Production Supervisor

Position Overview

The Production Supervisor is responsible for directing day-to-day manufacturing activities while ensuring the department achieves its targets for output, productivity, quality, cost control, customer service, safety, and employee engagement. The position provides leadership to production personnel, develops team capabilities, promotes operational excellence, and supports continuous improvement initiatives across the facility.

This role requires an individual who can effectively manage changing priorities and maintain consistent production performance in a high-volume, fast-moving manufacturing environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Review production orders, specifications, and requirements and translate them into clear assignments for the production team.
• Work closely with site leadership to coordinate production activities and ensure required volumes and customer commitments are achieved.
• Monitor finished goods and packaging throughout production to verify that products meet applicable quality, safety, and customer requirements.
• Supervise hourly production employees, providing direction, coaching, training, and performance feedback while ensuring established procedures are followed.
• Reinforce workplace safety and food safety expectations and ensure employees operate in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements and company policies.
• Adjust staffing, workflows, priorities, and operating procedures as necessary to keep production activities aligned with scheduled requirements.
• Evaluate production processes, equipment performance, and product quality and identify opportunities to improve operational effectiveness.
• Recommend and help implement modifications to equipment, processes, or working practices that can increase productivity, reliability, and departmental performance.
• Address employee and operational concerns promptly, investigate issues, and provide appropriate guidance or corrective action.
• Maintain complete and accurate production, attendance, labor, and timekeeping records.
• Coordinate with line leaders and production operators to verify that required ingredients, materials, machinery, tools, and equipment are available and ready for use.
• Maintain regular communication with management and supporting departments regarding production results, equipment conditions, staffing requirements, and operational challenges.
• Ensure employees consistently follow food safety, sanitation, workplace safety, and other applicable operating requirements.
• Establish daily assignments, monitor execution and employee performance, and provide coaching or disciplinary action when appropriate.
• Build a professional team culture centered on accountability, cooperation, communication, and achievement of operational goals.
• Monitor production activities throughout the shift to ensure work is completed safely, efficiently, and according to established priorities.
• Manage the effective use of production equipment, work areas, and facility resources to minimize interruptions and maintain workflow.
• Identify equipment, process, staffing, or production issues, determine appropriate escalation points, and work with operations leadership to resolve significant problems.
• Complete regular workplace safety observations and inspections, identify potential risks, and ensure corrective measures are implemented.
• Monitor production quality and take appropriate action when products or processes do not meet established specifications.
• Collect, review, and communicate key operational performance indicators, including measures related to output, efficiency, quality, safety, and labor.
• Complete shift-level production reports and use operational results to identify potential improvements and corrective actions.
• Assist with workforce planning, attendance monitoring, scheduling activities, and review of employee time records.
• Participate in the hiring, orientation, training, and ongoing development of production employees.
• Encourage employees to expand their capabilities through training, cross-training, and skills-development opportunities.
• Plan and allocate labor effectively based on production requirements in order to maximize throughput while maintaining appropriate staffing levels.
• Maintain a strong working knowledge of production equipment and contribute to equipment reliability and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) activities.
• Perform other operational or supervisory responsibilities as assigned by site leadership.

Required Qualifications & Competencies

• Associate degree or comparable combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• At least two years of supervisory, manufacturing, production, warehouse, or operations leadership experience.
• Previous experience within a food manufacturing environment subject to USDA or FDA requirements is preferred.
• Familiarity with both raw-material processing and Ready-to-Eat (RTE) production environments is advantageous.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Strong ability to analyze operational information, identify issues, and make sound decisions based on available data.
• Excellent organizational skills and a high degree of attention to detail.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to effectively lead and work with employees at different levels of the organization.
• Bilingual English/Spanish communication skills are required.