Cultured Products Technical Manager

Job Category:

Manufacturing/Operations

Job Family:

Operations Leadership

Job Description:

Manages the processing operations of cultured products facilities (cream cheese and/or yogurt) including separation (raw and pasteurized), formulations, blending, pasteurization, ultra-filtration and fermentation with responsibility for efficient utilization and coordination of raw and pasteurized materials.  Establish processing unit operation and formulation standards in conjunction with Product Innovation and assure standards are met.  Responsible for supporting and advising coordination of daily production scheduling, provide technical expertise and training for operations; coordinate experimentation and interface with Product Innovation for product development.

What you’ll do:


* Lead waste reduction and process yield optimization projects to reduce operational costs without negatively impacting quality.  Coordinate process capability analyses with Process Excellence Leaders to identify and establish optimized processing parameter targets and ranges.  Support and implement updates to standard work and KPI’s to sustain optimization improvements.


* Develop and control cultured product formulations and unit operations that will be most efficient in terms of cost and utilization; control the cheese and ingredient usage through the blending system and monitor the on line quality of blends.  Develop and implement Partner standard work and associated KPI’s to stabilize processing operational activities.  Identify and implement CP’s and QP’s and associated process documentation to facilitate consistent quality and cost results.


* Conceptualize, develop and modify processing activities and unit operations to support new and existing product innovation.  Analyze process capability and recommend target and processing specification ranges to R&D for key processing activities and operations.

Support engineering in development of new equipment specifications and sequence of operations.


* Manage daily and weekly processing operations and review associated KPI’s to identify and communicate outages and/or opportunities to ensure product quality and minimized losses.

Supervise and train staff to assure accuracy of information in and out on the daily process accountabilities.


* Assist with maintaining perishable ingredient inventories.

Develop and implement processes and systems to minimize  inventories.


* Assist with maintenance and capability reviews of critical lab instrumentation to ensure consistent quality and cost results


* Provide technical assistance in terms of data, training and expertise for other departments with special emphasis on SPC, TQA, HACCP, MRP, etc.  Train and develop local and remote Leaders and hourly Partners on key processing unit operations including, but not limited to, centrifugal separation, ultra-filtration, homogenization, pasteurization, fermentation, and formulations.  Trai...