Ingredients Operations Manager at MGP Ingredients in Atchison, KS

Job description

• As our Ingredients Operations Manager, you will play a critical role in driving a safe, high-performing, and efficient manufacturing operation. You will lead day-to-day plant activities, ensuring all work is completed safely, responsibly, and in accordance with established procedures and standards. You'll champion a culture of continuous improvement by proactively identifying opportunities to enhance productivity, reliability, quality, and operational performance.
• In this role, you will oversee plant operations to meet or exceed key performance metrics, including production, budget, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), and other operational KPIs. You'll develop and execute strategic plans, analyze performance data, and implement corrective actions to achieve business objectives.
• You will also lead maintenance and reliability efforts, coordinating preventive and reactive maintenance activities, turnaround planning, and equipment improvement initiatives to maximize asset performance and plant efficiency. By partnering closely with Sales, Logistics, and other cross-functional teams, you'll help ensure customer demand is met safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively.
• Success in this role requires a collaborative and people-focused leadership style. You'll build strong relationships across the organization, develop and mentor plant personnel, support employee engagement, and foster a positive work environment. You'll also help resolve employee concerns, support labor relations initiatives, and ensure compliance with collective bargaining agreements where applicable.
• This is an excellent opportunity for a hands-on operations leader who thrives on driving results, developing teams, and making a meaningful impact on plant performance and organizational success.

Responsibilities

• Compliance
• Ensure that all work done by MGP employees or contractors is done according to proper procedures. Ensure that all deficiencies/incidents are reported, investigated, and corrected promptly.
• Operations
• Ensure all daily operational activities are performed in a safe and efficient manner. Forecast and schedule production ensuring KPI goals are met.
• Plan and execute reactive and preventative maintenance plans through Maintenance for periodic turnarounds and daily maintenance ensuring the systems are operating safely, reliably and at maximum capacity & efficiency.
• Participate in the development and management of Ingredient’s operating budget in terms of volume, yield and spend.
• Engineering
• Monitor operations for efficiency, assign tasks to the process engineer, develop capital improvement plans, work with R&D in developing and implementing new products
• Quality
• Ensure production quality standards are met. Ensure all applicable regulatory requirements are met, and that the facility and documentation is maintained per GFSI/BRC requirements.
• Management
• Oversee the shift manager group, Warehouse Superintendent, and Operations Superintendent. Indirectly manage the operator group. Participate in the hiring and training of shift managers as well as operators. Participate in labor relations meetings.

Requirements

• Bachelor degree preferred, or equivalent operations experience
• Experience using Microsoft Office suite (excel, word, PowerPoint, and outlook), ERP and Quality Management system required.
• 3-5 years food manufacturing experience + 3-5 years management experience; 6-10 years total combined.
• Communicate effectively, motivate others, delegate and hold accountability.
• Plan, organize, and prioritize the operations of a food production facility with multiple interconnected subsystems.
• Understand the operations of mixers, pumps, dryers, heat exchangers, filtration systems, conveyance systems, and starch and protein modifications.
• Apply the scientific method to solve problems.
• Understand and uphold FDA regulation regarding the processing of human food products. The ability to use software such as Microsoft Office (excel, word, PowerPoint, and outlook), and SAP.
• Ability to read and understand engineering and other technical documents. The ability to understand statistics and statistical process control.

Skills

Required

• ERP systems
• Quality Management system
• SAP
• FDA regulations for human food products
• Statistical process control
• Operations management
• Maintenance planning
• Budget management
• Process improvement
• Problem solving (scientific method)

Benefits

• Compensation is competitive and is commensurate with experience. MGP offers exceptional medical, dental, vision, short and long-term disability, life insurance, 401(k) Match and PTO.