Production Manager

Wow Bao•Forest City, NC

13d•Onsite

About The Position

Wow Bao is seeking a hands-on, results-driven 1st Shift Production Manager to lead daily production activities at our Forest City production facility. This role is responsible for executing the first-shift production schedule, ensuring safe and efficient manufacturing of high-quality food products, and driving accountability across line performance, labor utilization, quality compliance, and employee development. The 1st Shift Production Manager will provide direct leadership to production supervisors, leads, and hourly production team members while partnering closely with Quality, Maintenance, Warehouse, Supply Chain, HR, and plant leadership to meet production goals.

Requirements

5+ years of manufacturing experience, preferably in food, frozen food, bakery, prepared foods, or high-volume production environments.
3+ years of supervisory or production leadership experience leading supervisors, leads, or hourly production teams.
Strong understanding of production scheduling, line performance, labor planning, standard work, changeovers, downtime tracking, yield, waste, and throughput.
Working knowledge of HACCP, GMPs, food safety systems, sanitation expectations, and quality standards in a food manufacturing environment.
Proven ability to coach front-line leaders, build accountability, resolve conflict, and drive performance through people.
Strong communication, problem-solving, decision-making, and follow-up skills.
Ability to work in a fast-paced production environment and respond quickly to changing priorities.
HACCP Certification and/or PCQI for Human Food, or ability to achieve this certification.
Excellent organizational and project management skills.
Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to think critically.
Experience with ERP, production reporting, labor management, or manufacturing execution systems.
Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement training.
Experience in frozen food, bakery, protein, ready-to-eat, or prepared foods manufacturing.
Ability to work under pressure to meet strict deadlines and effectively prioritize multiple tasks.
Maintain complete knowledge of and comply with all policies, procedures and standards as outlined in the Employee Handbook and Handbook Supplements

Nice To Haves

Some duties may require attention outside of normal business hours.

Responsibilities

Lead first-shift production teams to achieve daily production schedules, output targets, labor standards, and quality expectations.
Manage floor execution by monitoring line performance, staffing levels, changeovers, material readiness, and production flow.
Coach supervisors and team leads on effective floor leadership, accountability, communication, and problem solving.
Ensure production reporting, shift handoffs, downtime tracking, and daily performance communication are accurate and timely.
Directly supervise production supervisors, team leads, and hourly production employees.
Build a high-accountability production culture focused on safety, quality, service, cost, and people.
Coach, mentor, and develop front-line leaders to improve performance, communication, decision-making, and employee engagement.
Support staffing plans, onboarding, cross-training, skills development, performance evaluations, and corrective actions when necessary.
Facilitate training and daily communication focused on safety, food safety, quality, standard work, and production execution.
Ensure compliance with FDA, USDA, HACCP, GMP, and company food safety requirements.
Partner with Quality Assurance to address product issues and implement corrective actions.
Support audits, inspections, and documentation requirements.
Promote a culture where food safety and quality are non-negotiable priorities.
Manage first-shift labor utilization, staffing plans, productivity, overtime, and attendance to support production requirements.
Monitor production efficiency, yield, waste, rework, and material usage to support cost and performance targets.
Partner with Supply Chain and Warehouse to ensure materials, packaging, and inventory needs support the production schedule.
Identify and execute opportunities to reduce waste, improve throughput, and control controllable production costs.
Collaborate with Maintenance to maximize equipment reliability and uptime.
Support preventive maintenance programs.
Assist with root-cause analysis and equipment improvement initiatives.
Use production data, line observations, and root-cause problem solving to improve safety, quality, throughput, downtime, yield, and labor efficiency.
Lead or support continuous improvement projects focused on standard work, changeover reduction, waste reduction, employee engagement, and production reliability.
Promote a culture of ownership by engaging supervisors, leads, and hourly team members in identifying and solving production challenges.