Production Supervisor

Position Summary

The Production Supervisor oversees plant production and maintenance activities during an assigned shift. This role is accountable for executing the plant production plan, maintaining a safe work environment, building a strong team-oriented workforce, meeting customer quality and service expectations, driving process improvements, and hitting plant productivity goals. The Production Supervisor also leads shift communications, identifies and resolves operational issues, and delivers training programs to hourly staff.

Reporting Structure

This position reports to the Manufacturing Manager and supervises hourly plant employees. The role partners closely with plant leadership, human resources, accounting, planning, logistics, sales, equipment and supply vendors, contractors, and auditors.

Essential Functions

• Supervise and monitor daily operations to meet production targets and customer needs, including scheduling, materials, and staging of fruit. Approve and enforce adherence to production schedules. Oversee hourly employees on throughputs, quality and process checks, scheduling, time approvals, and vacation planning to ensure proper coverage.
• Measure plant production efficiencies and communicate performance results to supervisors and employees. Prepare and review daily, weekly, and monthly production and financial reports covering customer complaints, yield, labor, and throughputs.
• Provide leadership and direct supervision of hourly plant employees. Set goals and objectives for staff and deliver formal and informal feedback through coaching, monitoring, and evaluation of job results.
• Maintain compliance in auditable areas including food safety audits, GMP audits, plant inspections, LOTO audits, and sanitation audits (GMP, SQF, SOP, SSOP, OSHA, State Department of Agriculture, USDA, and applicable state/federal regulations).
• Develop and implement SOPs and SSOPs relevant to the area of responsibility. Ensure appropriate documents are properly stored and approved in the document control system, and that personnel are adequately trained on all relevant approved documents.
• Ensure compliance with and enforcement of company policies and procedures concerning cGMPs, food safety, and all pre-requisite programs.
• Participate in production, safety, training and development, and other routine meetings.
• Identify and implement capital, continuous improvement, and cost containment projects. Minimize waste and production costs.
• Perform under standard plant working conditions.

Additional Responsibilities

• Oversee sanitation activities and ensure compliance with corporate and plant policies and procedures.
• Manage raw fruit to achieve optimal throughputs, factoring in apple pressures, decay, stem bowl crack, stickers, varieties, and sizes.
• Administer the plant's safety program.
• Submit work orders into the Computerized Preventive Maintenance System.
• Supervise daily maintenance activities.

Required Knowledge

• Principles and practices of food manufacturing, including food safety, quality, and manufacturing concepts.
• Working knowledge of FDA and OSHA regulations, GMPs, sanitation, and HACCP.
• Understanding of processing and maintenance equipment and related engineering principles.
• Principles and practices of financial and manufacturing accounting.
• Principles and practices of financial forecasting and budgeting.
• Principles and practices of inventory planning, production scheduling, production metrics, and system variables, balancing, and optimization.
• Principles and practices of continuous improvement.
• Pertinent federal, state, and local laws, codes, and regulations.

Required Skills and Abilities

• Effectively manage and lead multiple projects with multidisciplinary teams toward a shared goal.
• Gain cooperation through discussion and persuasion.
• Identify, research, and analyze problems, evaluate alternative solutions, and project consequences of proposed actions.
• Organize, plan, and execute effectively.
• Use computers and business software, including word processing, spreadsheets, and databases.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Operations, Engineering, Manufacturing, or a related field preferred.
• Minimum of 1–3 years of food processing experience.
• Supervisory experience in a food manufacturing facility preferred.
• First Aid/CPR and forklift training preferred.
• SQF, Ammonia Fit, Food Safety, Sensory Evaluation, and/or HACCP training and certification preferred.