Assistant Plant Manager

North Lawrence Plant (NCD), 22 County Rte 52, North Lawrence, NY 12967, USA

Join a team that nourishes life from farm to table! Upstate Niagara Cooperative, proudly owned by 200+ local family farms, is one of America’s largest and most stable dairy cooperatives. Guided by farmer- and employee-led values, we process and market high-quality milk, yogurt, dips, sour cream, cottage cheese, and more under our trusted brands:
Upstate Farms®, Bison®, Milk for Life®, and Intense Milk®. Here, you’ll support sustainable farming, strong communities, and the mission to deliver fresh, local dairy to families every day.

Working within the limits of authority and within company policies and procedures, directs the activities of the Production department, all Coolers areas, Maintenance and Quality control. The Plant Superintendent keeps best MS and Quality practices in all we do. They are responsible for balancing production and Cooler abilities, product rotation, efficiently load out with full communication between Distribution and other parts of the delivery system, all this in a safely manner and within established policies and processes (SQF, HACCP, FISMA, Safety-Security, and CI Development.

• Responsible for highest quality of products, work safety conditions, communication between departments, customer satisfaction, training development through CI, cost reduction (through waste establishments), planning, organizing, decision making, analysis and control for all departments and their achievements.
• Provides leadership and guidance to employees and supervision for the purpose of development and establishing a good working atmosphere, safety culture and training development.
• Coordinate daily department activities in order to meet business objectives.
• Communicate non‑compliances in a timely fashion to the appropriate manager for corrective action.
• Assigns job responsibilities to all supervision and employees according to the company policies, expectations and goals. Performs corrective actions, scheduling and documentation.
• With the plant manager monitors changes in employee morale and working conditions with a goal to resolve problems, new work conditions or emergency situations.
• Maintains supervision records such as timesheets, absences, tardy records, overtime and safety as required for the department (company policies, SQF, FISMA, state and federal regulations).
• Ensures SOP for all plant employees’ job positions are updated or written as new.
• Responsible for assigned safety program.
• Conducts accident investigations as needed, observes conditions and housekeeping.
• Responsible for employees and supervision job performance, including safety, training and discipline. Assures compliance with company policies and programs.
• Monitors and enforces all policies and regulations (GMP, safety, HACCP, FISMA, documentation, CI).
• Instructs and trains current and future supervision as needed.
• Coordinates work with the purchasing manager, monitoring inventory control and variance control of all packaging and processing supplies.
• Responsible for coordinating all activities with distribution and other plants.
• Leads continuous improvement activities to improve safety losses, performance results, processes and cost.
• Responsible for supervisor work schedules and documentation of PTO and vacations.

• High school diploma
• Demonstrated ability to lead and motivate people
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate the performance of direct reports
• Ability to think analytically
• Ability to manage time effectively
• Enthusiasm, initiative, pride in work and a commitment to the organization and its mission
• Good computer skills, demonstrating proficiency in MS Windows, Word and Excel
• Good human relations skills, ability to work well with others and be a team member

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science or a Business discipline.
• Prior experience in dairy/food manufacturing.
• Lean Manufacturing or 6 Sigma (Black Belt).

Dairy experience is preferable; otherwise the candidate will be trained to know and perform all company, state and federal regulations pertaining to…