Operations Manager, Food Manufacturing

About the Company

For over 60 years, Branding Iron Holdings (“BIH”) has been producing high quality beef and pork products while delivering customized solutions to the food service and retail trade industries. With an eye to the future, BIH has put a strong focus on building internal talent and on leveraging unique product lines and national distribution to drive continued growth. Guided by a strong set of core values (Respect, Integrity and Stewardship), reflecting a culture of servant leadership at every level, BIH’s team works hard to foster a culture that embraces and builds meaningful, long-term relationships with both employees and its customer base. 

Position Summary:

The Operations Manager role supports the Plant Manager in overseeing daily operations at a large, complex meat processing facility. This position is responsible for ensuring efficient production processes, maintaining high-quality standards, and delivering a culture of Continuous Improvement and Operational Excellence. The role is a key part of the management team, working alongside peers who oversee supporting functions. Success in this role will require an active presence on the floor, engaging employees and driving cultural change at a fast pace. This position will operate autonomously, constantly engage team members at all levels and routinely interact with business leaders. This position will leverage your entire skill set to cover an area of broad scope in a complex and fast-moving manufacturing environment. 

Responsibilities:

• Safety Compliance: Ensure compliance with all safety regulations and promote a culture of safety within the plant.
• Operational Oversight: Assist the Plant Manager in managing day-to-day operations, ensuring production targets are met while maintaining quality and safety standards. This includes driving improvements to visibility of plant floor information, better coordination of changeovers, improved startup performance and improved communication channels.
• Continuous Improvement: Lead initiatives to enhance operational efficiency, reduce waste, and improve product quality through Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma methodologies. This includes aggressive use of Root Cause Analysis (RCA), 5-Why, Fishbone, 5S, Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping and similar approaches.
• Employee Development: Drive training program development to enhance the skills of employees, focusing on reducing turnover and improving workforce skills. Design efforts to drive measurable performance gains in targeted metrics.
• Employee Engagement: Develop employee-led Action Circles, focused on driving CI efforts in focused areas. This includes developing a steering committee to provide guidance and support to the teams. 
• Performance Improvement: Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), develop dashboards, visual management boards and similar to improve execution, and to identify and rank areas for improvement. Drive ownership and responsibility to the proper levels and provide employees with tools/skills necessary to drive and sustain improvement.
• Collaboration: Work closely with cross-functional teams, including Safety, Quality, Maintenance, and Supply Chain to ensure seamless operations.
• Problem Solving: Identify operational challenges and permanently close gaps to increase productivity, efficiency and operational capabilities .  
• Reporting: Prepare and present regular reports on operational performance, improvement initiatives, and employee training progress to the Plant Manager.

 Minimum Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, Engineering or similar field.
• Experience: Minimum 5 years experience in manufacturing operations, preferably in the food processing industry. Includes experience with regulatory compliance, usually found in USDA/FDA settings. Meat industry experience will be given preference.  
• Leadership Skills: Proven ability to lead and motivate a diverse workforce, with experience in managing teams with varying skill levels. Ability to manage turnaround efforts focused on cultural change, people systems and similar.
• Continuous Improvement: Strong knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and other Continuous Improvement methodologies. Ability to facilitate Root Cause Analysis. Certifications are preferred.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to analyze data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to improve operational performance.
• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal/written communication skills, and ability to influence others at all levels. Ability to drive organizational change, against resistance.
• Problem-Solving Skills: Strong critical thinking and problem-solving abilities to address operational challenges effectively. Creativity to find solutions to complex situations. Ability to overcome hurdles in a fast-paced environment.
• Detail orientated with strong problem-solving skills
• Advanced Microsoft Office Suite (Excel) capabilities

Benefits Overview

Competitive base salary ($100,000- $130,000 annual annually). Base salary is one component of a competitive compensation package for employees. Full benefits package, including medical/ vision/ dental/life insurance, 401(k) with company match, and paid time off. We take into consideration a variety of factors including, but not limited to, skills, abilities, experience, education, credentials, and internal equity when determining the base salary offered. Roles are eligible for additional rewards including an annual incentive program based on individual and company performance.  Branding Iron Holdings is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, age, gender identity or expression, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital status, disability, veteran status, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by applicable equal employment opportunity laws.