Plant Controller

About Kerry

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.

The Plant Controller will work closely with plant management on all aspects of the financial operations of the plant including but not limited to controlling and reporting the plant costs; understanding and explaining plant manufacturing performance; identification of cost savings and operational efficiency opportunities and generally supporting Plant and Corporate Management to make timely and informed decisions concerning financial performance of the business.

This role is a key member of the leadership team in the facility and will be expected to be integral to non-financial KPI delivery as well, by understanding, supporting and challenging the other functions as required.

This role is open at our facility in Evansville, Indiana. Kerry has 50 sites across North America. Our Evansville plant is part of the Coatings Business, which is a key part of our overall Meat EUM, and has over 140 employees. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced and ambitious finance leader to develop broader commercial and strategical skills, plant leadership experience and one who is looking for exposure to the business level leadership team at a key plant in our Coatings footprint.

The work environment is fast-paced, challenging, and results-driven.

This position is planned to include the controller responsibilities for a smaller site within the division in Hot Springs, Arkansas after the first year.

The plant operates on an SAP ERP System; and ideally the candidate will have prior experience in SAP, but this is not essential as training will be provided. Experience on a similar system otherwise would be desirable.

• Partner with all members of the site leadership team to ensure ownership and accountability of financial performance, whilst identifying process improvement and cost reduction opportunities across all plant related cost categories (materials; labor; equipment; indirect purchases; and inventory).
• Present plant financial analysis and scorecard to plant and business unit management, with strong emphasis on Operational performance linked to SKU and Asset Productivity and Inventory/Waste Management.
• Preparation of all daily, weekly, period end operational performance reports with comments and recommendation for corrective action.
• Including Plant P+L and Commercial Performance (With Support from Commercial Finance partners as needed – Building a good working relationship between Operations and Commercial Finance will be key to the success of the role)
• Partner with the Plant Manager in the monthly presentation of operating results to business unit management, and future strategic decisions for the plant.
• Responsible for Month End period closing, and associated balance sheet management, accruals and purchase order reconciliation.
• We have a centralized Product Costing Team who work with the plants supporting activities during the month and over month end close. The Plant Controller will be expected to understand the Product Costing Process and support the central team as needed.
• Be hands on to ensure strong process…