Production Manager

North Freeze Dry LLC•Little Falls, MN

9h•Onsite

About The Position

The Production Manager owns day-to-day manufacturing execution and frontline people leadership. This role is the operational backbone of the plant—responsible for hitting production targets, running shifts, managing supervisors and operators, and enforcing standards across safety, quality, and performance. Bottom line: this role takes the production and workforce management weight off the Plant Manager so they can focus on strategic, capital, and cross-functional priorities.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Operations, Manufacturing, Engineering, or related field or equivalent hands-on manufacturing leadership experience.
Minimum of 5 years leading production teams in a manufacturing environment (food or regulated manufacturing strongly preferred).
Proven experience managing supervisors and hourly workforces.
Working knowledge of food safety, quality systems, and workplace safety requirements.
Strong execution mindset—decisive, direct, and comfortable holding people accountable.

Responsibilities

Own daily, weekly, and short-term production execution against the master schedule.
Translate production plans into labor, equipment, and material execution on the floor.
Ensure throughput, yield, uptime, and efficiency targets are met or exceeded.
Identify bottlenecks and drive immediate corrective action—no waiting, no excuses.
Escalate risks proactively with solutions, not problems.
Directly manage production supervisors and indirectly lead all hourly production employees.
Own staffing levels, shift coverage, training, and skill development for production teams.
Drive accountability through clear expectations, performance management, and consequences.
Partner with HR on hiring, onboarding, discipline, and retention strategies.
Build a culture of ownership, urgency, and operational discipline.
Enforce safety, food safety, and quality standards on the floor—non-negotiable.
Ensure production teams follow SOPs, GMPs, SQF, and regulatory requirements at all times.
Partner with Quality to resolve deviations, holds, and corrective actions quickly and effectively.
Lead by example in audits, inspections, and daily compliance.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives tied to labor efficiency, downtime reduction, scrap, and rework.
Lead 5S, standard work, and operational excellence initiatives within production.
Implement process improvements that stick—training, follow-up, and accountability included.
Run daily production meetings and shift handoffs with clarity and discipline.
Provide accurate, real-time production performance reporting to the Plant Manager.
Act as the primary escalation point for production issues across shifts.