Hands-On Plant Manager: Scale Food Ops & Lean Excellence

Consumer Connection, Inc.; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Consumer Connection, Inc. is seeking a hands-on Plant Manager in Milwaukee to lead day-to-day operations and position the facility for growth.

You will oversee production, safety, quality, maintenance, labor, and performance while building a strong plant team and partnering with Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, and senior leadership. You will drive Lean improvements, establish KPI accountability, and lead capacity planning, budgets, and capital projects to improve throughput and equipment

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive food manufacturing experience with significant plant leadership.
• Experience in food or consumer products manufacturing.
• Proven track record developing teams and improving plant performance.
• Experience with Lean / continuous improvement.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing KPIs, labor, cost, throughput, and efficiency.
• Comfortable leading through growth, change, and operational transformation.
• A visible, hands‑on leadership style with the ability to build trust across all levels of the organization.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the plant leadership and production teams.
• Drive improvements in productivity, throughput, labor efficiency, yield, and downtime.
• Establish accountability around safety, quality, and operational KPIs.
• Lead continuous improvement and Lean initiatives.
• Partner with Supply Chain on production planning and scheduling.
• Oversee plant budgets, capital projects, and capacity initiatives.
• Improve equipment reliability in partnership with Maintenance and Engineering.
• Support organizational development and workforce planning.

Skills

Plant leadership

Lean / CI

Safety management

Manufacturing KPIs

People development

Change management

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Consumer Connection, Inc. is seeking a hands-on Plant Manager in Milwaukee to lead day-to-day operations and position the facility for growth.

You will oversee production, safety, quality, maintenance, labor, and performance while building a strong plant team and partnering with Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, and senior leadership. You will drive Lean improvements, establish KPI accountability, and lead capacity planning, budgets, and capital projects to improve throughput and equipment