Bakery Operations Lead - Lean, TPM & MES Expert

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery,LLC; Tarboro (NC); On-site; USD 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

The Sara Lee Frozen Bakery Assistant Bakery Manager partners with the Bakery Director to oversee daily operations of the manufacturing facility, serving as a senior operational leader and delegate as needed. This role provides leadership across production and operations, with responsibility for safe, efficient, cost-effective, and high-quality manufacturing performance.

The role champions Lean, Six Sigma, and TPM methodologies while leveraging MES platforms to improve visibility, identify

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Technology, Operations, or related field.
• 7-10+ years in manufacturing/operations, with significant experience leading production teams and managing people leaders.
• Experience leading and developing Value Stream Managers, Production Managers, Supervisors, or other frontline manufacturing leaders.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing TPM, autonomous maintenance, or other equipment reliability programs.
• Experience utilizing Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), such as Redzone or similar platforms, to drive production performance, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, develop, and direct Value Stream Managers and Production Supervisors to achieve safety, quality, service, productivity, cost, and employee engagement objectives.
• Build leadership capability within the operations organization through ongoing coaching, performance management, succession planning, and development of Value Stream Managers and Supervisors.
• Provide operational leadership across the bakery and lead assigned production operations to deliver products safely, on schedule, at required quality and service levels, and in a cost-effective manner.
• Monitor production schedules and adjust resources, staffing, and priorities as necessary to meet customer demand while protecting safety, quality, service, and cost objectives.
• Own production labor performance, including staffing models, labor standards, overtime controls, workforce utilization, and corrective actions required to achieve budget and productivity objectives.
• Champion the development, implementation, and sustainability of TPM programs, including autonomous maintenance, preventative maintenance, equipment reliability, and loss elimination.
• Leverage MES platforms to monitor production performance, analyze downtime and losses, improve labor and equipment utilization, and drive data-based decision-making.
• Establish and manage the bakery production daily management system, including operating routines, KPI reviews, escalation processes, shift handoffs, and follow-up mechanisms that drive accountability to bakery goals.
• Identify opportunities to improve OEE, throughput, labor productivity, yield, downtime, waste, and overall equipment reliability.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives using Lean and Six Sigma methodologies and ensure improvements are sustained over time.
• Integrate and align Production with Maintenance, Engineering, FSQA, Sanitation, Supply Chain, Finance, Human Resources, and other cross-functional partners to improve manufacturing processes, remove barriers, and eliminate operational losses.
• Ensure Production delivers against safety, food safety, quality, regulatory, customer, and SQF requirements and maintains readiness for internal, customer, and third-party audits.
• Drive timely closure of production-related audit findings, food safety and quality corrective actions, and operational compliance gaps in partnership with FSQA and the appropriate functional owners.
• Create a culture of commitment to quality, safety, accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement across all functional areas.
• Develop and deliver production and operating expense budgets; translate operational performance into financial impact; and identify sustainable opportunities to improve labor, material usage, productivity, and cost.
• Contribute to capital planning, develop business justification for operational investments, and lead capital and continuous improvement projects that improve capacity, reliability, safety, quality, service, and efficiency.
• Manage ingredients, materials, labor, and other resources in accordance with established standards and business objectives.
• Prepare and present operational performance, financial impacts, risks, and recommendations to the Bakery Director and other business leaders.
• Build a culture of accountability and teamwork by developing Value Stream Managers to own their businesses, lead their teams, resolve issues at the appropriate level, and rigorously execute core manufacturing systems.
• Demonstrate strong problem-solving capabilities and a bias for action to rapidly identify and eliminate operational losses.
• Proactively lead cost savings and productivity improvement projects to meet plant and company objectives.

Skills

Leadership

Lean Manufacturing

Six Sigma

TPM

MES

Production planning

Training & development

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Manufacturing

Tools

Redzone MES

MES platforms

Job description

The Sara Lee Frozen Bakery Assistant Bakery Manager partners with the Bakery Director to oversee daily operations of the manufacturing facility, serving as a senior operational leader and delegate as needed. This role provides leadership across production and operations, with responsibility for safe, efficient, cost-effective, and high-quality manufacturing performance.

The role champions Lean, Six Sigma, and TPM methodologies while leveraging MES platforms to improve visibility, identify