Production Manager

Black River Valley Natural; Village of Lyons Falls (NY); On-site; USD 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Black River Valley Natural, LLC is seeking a Production Manager to oversee dairy processing, packaging, and delivery at our Lyons Falls, NY facility. You will lead a team, enforce GMPs, ensure product quality, and coordinate schedules while maintaining sanitation and safety standards.

You will report to the General Manager, supervise direct reports, and collaborate across departments to optimize production and meet customer demand.

Qualifications

• Minimum of high school diploma or equivalent, a two-year technical degree is preferred.
• Minimum of two years of food manufacturing experience, dairy production experience is preferred.
• Minimum of two years of people management experience is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Follow GMPs, safety, food safety and QA rules.
• Operate vat pasteurizers, bottlers, churn, cheese vat, wash tanks, and other equipment.
• Maintain production records and documentation.
• Coordinate production schedules and estimate requirements for tasks.
• Supervise and support plant staff to maximize productivity and safety.
• Ensure sanitation and cleanliness of plant, office areas and warehouse.
• Support load-out and deliveries to customers as needed.
• Maintain compliance with procedures and regulatory guidelines.

Skills

People management

Quality control

Food safety awareness

Documentation/recordkeeping

Team collaboration

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Two-year technical degree preferred

Job description

The Production Manager position is essential to the safe, effective, and efficient operation of the dairy processing plant and will report directly to the General Manager. This position will perform a wide range of tasks related to processing, co-processing, packaging, and delivery of a variety of dairy products to meet our ever increasing customer demand. The Production Manager will also perform equipment and facility cleaning and sanitation duties as required in a food processing facility. Some light maintenance and troubleshooting could be required on occasion. This is a supervisor role as well with several direct reports.

Responsibilities and Duties

The Production Manager must be able to perform the following responsibilities and duties in a safe manner:

• Follow and comply with applicable good manufacturing, safety, food safety, and quality assurance rules and practices;
• Verify quality control items such as product weights, coding, packaging, GMP’s, etc;
• Maintain proper documentation in all required record keeping formats;
• Operate vat pasteurizers, bottlers, churn, cheese vat, wash tanks, and other equipment at an efficient level to fulfill plant demands;
• Serve as occasional relief/support staff to other team members throughout the plant;
• Occasionally support load-out and deliveries of products to our customers;
• Assist with general cleaning and housekeeping throughout the office areas, warehouse, and plant as needed;
• Work with management and other supervisory staff to assign, direct, perform, review and monitor work to maximize productivity in the plant;
• Help to ensure proper procedures are in place and being followed for production efficiency, quality of product, team member safety, and state and federal guidelines;
• Help to inspect products to verify conformance to specifications and directs setup and adjustments to machines;
• Help to coordinate production schedules and estimate requirements for completion of job assignments;
• Help to evaluate needs in production for daily assignment of duties;
• Help establish or adjust work procedures to meet production needs;
• Recommend improvements to production methods, equipment performance and quality of product;
• Analyze and resolve work problems and deviations, or assist in problem solving;
• Maintain time and production records as required;
• Maintain food safety and food quality through completing job tasks and maintaining work areas in a sanitary manner;
• Immediately report food safety and quality problems to management to initiate action;
• Ensure all programs are being upheld and documentation is current;
• Follow all Sanitation and Quality Policies and Procedures, and report and follow through on any deficiencies;
• The candidate must pass a company pre-employment physical and drug screen prior to commencing work;
• And any other responsibilities required by management.

Qualifications and Skills

• Proven history of attention to detail, good organizational skills, and strong communication skills;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the products manufactured and the processes involved;
• Ability to adapt effectively within a continually changing and demanding environment;
• Basic understanding of equipment operations and minor troubleshooting ability;
• Must be able to demonstrate the ability and willingness to communicate effectively in order to maintain high levels of safety, quality, and efficiency;
• Must be able to work with others in a team-based environment but must also be able to work independently in a safe, efficient, and effective manner with little supervision on occasion;
• Ability to adapt to changing organizational and operational needs;
• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously;
• Strong team player with the ability to work across multiple functions and disciplines when needed;
• Excellent interpersonal communication and writing skills that enable high level interaction with senior management within the company and across our customer and supply base;
• Must be able to organize work and understand daily production needs;
• Must maintain professional, inspector, and customer ready attitude at all times;
• Must show courtesy and maintain good relations with other team members, customers, suppliers, vendors, contractors, and others with whom contact occurs as a representative of Black River Valley Natural, LLC;
• Ability to read and comprehend standard operating procedures and company guidelines in order to maintain regulatory compliance;
• Must be able to demonstrate an attitude of continuous improvement and learning;
• Ability to read and comprehend simple instructions, short correspondence, and memos. Must have the ability to write simple correspondence and complete manufacturing documentation completely. Ability to effectively present information to other team members
• Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
• And any other skills required by management.

Education and Experience

• Minimum of high school diploma or equivalent, a two-year technical degree is preferred.
• Minimum of two years of food manufacturing experience, dairy production experience is preferred.
• Minimum of two years of people management experience is preferred.
• While performing the duties of this job, the team member is regularly exposed to moving mechanical parts and is frequently exposed to wet and /or humid conditions.
• The team member will be required to use all personal protective equipment provided by the company in compliance with OSHA regulations.
• While performing the duties of this job, the team member is regularly required to stand, use hands and stretch and reach with hands and arms. The team member is frequently required to walk, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; and talk or hear. The team member is occasionally required to climb or balance and smell. The team member must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move more than 100 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision. Must have full range of body motion.
• Required to wear food safety/sanitation clothing as well as comply with any and all pandemic mandates;
• This position necessitates conformance to personal hygiene regulations.

Job Type

Full-time non-exempt position

Travel

Any required travel will be rare and will primarily be local and during the normal business day.

Work Location

Work location for this position will be on site at the Black River Valley Natural, LLC Creamery in Lyons Falls, NY.

About Black River Valley Natural, LLC

Black River Valley Natural is an artisanal small-batch creamery, food, and co-processing facility located in Lyons Falls, NY. Our vision is to partner with local family farms to provide our valued customers with premium handcrafted artisan foods and to strengthen the connection between our farmers and customers. We seek to build trust and pride in our local food system through transparency and a strong focus on showcasing the caring animal well-being practices, environmental stewardship, and responsible use of technology and modern production practices employed by our family farm partners while paying them fairly to encourage and support responsible farming practices and to help continue the proud agricultural legacy of Lewis County and the Black River Valley.

Remarks

Black River Valley Natural, LLC are equal opportunity employers committed to a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In addition to federal law requirements, Black River Valley Natural, LLC complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

The above job description is intended to describe the duties of a team member in general terms and does not necessarily describe all of his or her duties.