What are the responsibilities and job description for the Production Manager BEAR position at Lotus Bakeries?
Verenigde Staten
Mebane
The Production Manager – BEAR leads our fruit rolls packaging department. This role responsible for leading operations, ensuring a safe workplace, consistent product quality, and the achievement of business objectives. The Production Manager is responsible for driving a culture of continuous improvement, supporting capacity expansion projects, and enabling future growth initiatives. This role provides direct leadership to supervisors and their teams, fostering engagement, accountability, and operational excellence. As a key member of the plant leadership team, this role contributes to overall site performance and operational excellence, while supporting strategic initiatives through KPI management, cross-functional collaboration, and occasional domestic and international travel.
Functiebeschrijving
Organization and Supervision of the Production Environment- Oversee day-to-day operations, ensuring a safe, efficient, and high-performing environment.
- Achieve and exceed production KPIs, including quality, safety, volume, efficiency, and hygiene targets.
- Implement and enforce standard work instructions to guarantee consistency and compliance across shifts.
- Proactively identify, propose, and implement improvement initiatives that enhance productivity, reduce waste, and improve employee safety and engagement.
- Foster a “Safety First, Quality Always” culture, ensuring that end products consistently meet or exceed company standards and consumer expectations.
- Maintain the cleanliness, condition, and organization of the production environment to meet all internal and external requirements.
Leadership, Training, and Workforce Development
- Provide direct leadership to supervisors and their teams, cultivating a motivating and supportive culture that drives engagement and performance.
- Ensure proper staffing levels, develop workforce capability, and actively participate in the selection and onboarding of new team members (supervisors, leads, production workers).
- Develop training materials, tools, and documentation to support skills development and operational excellence.
- Partner with HR to design and deliver training and learning events, while providing feedback on program effectiveness.
- Actively influence the retention of employees by creating a culture of growth, recognition, and accountability.
- Oversee and provide guidance for performance-management activities, including semi-annual reviews, annual reviews, coaching, disciplinary actions, and terminations.
- Develop and execute an annual action plan for the production department and provide ongoing guidance to ensure successful delivery.
Quality and Compliance
- Ensure operations comply with FSMA, FDA, and IFS standards.
- Lead and support traceability exercises to validate quality and compliance readiness.
- Partner with Quality and Food Safety teams to address deviations, implement corrective actions, and prevent recurrence.
Efficiency
- Maximize production throughput while minimizing downtime and waste, using KPIs to monitor progress.
- Implement and sustain continuous improvement tools (e.g., SMED, 5S, Root Cause Analysis).
- Optimize shift planning, labor deployment, and resource allocation to ensure coverage and efficiency.
- Support automation and digitalization initiatives to drive long-term productivity and modernization.
Cost & Waste Management
- Control packaging costs through efficient labor and material management.
- Monitor material usage and losses, ensuring variances are investigated and addressed.
- Lead cost-saving initiatives to improve profitability while maintaining product quality.
Profiel
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Food Science, Operations Management, or related field.
- Minimum of 5-7 years of progressive experience in food manufacturing, packaging, or a related process industry.
- Proven track record of managing large teams in a 24/7 high-volume manufacturing environment.
- Knowledge of FSMA, FDA, and BRC standards is a plus
- Demonstrated success in leading continuous improvement initiatives.
- Spanish speaking is a plus.
Leadership & Behavioral Competencies
- Ownership & Accountability – Takes full responsibility for production outcomes, ensuring alignment with plant and company goals.
- People Leadership – Skilled at developing, coaching, and motivating supervisors and large hourly teams.
- Continuous Improvement Mindset – Actively challenges the status quo and drives efficiency, quality, and safety improvements.
- Strategic Agility – Balances day-to-day operational oversight with long-term planning and workforce development.
Aanbod
To be determined.