Pilot Plant Supervisor

Danone•Louisville, CO

14h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Pilot Plant Supervisor has management responsibilities over Pilot Plant Technicians and provides on the floor leadership and expertise in several targeted areas including but not limited to Operations, Automation, Quality, Continuous Improvement, Troubleshooting and Safety. The Supervisor will also be adept to working as an active part of the production team when called upon and assists in all team-oriented tasks and training processes. The mission of the role is to support the ongoing development and improvement of products, packaging and processes for Danone R&I, by applying significant technical knowledge and logic to running small scale experimentation in a pilot plant setting. This position reports directly to the Pilot Plant Manager.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science, Engineering or related field and minimum 5 years of related manufacturing experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Advanced understanding of formulation and process in beverage and fermented products
Mechanically inclined and competent operating and troubleshooting Pilot/lab equipment
Advanced knowledge in PLC/HMI and automation principles
Data analysis and experimental design
Computer skills including but not limited to all internal Danone systems (Ignition. Asana, Onebuy, Thin Client, Excel, Sharepoint)
A good Attendance record and no disciplinary actions that might cause elimination from position.
The ability to be self-directed and show good individual judgment and decision-making ability in a business setting.
Must be detail oriented and show good problem-solving skills.
Must demonstrate team-oriented behaviors and attitudes and be able and willing to train and cross train other operators.

Nice To Haves

Prior leadership experience or leadership training is a plus.
Work experience in scheduling and organizing tasks is preferred.

Responsibilities

Leads a team of pilot plant technicians including supporting/providing development opportunities. This includes administrative activities like FTO, timesheets, expense reports, objectives and development plans.
Owns planning and coordination of the Pilot Plant trial schedule/calendar.
Creates People schedule for Pilot Operations team.
Responsible for communicating facts and sharing information with the Team.
Uses DFMEA model for root cause investigations into machine failures, losses, delays and quality issues.
Owns Automation processes in coordination with global Danone guidelines and develops internal data trends for reporting of process and trial information.
Quality program and processes leader following FDA and Danone FSQ requirements. Position will lead HAACP, Environmental Monitoring, Master Sanitation, Allergen and Wastewater plans.
Communicates in a timely manner with Pilot Plant Manager regarding safety, performance and corrective measures to ensure safe and efficient operations.
Maintains a safe and clean working environment for all employees and visitors.
Ensures all safety rules, pilot plant WOW’s, GMPs and code of ethics are always followed.
Tracks pilot metrics (%OE, Downtime, Success Rate, Compliance, Throughput)
Lead and coordinate cross-training of operators to acceptable competencies on high volume pilot lines
Prepares content for and conducts regularly scheduled team meetings (weekly, shutdown)
Hosts regularly scheduled pilot coordination meetings with R&I technical teams (pre-trial and weekly coordination meetings)
Assists developers in preparation, execution, and review of experiments
Leads and drives processing activities to ensure efficient and timely completion of processing schedule
Works with maintenance team to promptly schedule preventative maintenance activities around an evolving production schedule.
Assists operations during critical situations (breakdowns, quality issues, other incidents)
Work in any position to replace teammates when needed.
Owns/Supports creation and validation of accurate and up to date Standard Operating Procedures and certifications.
Co-develops pilot plant WOW and Continuous Improvement efforts with Pilot Plant Manager.
Constantly looking for improvements to elevate efficiencies.
Supports R&I Product Developer led scalability and commercialization efforts of new products and ingredients.
The individual must exemplify the ability to work with minimal supervision.
Must be adaptable to a changing work environment, competing demands and is able to deal with frequent changes, delays or unexpected events.
Responsible for being a role model for Acceptable Behavior ("Acceptable" defined as: positive attitude, team leadership, knowledge of and adherence to policies and procedures, and ensuring that team skill sets are maintained).
Other duties as assigned by management
Remain approachable by behaving in a professional and courteous manner and by treating everyone in the workplace with dignity and respect.
Actively seek out and engage other operators and developers to gain additional knowledge about the operation.
Establish a reputation for being open and responsive to production questions and plant needs
Work as a team and make suggestions regarding continuous improvement ideas for maintenance, production, communication, quality and safety systems.