What are the responsibilities and job description for the Production Manager position at Ohly GmbH?
Ohly is the third largest yeast extract producer in the world with sites in Germany and the USA. We develop, produce and deliver high-quality yeast-based flavours and specialty powders. Ohly is part of the $17.6bn turnover Associated British Food (ABF) Group. ABF is a broad portfolio of businesses which includes Primark, Ovaltine, Twinings, AB Enzymes, and is the world’s second largest producer of both sugar and baker’s yeast.
ABF takes a long-term perspective on investment and performance, and stimulates entrepreneurship by giving high degrees of autonomy to operational businesses. This means that decisions are taken as close as possible to their point of impact allowing teams the freedom to act, in order to be successfully flexible and fast. ABF invests a great deal in selecting and developing the right people for Ohly and the broader ABF group of companies.
Ohly has a great opportunity for a Production Manager to join our team in Boyceville Wisconsin USA.
The Production Manager is responsible to lead and develop our production team. This role is critical in ensuring safe, efficient, and reliable production operations while driving continuous improvement across processes, people, and systems. You’ll set a clear vision, align departmental goals with organizational objectives, and inspire a culture of accountability and growth.
In this exciting role you will be responsible for:
Culture & Leadership
- Coach and develop the production team towards high performance.
- Promote and participate in a work culture which values safety and food safety before profit, focuses on continuous improvement, and uses open communication to solve problems.
- Oversee the Production Training System to ensure employee engagement and technical proficiency.
- Provide technical expertise and foster talent development.
- Maintain a strategic roadmap for the department.
Budget Management
- Lead the production department to meet budget and EBIT targets.
- Analyze and explain monthly/annual production variances.
- Provide input for short- and long-term capex planning.
Production Management
- Participate and lead in Ohly Americas safety programs, embedding safety into all that we do
- Monitor KPIs and communicate performance up, down, and across the organization.
- Drive continuous improvement in safety, quality, productivity, and cost reduction.
- Collaborate with supervisors and operators to surface and prioritize improvement ideas.
- Manage union workforce effectively by managing performance, and building relationships
- Ensure compliance with SOPs, HACCP, GMPs, and sanitation standards in production areas.
- Collaborate with Ohly’s global production team to share best practices.
Product Quality & Customer Satisfaction
- Ensure timely production of quality product, the first time.
- Monitor and ensure adherence to GMP and Food Safety Plans.
You should have:
- Minimum 5 years of manufacturing management experience in the food industry.
- Bachelor’s degree or higher with Engineering, Chemistry, Food Science, or related technical field preferred.
- Proven leadership and interpersonal skills.
- Strong knowledge of process units: evaporation, spray drying, centrifugation, packaging desired.
- Excellent communication skills (oral and written).
- Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite.
- Technologically driven with strong analytical and organizational skills.
- Familiarity with food industry standards: Kosher, FDA, USDA, OSHA, HACCP, GMP.
- Experience in process optimization and change management. Prior experience managing a union workforce.
We look forward to your application including information about your earliest possible start date and salary expectations!