Plant Manager

MacDonald Search Group; London; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

MacDonald Search Group is assisting a Canadian food manufacturer in Southwestern Ontario in recruiting a Plant Manager to lead a growing operation in the London area. The role focuses on safety, quality, people, production, and continuous improvement with close collaboration across Quality, Maintenance, Warehouse and Supply Chain.

The ideal candidate balances practical leadership with strong operational discipline and a hands-on approach on the plant floor.

Qualifications

• Significant progressive leadership experience in manufacturing.
• Food or beverage manufacturing experience required with cold chain materials.
• Experience leading production employees and frontline supervisors.
• Knowledge of HACCP, SQF, GMP or similar systems.
• Proven success improving productivity and operational performance.
• Experience with Lean or continuous improvement methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily plant operations to safely meet production and quality goals.
• Provide leadership and development to supervisors and frontline staff.
• Set clear safety, attendance, quality, and performance expectations.
• Coordinate labour, equipment, and resources to hit production schedules.
• Maintain strong plant-floor presence and solve operational issues.
• Collaborate with Quality, Maintenance, Warehouse, and Supply Chain.
• Drive continuous improvement and manage capacity and bottlenecks.
• Support equipment upgrades, PM programs, and uptime improvements.

Skills

Leadership

People leadership

Manufacturing leadership

Lean Manufacturing

Continuous improvement

Health and safety leadership

Problem solving

Production planning

Education

Engineering/Operations/Food Science/Business degree

Tools

ERP systems

Job description

London, Ontario area | Could commute from Brantford, St. Thomas, London or Ingersoll.

Our client is an established and growing Canadian food manufacturer seeking an experienced Plant Manager to provide overall leadership of its manufacturing operation in Southwestern Ontario.

This is an excellent opportunity for a hands-on manufacturing leader who enjoys being close to the operation, developing people and driving continuous improvement. Reporting into senior leadership, the Plant Manager will have responsibility for day-to-day plant performance and work closely with Production, Quality, Maintenance, Warehouse, Supply Chain, R&D and other business functions.

The successful candidate will inherit an established operation and team while having the opportunity to further develop plant capabilities, improve performance and help position the facility for continued growth.

Overview of the role:

The Plant Manager will provide leadership and direction across day-to-day manufacturing operations, with accountability for Safety, Quality, People, Production, Efficiency and Continuous Improvement.

Some of what you will do in this role includes:

• Lead daily plant operations to safely achieve production, quality and customer requirements.
• Provide leadership, coaching and development to production supervisors and frontline employees.
• Establish clear expectations and accountability around safety, attendance, quality, productivity and performance.
• Coordinate labour, equipment and production resources to achieve daily and weekly production schedules.
• Maintain a highly visible presence on the plant floor, identifying issues and supporting teams in solving problems.
• Partner closely with Quality to maintain strong food safety, GMP, HACCP and SQF standards.
• Work alongside Maintenance to improve equipment reliability, preventive maintenance execution and plant uptime.
• Monitor and improve key operational metrics including labour efficiency, productivity, yield, waste, downtime and schedule attainment.
• Identify production bottlenecks and implement practical improvements to plant capacity, workflow and operating efficiency.
• Lead and support continuous improvement initiatives while building greater problem-solving capability throughout the organization.
• Participate in equipment selection, installation, commissioning and process improvement projects.
• Provide operational input into annual operating plans, capital requirements, future capacity and facility needs.
• Partner cross-functionally with Quality, Maintenance, Warehouse, Supply Chain, Sales, R&D and senior leadership.
• Ensure the plant is appropriately staffed and prepared to execute during periods of peak seasonal demand.

Who We're Looking For:

We are seeking a practical manufacturing leader who can balance strong operational discipline with excellent people leadership.

The ideal candidate will bring:

• Significant progressive leadership experience within a manufacturing environment.
• Food or beverage manufacturing experience required with frozen or cold chain raw materials and finished products
• Experience leading production employees and frontline supervisors.
• Strong knowledge of manufacturing equipment, production planning and plant operations.
• Knowledge of HACCP, SQF, GFSI, GMP and/or comparable food safety and quality systems.
• Demonstrated success improving manufacturing productivity, efficiency and operational performance.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, continuous improvement or other structured process-improvement methodologies.
• Strong health and safety leadership.
• Experience working with ERP or manufacturing information systems is an asset.
• Post-secondary education in Engineering, Operations, Food Science, Business or a related discipline is an asset; equivalent manufacturing leadership experience will also be considered.

Leadership Style

Just as important as technical manufacturing experience will be the individual's approach to leadership. We're looking for someone who is visible, approachable and comfortable on the plant floor. You should be able to earn the respect of experienced employees while holding people accountable, challenging existing practices constructively and developing the capabilities of the leadership team around you.

This role will suit a calm and practical problem solver who understands that sustainable manufacturing performance comes from balancing people, safety, quality, equipment and production requirements.

The facility operates in a dynamic and highly seasonal food manufacturing environment, making adaptability, planning and decisive leadership particularly important.

Interested candidates are invited to apply confidentially. Additional information regarding the company and opportunity will be provided to qualified candidates during the recruitment process.

MacDonald Search Group works with our clients to build diverse, high performing teams. All applications are considered and reviewed by a human.