Onsite Plant Production Leader – Dairy & Cheese

Leprino; United States; On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Leprino seeks a Plant Production Manager for our Allendale, Michigan facility to lead cheese, nutrition, and processing production teams, ensuring safety, quality, and on-time daily plans. You’ll mentor department managers, set operating cadence, and align site plans with supply chain, maintenance, and quality.

The role requires a Bachelor's in Engineering/Food Science or related field, 12+ years in food manufacturing with leadership of managers, and SAP familiarity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Dairy Technology, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 12+ years of experience in food manufacturing with production and sanitation exposure.
• 5+ years in progressive leadership, including direct dept manager oversight.
• Experience with manufacturing systems; ability to learn SAP.
• Experience as Plant Production Manager or Plant Manager in a food facility.
• Direct leadership over other people managers; not limited to frontline supervisors.

Responsibilities

• Lead plant-wide production across cheese, nutrition, and processing teams to hit daily plans.
• Develop and mentor department managers and supervisors.
• Set daily/weekly operating cadence, including shift handoffs and escalation paths.
• Build the site production plan with supply chain, maintenance, and quality.
• Decide run strategy and staffing based on capacity and equipment readiness.
• Review yields, losses, downtime, and sanitation performance; assign corrective actions.
• Partner with maintenance on downtime reviews, PM priorities, and shutdown planning.
• Oversee sanitation and food safety readiness, including microbiological controls.
• Lead safety routines and learning after incidents; drive improvements across shifts.
• Plan and track labor and department budgets; manage cost vs service vs quality.
• Write and refresh standard work and training plans; ensure consistency.
• Build collaborative relationships across plant to enable proactive problem solving.

Skills

Leadership

Operational excellence

Manufacturing systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Dairy Technology, or related field

Tools

SAP

MS Office

Job description

Leprino seeks a Plant Production Manager for our Allendale, Michigan facility to lead cheese, nutrition, and processing production teams, ensuring safety, quality, and on-time daily plans. You’ll mentor department managers, set operating cadence, and align site plans with supply chain, maintenance, and quality.

The role requires a Bachelor's in Engineering/Food Science or related field, 12+ years in food manufacturing with leadership of managers, and SAP familiarity.