Department Manager

Your Opportunity as a Department Manager

The Department Manager is responsible for day-to-day direction and oversight for the manufacturing of bakery products and teams. This individual will organize and lead production to ensure that products are produced consistently and efficiently to specified quality and operational standards to be shipped to customers on time. The Department Manager will lead the team to implement best practices and standards to continue to improve and manage to KPI’s.

Location: 1525 Industrial Road Emporia, KS (Hostess Manufacturing Plant)

Work Arrangements: 100% on-site. Day Shift. Flexibility required. Willingness to work off shift (including nights, weekends, and/or holidays) and flow to the work as needed.

Responsible for

• Leading an operations department to support the business
• Develop capability and leadership characteristics in Area Leaders, Process Engineers, Controls Leader, and Advanced Technical Leadership
• Meet Quality, Safety, Reliability, and Cost targets for plant operations
• Coordinate activities to increase Autonomous Maintenance knowledge throughout the plant, utilizing Autonomous Maintenance to improve Operations measures
• Lead and teach complete understanding of overall plant product flow including all inputs, product transformations, and outputs
• Manage and leverage relationships with R&D and corporate engineering
• Identify and eliminate operations losses; Lead in solving issues to cause and implement improvements
• Manage capital budget/projects to improve Operations measures in the areas of capacity growth, production efficiencies, Quality, and Safety
• Attend FAT sessions to assist in the development of new processes and equipment to ensure it meets objective criteria
• Set plant direction by contributing to the Plant Leadership team
• Administer any necessary discipline

Basic Beliefs

Executes effective communication to all levels of the organization

Minimum Requirements

• A High School Diploma or equivalent is required
• At least 5 years of manufacturing operational experience managing people and teams
• 2+ years of manufacturing operational experience
• Prioritize setting and problem-solving: Demonstrate ability to be decisive, proactive, and strategic in decision making

Additional Skills and Experience

• A bachelor’s degree is preferred (an engineering or technical degree is preferred)
• Food processing or manufacturing experience
• Experience in a high-performance work environment
• Work effectively across organization boundaries and with diverse teams
• Excellent communication (both written and verbal) and listening skills
• Strong organization skills
• Experience directing and managing vendors
• Be available after hours/weekends

Physical Demands

• Regularly required to talk and hear
• Frequently required to stand; walk; use hands and fingers to handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms
• Occasionally required to sit; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl
• Able to lift objects up to 50 pounds frequently
• May push and pull heavy equipment

Work Environment

This job operates in a manufacturing environment. The noise level in the work environment and manufacturing sites can be high.