely, including labor reporting, material consumption, production completions, yields, work‑in‑process, and lot information.
• Lead measurable continuous‑improvement initiatives using root‑cause analysis, standard work, lean manufacturing, and 5S to improve output, labor efficiency, yield, changeovers, cost, and workplace organization.
• Ensure line setups, material staging, production runs, changeovers, allergen controls, sanitation activities, and production records are completed correctly and on time.
• Partner with Maintenance to prioritize preventive maintenance, coordinate planned downtime, respond to equipment failures, and eliminate recurring equipment‑related losses.
• Partner with Quality while maintaining clear production accountability for procedural adherence, employee compliance, deviation containment, corrective actions, documentation, and prevention of recurring quality or food‑safety issues.
• Own production‑floor readiness…