Production Superintendent, Food Ingredients

We are seeking a hands-on, forward-thinking operations professional to lead daily plant operations for a premiere dry food ingredient manufacturer in the west suburbs of Chicago. As Production Superintendent, you will lead, train, and motivate supervisors and hourly employees to help shape a culture of safety, accountability, and continuous improvement. This is a key succession role, with a clear career path towards senior plant leadership. Bilingual English/Spanish language skills are highly preferred.

Our client is a leading supplier of edible seeds, ancient grains, sweet spices, customized grain blends and specialty whole grain flours in the U.S. They are experiencing significant growth as their ingredients are being incorporated via B2B channels into a wide range of baking products to provide distinctive flavor and nutrition.

Essential Job Functions:

• Coordinate all daily production, distribution, warehousing, maintenance, and elevator operations.
• Manage 2 Supervisors and 40 non-union employees across nine (9) production lines.
• Lead all safety programs and strive to continuously improve plant safety performance.
• Implement initiatives to improve efficiency, reduce downtime, and eliminate waste.
• Work with Plant Manager to develop high performing teams through training, coaching, personal development and continual exposure to professional enrichment opportunities.
• Support development of annual budgets, capital projects and overall strategic planning for long-term plant sustainability.
• Collaborate closely with Warehouse, Sales, and Maintenance teams to ensure superior customer satisfaction and adjust production as needed to meet unique customer requirements.

Qualifications include:

• BS/BA degree in Mechanical Engineering, Agriculture, or Technical degree highly preferred.
• 7 years Operations Leadership experience as an Operations Manager, Production Superintendent, or Shift Supervisor in food processing, grain or flour milling, dry food ingredient, animal feed, or pet food manufacturing.
• Bilingual English/Spanish skills are highly desired.
• Prior Managerial or Supervisory experience is essential.
• Must have strong mechanical aptitude and “hands on” on work ethic on production floor.
• Lean Six Sigma, Kaizen, or other continuous improvement experience is an asset but not a core requirement.
• Strong knowledge of governmental regulations such as OSHA, FDA, HACCP, and food safety agencies such as BRC and SQF.
• Business acumen is a plus – understanding financial statements; preparing and managing budgets, and maintaining cost controls, or having prior P&L responsibility.
• Tech savvy, with the ability assess operations, analyze data, and prepare summary reports to chart progress and for senior leadership review.

Compensation for this position includes an attractive base salary, bonus incentives, full medical/dental benefits, 401-K with company match, and paid vacation. Relocation assistance is available for outstanding candidates.