Senior Plant Manager – Two Building Manufacturing Campus

Plant Superintendents, Production Line Managers, Maintenance Manager, Quality Manager, Safety Manager, Continuous Improvement Manager, Warehouse/Logistics Leaders

Matrixed Report:Human Resources Business Partner

Position Summary

The Senior Plant Manager is responsible for the overall leadership, performance, and strategic direction of the company's manufacturing campus consisting of two food production buildings and approximately 800 workers.

This role drives operational excellence across safety, quality, service, cost, employee engagement, labor relations, and continuous improvement. The Senior Plant Manager serves as the senior operational leader for the campus and is accountable for delivering business results while fostering a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement through Red Zone principles and daily management systems.

The position partners closely with union leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to support the company's transformation and long-term growth objectives.

Safety Leadership:

• Lead compliance with OSHA, company safety standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Drive proactive safety management, behavioral safety initiatives, and incident reduction.
• Ensure accountability for safety performance at all organizational levels.

Manufacturing Operations:

• Lead all production operations across both manufacturing facilities.
• Deliver site performance against safety, quality, productivity, service, and cost targets.
• Establish operational priorities aligned with company turnaround objectives.
• Ensure adequate staffing, production planning, and labor utilization.
• Lead implementation and sustainment of Red Zone daily management practices.
• Drive visual management, tier meetings, action tracking, accountability systems, and KPI ownership.
• Champion Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Eliminate waste and identify productivity opportunities across all departments.

Labor Relations:

• Develop and maintain productive relationships with union leadership.
• Partner with Human Resources in the administration of the collective bargaining agreement.
• Support grievance resolution and labor-management communications.
• Promote a culture of mutual respect, accountability, and performance.

Food Safety & Quality:

• Ensure compliance with all customer, regulatory, and food safety requirements.
• Maintain SQF, GMP, HACCP, FDA, and company standards.
• Lead a culture where food safety and quality are non-negotiable priorities.
• Own operating budget and plant P&L performance.
• Manage labor, yield, conversion costs, maintenance spending, and operating expenses.
• Develop and execute capital plans and productivity initiatives.
• Deliver annual cost savings and operational improvement targets.

Leadership & Talent Development:

• Build a high-performance leadership team.
• Develop succession plans for key positions.
• Coach and develop managers and supervisors.
• Drive employee engagement and accountability.

Strategic Leadership:

• Collaborate with executive leadership on business transformation initiatives.
• Identify opportunities for capacity, productivity, and profitability improvement.
• Support acquisition integration, system implementations, and organizational changes as required.

Key Performance Indicators:

• OSHA Recordable Rate
• First Pass Quality
• Customer Complaints
• OEEThroughput
• Waste/Yield Improvement
• Employee Turnover
• Grievance Activity
• EBITDA Performance
• Red Zone Compliance and Action Closure Rate

Qualifications:

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Business, or related field.
• 10+ years manufacturing leadership experience.
• 5+ years leading medium to large manufacturing operations.
• Experience managing unionized work forces.
• Experience leading 24/7 operations.
• Strong financial and operational acumen.
• Demonstrated success driving change and culture transformation.

Preferred:

• Food or beverage manufacturing experience.
• Multi-site leadership experience.
• Experience improving safety and employee engagement
• Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma, or Operational Excellence certification.
• Experience implementing Red Zone or similar daily management systems.
• Experience in turnaround or performance improvement environments.