Director of Operations

Universal Corporation•Lancaster Township, PA

15h•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Operations is responsible for leading Shank’s manufacturing and operational activities to deliver safe, high-quality products while ensuring high service, productivity, cost, inventory performance, and organizational capability while prioritizing Employee Safety. The Director of Operations is expected to balance day-to-day execution with longer-term operational transformation and sustainment activities, creating a culture of accountability, problem solving, continuous improvement, and cross-functional teamwork.

Requirements

Must have strong leadership skills.
Good verbal and written communication skills and ability to communicate well with all departments.
Good interpersonal skills with the ability to interact well with a diverse group of internal and external people, including staff, customers, co-workers, and all others involved in the manufacturing process. Experience in creating a cohesive team.
Able to make decisions, is goal-oriented, self-motivated, proactive, and able to solve multi-dimensional problems.
Strong working knowledge of industry regulations and legal guidelines.
Able to work irregular or extended hours as needed to connect with staff on all shifts.
Proficient in Microsoft Office
Bachelor’s degree in business or related field.
Ten or more years of progressively responsible and relevant work experience
Food manufacturing management background required.
Experienced with hiring, training, supervising, and terminating employees, including developing strong production teams and supporting employee retention.
Experienced working within a budget and being accountable for company equipment, facilities, and other material assets.

Nice To Haves

Lead from the floor. Maintain strong visibility within manufacturing and understand problems where the work occurs.
Create accountability. Establish clear ownership, measurable expectations, and consistent follow-through.
Use data to run the business. Build operational decisions around facts, KPIs, root causes, and financial impact rather than anecdotal information.
Break down functional silos. Build stronger connectivity between Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Commercial, Finance, R&D, and Business Systems.
Build sustainable processes. Fix underlying processes instead of repeatedly solving the same operational problems.
Develop the organization. Build strong supervisors and managers so operational performance does not depend on one individual.

Responsibilities

Lead the team with integrity and to establish and maintain a trusting, inclusive, and productive environment that reflects Universal Mission, Vision, and Values.
Partner closely with Supply Chain, Quality, Commercial, Finance, and Business Systems to ensure execution of company goals.
Develop, implement, and monitor day-to-day operational systems and processes to provide visibility into the goals, progress, and obstacles pertaining to Shank’s key initiatives.
Draw on relationships with department heads, external partners, and vendors to make decisions regarding operational activity and strategic goals.
Plan, monitor, and analyze key metrics for day-to-day operations to ensure efficient and timely completion of tasks.
Devise strategies for ensuring the growth of programs company-wide and implement process improvements to maximize Employee Safety, Food Safety, Quality, Delivery, and minimize Costs while ensuring a People focus.
Adhere to the company’s policies and standards and ensure that laws and regulations are being followed to ensure operating discipline.
Work closely with the Safety Manager and Safety committee to ensure execution of Shank’s Safety programs and foster a behavior-based safety culture that results in high levels of employee safety.
Identify production constraints and work to reduce/remove them from the production process to improve equipment efficiencies and enhance Quality, Food Safety, and productivity.
Encourage and promote operating in a continuous improvement environment.
Ensure effective production planning and execution to drive high customer service levels and operational efficiencies.
Work closely with the Quality Assurance department to ensure high product quality and to conformance to specification.
Ensure Maintenance department maintains focus on preventative maintenance, process/continuous improvement, and equipment reliability.
Review and support department heads in performance management.
Ensure Shank’s facilities are maintained to “audit ready” standards.
Collaborate with HR team on personnel, training, performance management, investigations, and employee relations.
Build and maintain a culture of trust, integrity, teamwork, and mutual respect.
Conduct performance reviews.
Performs other duties as assigned.