Sr. Director Operations

Full-time - Senior

Horse Cave, KY

Food Manufacturing

About the position

The Senior Director of Operations has direct leadership of the Horse Cave, KY facility with overall responsibilities for employee safety, quality/food safety, environmental, schedule attainment, raw material/package inventory, cost and innovation. This role will be responsible for driving value creation throughout the manufacturing organization and the supporting functions of Procurement, Finance, Quality and Safety. This improvement will require the application of proven leadership skills in building effective operations teams establishing effective management practices and processes and coaching the team to greater levels of sophistication and performance. This role will provide input to execute the network strategy (what should be made where and by whom). He/she will continue to deploy leading practices across the plant system, e.g., Lean/Six Sigma to improve safety, service, capacity, and total cost performance and ensuring that their teams are aligned to, engaged in, and driving a culture of continuous improvement. This role has significant impact on the volume and profitability of the business, leading operations of significant size, scope and complexity.

Responsibilities

• Ensures manufacturing operation comply with safety, quality, and GMP requirements.
• Ensures facility maintains a safe and clean work environment supporting the safety and risk management process.
• Partner with the Food Safety Quality departments to ensure compliance with all quality SOP's, maintaining audit ready status.
• Establishes and communicates a 3-year site operation strategy including the vision, purpose and strategic direction for manufacturing operation.
• Establishes and communicates a culture of employee engagement, safety and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) efforts for assigned facilities, leading their teams through this journey to deliver results.
• Champions and actively drives Marzetti Operational Excellence, process standardization and best practices.
• Develops standards, establishes expectations and maintains technical knowledge of plant manufacturing.
• Ensures manufacturing objectives and productivity commitments are achieved through each of the facilities within their area(s) of responsibility.
• Coordinates with the cross functional business teams to identify and implement enhancements to products and systems to maximize profitability and product quality goals.
• Develops cost-effective control systems over capital expenditures and assets, operating expenditures, manpower and labor Scales initiatives based on future needs.
• Monitors system wide performance for compliance to production, quality and safety.
• Coaches and holds plant leaders accountable for exhibiting fiscal responsibility. Controls and minimizes overtime labor costs, maintenance/repair costs, downtime and product rework.
• Provides leadership to achieve near and long-term schedule attainment targets.
• Oversees capital investments, recommending replacement or refurbishment. Anticipates future capital needs based on projected business volumes.
• Ensures all locations are complying to all federal, state and local laws and company policies.
• Provides direction, development, evaluation, coaching and leadership to plant leaders and management.
• Supports succession planning and maintains staff by recruiting, selecting, orienting, and training. Identifies and develops personal growth opportunities for plant leaders and next level middle managers.
• Selects and retains qualified operations leaders/subordinates.
• Maintains strong employee engagement, corporate and community relations.
• Ensures facilities/co-packers maintain company standards for cleanliness, productivity, and quality.
• Ensures compliance to quality, food safety and HAACP support programs; assures conformity to all company, customer and government standards.
• Gains alignment and partnership with commercial teams, ensuring key customer satisfaction.
• Drives productivity and improvements across facilities.
• Maintains a broad view of the business and accelerates continuous improvement across all platforms to support incremental business.
• Develops next level leaders.
• Performs other duties as requested.

Requirements

• 15+ years plant/general management experience in a food related manufacturing environment.
• Bachelor's degree (B.A.) in Engineering/ Food Science or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience with SAP systems.
• Solid knowledge of company operations and objectives; experience working with co-packers.
• Background in manufacturing methods, quality control and process improvement.
• Manufacturing knowledge and understanding of yields, plant efficiencies, and operations.
• Solid understanding of OSHA, USDA and Food Safety.
• Ability to work with, and lead, a diverse team.
• Strong strategic and critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Capable of communicating and expressing ideas clearly and concisely, in both written and verbal forms.
• High level of strategic thinking, organizational planning, teamwork, analytical reasoning, and decision-making skills.
• Strong interpersonal, technical and presentation skills.