Bleached Pulp Mill Assistant Superintendent

Domtar is a leading producer of pulp, paper, packaging, tissue and wood products, delivering high-quality and cost-effective products to customers worldwide. Our Hawesville, Kentucky location is seeking a Bleached Pulp Mill Assistant Superintendent to support mill operations.

About the role

Organize and assist in managing all aspects of the Hawesville Bleached Pulp Mill operations by implementing and adhering to mill operating objectives and policies. This position works closely with the Bleached Pulp Production Superintendent, Coordinators, Shift Supervisors, and other mill functional areas to meet and exceed safety, environmental, quality, reliability, and production goals.

Responsibilities

• Lead the establishment of a safe workplace by supporting and implementing mill policies, safety initiatives, and accountability.
• Ensure a clean and safe workplace through good housekeeping practices.
• Support and perform workplace safety assessments for equipment and/or work tasks.
• Educate staff on safety and compliance issues, lead incident investigations, and develop action plans to prevent reoccurrences.
• Ensure all operating employees receive proper safety training.
• Provide safety, quality, service, and operating objectives within the department, ensuring implementation of effective plans to meet established goals.
• Coordinate daily operations and maintenance activities to support safe, reliable, and efficient production performance.
• Review and analyze operating results, including safety, quality, efficiencies, and costs, determining appropriate actions to improve margins and correct unfavorable trends.
• Develop and mentor others within the department with training and development plans.
• Participate in labor relations activities as necessary.
• Monitor area performance against established performance indicators and ensure effective utilization of systems.
• Provide technical direction and expertise for equipment, materials, maintenance, and procedures.
• Prioritize maintenance work, labor resources, and planned equipment outages to reduce downtime and strengthen asset reliability.
• Lead efforts to improve equipment reliability and uptime using reliability roadmap guidelines.
• Utilize improvement initiatives to maximize production and minimize costs.
• Collaborate with Technical support, suppliers, and other subject-matter experts to investigate area performance.
• Assist in developing budgets, capital expenditures, and strategic initiatives to support mill operations.
• Provide timely feedback to management and make recommendations for improvements.
• Ensure production of high-quality pulp by assisting in the development and implementation of quality programs and procedures.
• Work with Shift Supervisors in troubleshooting areas of concern, controlling variable and fixed costs, and overseeing day-to-day activities.
• Ensure the development and implementation of an effective operator management plan, including performance appraisals, development, coaching, and mentoring.
• Assist the Bleached Pulp Production Superintendent with mentoring and developing Shift Supervisors.
• Support Shift Supervisors in resolving labor relation issues, including grievances and disciplinary actions.
• Maintain good relationships and coordinate closely with the Pulp Machine team, Maintenance, Technical, Procurement, Logistics/Sales, and other departments.
• Maximize available production time and minimize costs incurred by unscheduled breakdowns.
• Meet departmental budget targets and report on variances as required.
• Provide daily, weekly, and monthly reports to document performance.
• Perform area or mill leadership on-call rotation.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field plus five (5) years of pulp production experience or ten (10) years' experience in the Pulp & Paper industry.
• In-depth knowledge of the pulp process and demonstrated ability to organize, plan, lead, and motivate people.
• Strong interpersonal skills and comfort working in a small team environment while interacting with senior-level managers.
• Proven technical, project management, and strategic skills.