Production Manager – Second Shift
Tampa Maid Foods is seeking an experienced Production Manager – Second Shift to lead manufacturing operations across multiple production departments at our Lakeland, FL facility. This role is responsible for driving safety, quality, productivity, labor efficiency, schedule attainment, and overall operational performance during second shift.
The Production Manager will provide leadership and direction to Supervisors, Leads, and production team members while building a culture focused on accountability, food safety, operational excellence, and people development.
This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can run the floor, make decisions, hold teams accountable, and keep production moving in a fast-paced food manufacturing environment.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & People Management
- Provide clear daily direction to Supervisors, Leads, and production teams.
- Set expectations, coach team members, support performance management, and develop talent.
- Foster a culture of accountability, teamwork, communication, and proactive problem-solving.
- Support effective shift communication, including pass-downs, daily operating reviews, and weekly operating reviews.
- Partner with HR and leadership on employee relations, corrective actions, policy enforcement, and team engagement.
Safety & Compliance
- Lead a safety-first culture and promote a zero-injury mindset.
- Ensure compliance with OSHA, BRC, GMPs, HACCP, allergen controls, sanitation programs, and company policies.
- Partner with Safety, Quality, and Operations leadership on training, incident investigations, corrective actions, and preventive measures.
Production Operations
- Oversee production activities across multiple departments and production lines.
- Drive performance in schedule attainment, throughput, yields, labor utilization, and downtime reduction.
- Monitor and improve key operational metrics including pounds per labor hour, scrap, rework, WIP, unplanned downtime, and production accuracy.
- Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions when performance targets are not met.
- Ensure accurate reporting of production data and support inventory accuracy.
Quality & Food Safety
- Partner with Quality leadership to ensure all products meet specifications, customer expectations, and regulatory requirements.
- Support corrective actions related to foreign material, allergen control, micro failures, sanitation, line clearance, and customer complaints.
- Reinforce food safety expectations and ensure proper procedures are followed across the shift.
Maintenance & Reliability
- Work closely with Maintenance to minimize downtime and improve equipment reliability.
- Support work order execution, PM compliance, equipment readiness, and escalation of maintenance issues.
- Ensure production equipment is prepared for new product launches, packaging changes, and operational needs.
- Support proper use of production tracking and reliability systems.
Continuous Improvement & Cost Optimization
- Lead and support Lean and continuous improvement initiatives, including 5S, 5-Why, Go-See-Think-Do, standard work, and waste reduction.
- Identify opportunities to improve labor efficiency, yield, packaging usage, utilities, downtime, and overall cost performance.
- Partner with Manufacturing, Finance, Maintenance, Quality, HR, and other cross-functional teams to improve business results.
Key Performance Indicators
- Safety performance
- Pounds per labor hour
- Equipment uptime
- Material usage variance
- Schedule adherence
- Labor utilization
- Scrap, rework, and downtime reduction
- Quality and food safety compliance
Required Qualifications
- Minimum of 10 years of experience in food manufacturing or related high-volume manufacturing environment.
- Experience leading Supervisors, Leads, and production employees across multiple departments or production lines.
- Strong knowledge of production operations, labor management, yields, throughput, downtime, and cost performance.
- Working knowledge of GMPs, HACCP, food safety, sanitation, allergen control, and regulatory compliance.
- Mechanically inclined with the ability to understand equipment operations and partner effectively with Maintenance.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to lead, coach, hold teams accountable, and make sound decisions in a fast-paced production environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Four-year degree in Industrial Management, Industrial Engineering, Operations Management, or related field.
- Experience in frozen food manufacturing.
- Experience with batter, breading, par-fry, or protein processing operations.
- Working knowledge of product costing, including yield, labor, overhead, and material usage.
- Lean manufacturing or continuous improvement experience.
- Experience with production tracking systems, maintenance systems, or operational KPI dashboards.
Schedule
Second shift position. Schedule may vary based on production needs, business demands, and operational coverage.
What We’re Looking For
We are looking for a strong production leader who can own the shift, drive accountability, and deliver results. The right candidate will be comfortable spending time on the production floor, leading through Supervisors, solving problems quickly, and ensuring that safety, quality, and production goals are consistently met.
Tampa Maid Foods is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: From $85,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply
Work Location: In person
