Assistant Department Superintendent - Decatur, IL

Assistant Department Superintendent - Decatur, IL

Position Summary:
An Assistant Superintendent to the Refinery will lead day-to-day operations of the Sorbitol department in support of greater Refinery department to safely produce high quality products that provide value to customers and a return to shareholders. Safety and compliance are required meeting all state and federal laws and regulations.  A successful candidate will partner with commercial business unit leaders to align on supply and demand needs of the product lines, communicating when slowdowns and upsets occur.  The role will be a part of the Refinery Leadership Team reporting to the Refinery Superintendent.

Essential Job Functions:

• Display a dedication to lead, develop and support safety, promoting a safety culture.  Promote continuous process safety improvement, with experience managing Process Safety Management programs a plus.
• Lead day-to-day operations and serve as primary contact of a Refinery Sorbitol process, producing high quality products that meet or exceed Quality and Food Safety specifications.
• Develop and deliver on a long term department strategy that delivers a safe and reliable operation meeting food safety expectations while meeting or exceeding production targets.
• Lead day-to-day employees to work safely with environmental awareness and good manufacturing practices that is compliant with all state and federal laws and regulations.
• Responsible for the department maintenance strategy, partnering closely with maintenance team to deliver reliable production systems including deployment of PdM, Preventative and corrective action maintenance practices.
• Manage department to insure adherence to established product, environmental, safety and housekeeping quality guidelines.
• Provide guidance to supervisors and technical support personnel to achieve short term and long term department performance.
• Utilize Continuous Improvement principles to drive department performance and focus improvement prioritization and alignment.
• Manage chemical usages, production costs and continuously focus on efficiency improvement.
• Interacts directly with Shift Supervisors to produce desired operational results and employee development.
• Accountable for training and development of all department employees, tracking progress to ensure timeliness of onboarding
• Involved in employee coaching and discipline.

Required Skills:

• Dedication to working safely and to the awareness for the safety of others.
• Leading and developing high performing work teams including maintenance, engineering and non-technical employees.
• Strong knowledge of continuous chemical processes including Ion Exchange, Evaporation, Hydrogen systems and Batch reaction processes
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills for working with plant engineers, maintenance and management.
• Willingness to spend time in plant areas – tolerate extreme temperatures, walk long distances, stand, climb stairs and ladders and move through close spaces.
• High level of motivation and results-oriented way of working.

Required Education:

• Bachelor's Degree in the field of Engineering, preferably Chemical.

Required Experience:

• Minimum 2 years’ experience in a production leadership role.
• 4 years of experience in a continuous operation technical role.

Desired Experience:

• Leading candidates will have operations leadership experience in a Corn Wet Mill processing facility or continuous chemical operations.   
• Experience with application of Continuous Improvement principles in a continuous production manufacturing environment.