Plant Superintendent (Food Manufacturing)

Stratas Foods•Nashville, TN

About The Position

The Plant Superintendent leads the daily operations of a manufacturing facility, ensuring safe, efficient, and cost-effective production of high-quality finished products while meeting customer service expectations and regulatory requirements. The role directs production personnel and works with Scheduling, Maintenance, Quality, Warehouse, and other support functions to optimize plant performance. The Plant Superintendent drives continuous improvement, maintains food safety and quality compliance, works toward operational and financial objectives, develops employees, and fosters positive employee relations. The role establishes action plans to meet budget goals, production schedules, safety and food safety requirements, and customer expectations while promoting accountability, teamwork, and operational excellence. It is a key member of the plant leadership team and provides leadership coverage when other plant leaders are absent.

Requirements

Minimum 5–7 years of manufacturing leadership experience.
Experience leading continuous improvement initiatives and managing production performance metrics.
Proficiency with the MS Office Suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access, and AS 400.
Ability to interface with mainframe, general accounting, MRP, and order processing systems.
Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills; ability to communicate expectations, priorities, and objectives across organizational levels.
Leadership skills that promote accountability, employee engagement, talent development, change management, safety, teamwork, and operational excellence.
Ability to analyze operational data, identify trends and root causes, and use metrics to make sound decisions.
Root cause problem-solving skills and a continuous improvement mindset.
Ability to coach, mentor, and manage performance while promoting cross-functional collaboration and employee development.
Understanding of the relationship between operational performance and financial results; ability to manage resources and control costs.
Commitment to safety, food safety, quality, and regulatory compliance.
Ability to walk throughout the plant, including climbing stairs and portable or fixed ladders.
Ability to lift up to 50 pounds occasionally.
Sensory acuity in vision, hearing, speaking, smell, and touch sufficient to identify and respond to normal, abnormal, and alarm conditions, including chemicals and temperature.
Ability to work through complex problems and processes logically and methodically and communicate effectively across organizational levels.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Operations Management, Business, or a related field; an equivalent combination of education and manufacturing leadership experience may be considered.
Previous supervisory experience in a food manufacturing environment.
Familiarity with PLC, Warehouse Management Systems, Inventory Management Systems, and Plant Automation Systems.

Responsibilities

Promote a culture of safety excellence and accountability, ensure compliance with safety, food safety, environmental, GMP, HACCP, regulatory, customer, and company requirements, and reinforce safe work practices and housekeeping standards.
Lead and participate in incident investigations, root cause analyses, and corrective action implementation.
Support food safety programs through employee training, documentation, and process verification.
Manage the use of labor, raw materials, equipment, energy, and utilities in production and packaging.
Coordinate daily production to meet schedules, customer requirements, quality standards, and cost objectives; monitor yields, labor utilization, downtime, and efficiencies and take corrective action as needed.
Develop and execute plans to improve operations, reduce waste, increase productivity, and resolve production challenges.
Review manufacturing processes and recommend equipment or process improvements to enhance safety, quality, productivity, and reliability.
Coordinate production during planned downtime for cleaning, maintenance, repairs, and capital improvements; maintain effective staffing, shift communications, and production documentation.
Provide operational leadership for a 24/7 manufacturing operation, including after-hours support as required.
Establish and monitor KPIs related to safety, quality, productivity, cost, and customer service; lead continuous improvement initiatives.
Assist with departmental operating budgets, monitor spending, and identify cost-saving opportunities while maintaining operational effectiveness and product quality.
Coach, manage performance, and develop supervisors and hourly employees; set clear expectations, conduct evaluations, and create development plans for direct reports.
Promote teamwork, communication, respect, and employee engagement; hold crew and departmental meetings and address employee concerns consistently.
Support succession planning and talent development within the department.
Partner with Scheduling, Maintenance, Quality, Warehouse, and other support departments; coordinate preventive maintenance to improve reliability and minimize downtime.
Communicate production plans, operational priorities, and performance results across shifts and departments; participate in plant leadership meetings and contribute to plant goals.
Ensure production records, operational reports, and other required documentation are accurate and maintained; review performance data and prepare reports.
Maintain compliance with company policies and administrative procedures.
Assume delegated Plant Manager responsibilities in their absence and provide leadership coverage for Production and Maintenance supervisory functions as needed.
Perform other duties and special projects as assigned.