Plant Leader — Beverage Manufacturing & Operations

Lassonde Pappas & Company, Inc.; Hendersonville (NC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Lassonde Pappas & Co., Inc is seeking a Plant Manager in Hendersonville, NC to lead all aspects of hot‑fill and aseptic beverage manufacturing. You will drive safety, quality, and production performance while managing budgets and leading cross‑functional teams across Production, Quality, Maintenance, and Sanitation.

The role requires a bachelor’s degree and 10+ years in manufacturing leadership, with strong knowledge of GMPs, HACCP, and FDA regulations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Food Science, Business, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
• Ten or more years of progressive manufacturing experience, including significant leadership responsibility in a plant or operations environment.
• Experience leading cross‑functional manufacturing teams (Production, Quality, Food Safety, Maintenance, Engineering, Sanitation, Warehouse, Continuous Improvement).
• Strong working knowledge of GMPs, HACCP or preventive controls, sanitation programs, FDA regulations, and high‑hygiene manufacturing environments.
• Proven ability to manage plant operating budgets, labor utilization, production performance, cost reduction initiatives, and capital projects.
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to establish expectations, coach leaders, and communicate across all levels.
• Demonstrated problem‑solving skills using data‑driven decision making and corrective action systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead day‑to‑day plant operations to achieve safety, food safety, quality, service, productivity, reliability, and financial objectives.
• Build and sustain a culture where safety, food safety, quality ownership, accountability, and operational discipline are non‑negotiable.
• Ensure compliance with FDA regulations, GMPs, HACCP and preventive controls, customer standards, company policies, and third‑party audit requirements.
• Maintain robust control of hot‑fill and aseptic manufacturing processes, including thermal processing, CIP/SIP systems, sanitation, environmental monitoring, hygienic zoning, and package integrity.
• Partner with Quality and Food Safety leaders to maintain audit readiness, prevent contamination, manage deviations, and implement corrective actions.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on OEE, throughput, yield, schedule attainment, labor productivity, and equipment reliability.
• Lead Maintenance and Engineering priorities to improve uptime, reduce unplanned downtime, and support long‑term asset reliability.
• Develop, justify, and execute capital projects that improve safety, capacity, reliability, quality, productivity, and cost performance.
• Manage the plant operating budget, monitor financial performance, and deliver sustainable cost and productivity improvements.
• Develop plant leaders and employees through coaching, performance management, training, succession planning, and accountability systems.
• Sustain Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma, and other continuous improvement methodologies to improve daily management and operational performance.
• Serve as the senior site leader during customer visits, regulatory inspections, internal reviews, and third‑party certification audits.

Skills

Leadership

Cross‑functional leadership

Continuous Improvement

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Manufacturing/Operations Management/food science/business

Job description

Lassonde Pappas & Co., Inc is seeking a Plant Manager in Hendersonville, NC to lead all aspects of hot‑fill and aseptic beverage manufacturing. You will drive safety, quality, and production performance while managing budgets and leading cross‑functional teams across Production, Quality, Maintenance, and Sanitation.

The role requires a bachelor’s degree and 10+ years in manufacturing leadership, with strong knowledge of GMPs, HACCP, and FDA regulations.