Plant Manager - Food Manufacturing

Sysco; Vernon (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Sysco Northeast RDC in Vernon, CA seeks a Plant Manager to lead the facility, ensuring safe, efficient day-to-day operations and driving performance against goals. The role requires strategic planning, budget ownership, and strong leadership to optimize safety, quality, productivity, and regulatory compliance across the plant, with accountability for executing continuous improvement initiatives.

You will develop SOPs, manage DOT-compliant transportation interfaces, and collaborate with

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering or agriculture; 10+ years in operational leadership preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of plant leadership in food production, manufacturing, costing and distribution.

Responsibilities

• Lead facility and general management activities.
• Manage P&L and budgets to achieve financial goals.
• Develop processes to maximize safety, quality and productivity.
• Ensure compliance with health/safety regulations and SOPs.
• Recruit, hire, and develop associates with performance documentation.
• Set department policies to hit KPIs and customer satisfaction.
• Write and update SOPs for standardization across the network.
• Lead Gemba walks and drive solution implementation.
• Analyze operations to improve effectiveness across divisions.
• Ensure DOT regulations are met in transportation operations.
• Develop metrics to drive daily, weekly, monthly, yearly improvements.
• Act as facility spokesperson for inquiries and market activities.
• Maintain high quality and safety standards per Sysco programs.

Skills

Leadership

Manufacturing

Lean Six Sigma

Budgeting

Safety compliance

SOP development

Gemba walks

ERP systems

Excel

Communication

MS Office

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering or Agriculture

Tools

Microsoft Excel

ERP systems

MS Access

Word

Teams

Outlook

Job description

JOB SUMMARY

Reporting to the Region President, the Plant Manager has leadership responsibility for the facility and is the primary official in the Facility. The Plant Manager is key in planning, organizing, and executing the Facility’s day-to-day activities in a safe and proficient manner.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Facility leadership and general management activities.
• P&L responsibility for the Facility through creating and managing budgets that help achieve financial goals.
• Develop processes that will maximize stewardship, safety, quality, and productivity.
• The Plant Manager will ensure compliance with governing health/safety regulations and procedures.
• Assist in recruiting, hiring, retention, and developing of associates. This includes evaluations and performance documentation.
• Strategically create and adjust department activities, policies, and procedures to meet or exceed key performance metrics and customer satisfaction goals.
• Writes and adjust Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to ensure standardization throughout network.
• Leads Facility teams on Gemba (waste) walks and manages solutions to improve findings
• Analyzes, identifies, and proposes action to the solution of problems with the operation of the division departments to increase the effectiveness of the operation.
• Ensures all DOT regulations are met in the transportation department
• Instrumental in the Development of key metrics and indices to drive improvement within daily, weekly, monthly, and annual results.
• Serves as a Facility spokesperson in cases of inquiry, feedback, or requests for special information to facilitate the accurate and precise flow of information.
• Aids in the solicitation of new or prospective business by participating in company meetings and any other market activities to foster the company’s recognition within the business community.
• Maintain high quality and safety standards by following specifications, local and federal governance, and Sysco’s quality programs (including 3rd party auditing).

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering or Agriculture preferred or min 10 years’ experience in operational leadership

Experience

• Minimum 10 years plant leadership in food production, manufacturing, costing, and distribution experience

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Financial responsibility
• Increasing leadership history
• Great verbal and written communication skills
• Lean Six Sigma or Lean Manufacturing experience
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word, Teams, Access, and Outlook
• Experience and understanding of ERP systems

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

• Deep experience with manufacturing or production processes to include continuous improvement tools
• Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
• Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions
• Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
• Oral Comprehension: Listening to and understanding the information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension: Reading and understanding the information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression: Communicating information and ideas in writing so others will understand
• Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
• Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Deductive Reasoning: Applying general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Problem Sensitivity: Perceiving when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Fluency of Ideas: Coming up with several ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• The ability to sit, stand, walk, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer keyboard, mouse, and telephone to talk and hear.
• The ability to frequently sit and reach with hands and arms.
• The ability to occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.

WORK CONDITIONS

• The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by associates within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of associates assigned to this job.
• To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.
• The requirements listed above are representative of knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Must be able to utilize office equipment such as desktop/notebook computers, copiers, printers, scanners, telephones, and calculators.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• Must be able to work in various indoor and outdoor climates and driving conditions. This includes Cold and wet manufacturing environments.
• Occasional Travel to attend meetings may be required.

NOTICE: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature of the environment and the level of work being performed by this job. This job description in no way states or implies that the duties and responsibilities listed are the only tasks to be performed by the employee in this job. The employee will be required to follow any other instructions and to perform any other job‑related duties requested by his or her supervisor. This job description supersedes prior job descriptions. When duties and responsibilities change and develop the job description will be reviewed and subject to changes of business​-​t necessity.