Plant Production Manager (Pet Food)

About the Job

Lead the daily manufacturing operations of an animal feed or pet food facility, ensuring safe, efficient, and high-quality production. Drive improvements in productivity, equipment utilization, yield, and cost while developing the production team.

What You Will Do

• Oversee production planning and daily operations to meet output, quality, cost, and delivery targets.
• Monitor and improve OEE, efficiency, yield, downtime, capacity utilization, and waste.
• Manage dry-processing operations, including milling, grinding, mixing, extrusion, drying, and packaging.
• Work with Engineering and Maintenance to resolve equipment issues and improve machine reliability.
• Lead production teams, continuous improvement initiatives, and root-cause analysis.
• Ensure compliance with GMP, HACCP, food safety, quality, and occupational safety standards.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams and report on plant performance and improvement opportunities.

What We Are Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.
• At least 10 years of manufacturing experience, including 3–5 years in production leadership.
• Feed mill, animal feed, pet food, or related process-manufacturing experience is highly preferred.
• Hands-on experience with dry-processing machinery is required, with exposure to milling, grinding, mixing, extrusion, drying, and packaging.
• Strong knowledge of production KPIs, cost control, and continuous improvement.
• Experience implementing GMP, HACCP, food safety, and plant safety standards.
• Strong leadership, analytical, and problem-solving skills.