Assistant Plant Manager (Open) at Boar's Head Brand in Petersburg, VA

For more than 100 years Boar’s Head*, a premier provider of quality delicatessen products and services, remains committed to its time honored traditional processes through the involvement of their dedicated employees. We are currently seeking qualified candidates for an available Assistant Plant Manager opportunity. Provides leadership and direction for production, distribution, and sanitation team to meet or exceed plant’s KPIs in order to achieve business goals and initiatives.

Essential Functions:

• Directs and coordinates production and sanitation activities to obtain optimum efficiency and economy of operations while also meeting production needs and requirements consistently.
• Reviews daily production scheduling and sequencing to meet planned schedule attainment.

Works with PM to ensure proper inventory levels are maintained and for attaining raw material yields.

• Ensures employees’ safety behavior and performance are up to standard in order to satisfy a safe and healthy workplace.
• Collaborates with operations leadership to review activity and operational reports to determine changes in programs or operations if required or as necessary.
• Partners with Plant Manager and HR to lead, nurture, and develop operations team through effective coaching, mentorship, talent development, and performance management.
• Administers and tracks departments’ budget, ensuring financial objectives are met while maintaining adherence to approved expenditures.
• Determines staffing requirements to ensure proper headcount level, while maintaining operational budget.
• Ensures that company policies and work rules regarding HACCP, GMP and SOP are up-to-date and being consistently applied within areas of responsibility.
• Works closely with the USDA to ensure that all USDA Regulations are adhered to and deficiencies are corrected in a timely manner. Review USDA NR reports and work with teams to take corrective actions necessary in a timely manner.
• Champions continuous improvement programs/initiatives to minimize waste, elevate efficiency, and improve productivity.
• Assesses and mitigates risks affecting operations and creates robust contingency plans to safeguard business continuity.
• Attends scheduled meetings as required.
• Submit operational reports as required.
• Serves as back-up for Plant Manager and performs other duties as needed.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, operations management, engineering or related field or equivalent work experience.
• Five (5) to seven (7) years experience in a food processing environment with two (2) to four (4) years leading production teams preferred.
• Demonstrated competence in building, leading, and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes and performance drivers (e.g., OEE, yield, labor efficiency, downtime, throughput).

Language Skills:

• Exceptional communication skills (oral and written), with the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and concisely across different levels and functions of the organization.

Mathematical Skills:

• Must have basic math skills and ability to perform calculations of formulations, ingredients, yields, man-hours, etc.
• Must be able to create, read and analyze charts, graphs and logs.

Reasoning Ability:

• Highly analytical with superior problem-solving abilities, skilled in making data-driven decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate in a complex environment and making decisions in the “gray” areas.

Certificates, Licenses and Registration:

• Certifications in lean manufacturing such as but not limited to Lean Six Sigma, Lean Management, Lean Principles, and Lean Production is helpful.

Physical Demands:

• Must be able to lift overhead up to 30 pounds
• Must be able to stand and/or walk for extended periods of time, in refrigerated environment as well as in cooking areas.

Work Environment:

• Must be able to work in a refrigerated or cooking environment
• Must be able to work in a meat-processing environment