Plant Director

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At Lactalis in the USA, we're committed to providing meaningful opportunities for our people to learn, grow, and thrive-whether you're just starting your journey with us or looking to take the next step in your career. From day one, we offer the tools and support to help you succeed.

As the world leader in dairy, Lactalis is a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Each day, we're proud to produce award-winning dairy products that bring people together.

In the US, we proudly offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani Italian cheeses and ricotta, President specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft natural and grated cheeses, Breakstone's cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel, Black Diamond cheddar, and Parmalat milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggi's, Stonyfield Organic, Brown Cow, Oui, Yoplait, Go-Gurt, :ratio, Green Mountain Creamery, and Mountain High, along with a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun, Gopi, and Arz.

At Lactalis, we live by our core values-Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We foster a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone's unique background and ideas are valued.

Even if you don't meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us shape the future of dairy.

From your PASSION to ours

Lactalis US Yogurt, part of the Lactalis family of companies, is currently hiring a Plant Director based in Casa Grande, AZ.

The Plant Director will hold the pivotal role of strategic leader, overseeing the facility as an autonomous industrial profit center with comprehensive Profit and Loss (P&L) responsibility. The position will be crucial for driving profitability by ensuring the efficient and cost-effective attainment of all safety, quality, volume, and delivery objectives. This role will provide robust leadership and management throughout the manufacturing site, with a focus on optimizing systems, defining the plant's strategic roadmap through informed Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) investment decisions, and implementing continuous business process improvements. This role will focus on key areas such as Safety Performance, Budget Volume, Quality Control Complaints, Industrial Results, and CAPEX Creation and Execution. The Plant Director will report to the VP of Manufacturing.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Ensure strict adherence to all defined plant and department procedures, upholding the highest standards of food safety and quality.
• Provide expert manufacturing leadership and counsel to the plant, directing overall performance through strong management, professional development, and effective communication to foster a dynamic and efficient work environment.
• Oversee the entire lifecycle of manufacturing management staff, from strategic hiring and comprehensive training to ongoing development and performance evaluation, ensuring a proficient and strong leadership team capable of fostering a high-performance environment.
• Develop and champion initiatives that enhance overall plant operations and line performance, leading the organization's relentless pursuit of manufacturing excellence in quality and safety.
• Lead and direct effective collaboration across all organizational levels on manufacturing-related topics to optimize output, quality, production scheduling, reliability, safety, cost variance, and waste reduction objectives.
• Champion company values by consistently driving best practices in operations, with a strong focus on supporting all safety and quality initiatives.
• Establish clear and consistent communication channels with the executive team, providing accurate and timely updates on manufacturing progress, issues, and challenges.
• Ensure the company's strict adherence to PMO and FDA regulations, OSHA rules, and internal company guidelines within all manufacturing operations.
• Lead financial performance by creating and overseeing the manufacturing budget, with a sharp focus on meeting operational targets and ensuring the successful execution of all capital expenditure projects.
• Oversee the execution of Safety, Quality, and Environmental programs, in addition to managing Production, P&L, CAPEX Investments, and Human Resources.

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

Education

Bachelor's degree is required. MBA preferred.

• Majors in Engineering (Chemical, Industrial, Mechanical), Food Science, and Business Administration are preferred.

Experience

• 10+ years of leadership Experience in a Dairy Manufacturing is required.

Certifications and Specific Knowledge

• Knowledge of OSHA, Food Safety, FDA, USDA, and ISO, along with certifications such as FSSC and ISO 9001 within the food industry, is required
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Strong business acumen, including financial planning and management
• Analytical, problem decision-making skills; being able to think outside the box; exercise sound judgment and critical thinking
• People-oriented, fostering strong relationships and developing talent, while also being data-driven to inform decisions and drive continuous improvement.
• Strong proficiency with computer systems, including Microsoft Office applications

Competencies

• People Management: Manage people in daily work by identifying potential and recruiting the best profiles, setting concrete and ambitious goals, delegating missions, motivating and developing every day a cohesive team in a changing environment.
• Production/Manufacturing Management: Ability to manage the team's resources, achieve production targets, and meet needs.
• Leadership & Impact: Acting and leading as a role model, positively influencing others with energy and enhancing their ability to contribute to a goal.
• Production Analysis: Ability to analyze production results: costs, volumes, time, and breakdowns. Ability to identify and solve problems to rationalize production.
• Analytical Thinking: Analyze rigorously data and situations, to identify and analyze causes/effects and to select appropriate information to make effective decisions
• Communication: Ability to transmit and receive information clearly and communicate effectively to others by considering their points of view to respond appropriately. It includes using tact and diplomacy in all communications as well as the ability to convey ideas and information (adjusting style, tone and level of details), both orally and in writing, in a way that all stakeholders/audience are engaged. Decision Making: Ability to select the best logical choice from the available options, weighing the positives and negatives of each option, considering all the alternatives and external influences

At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options. We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one. We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement. Join us and grow your career.

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities.