Assistant Operations Manager

Redpath Sugar is part of the ASR Group, the world’s largest refiner and marketer of cane sugar, with an annual production capacity of more than 6 million tons of sugar. The Redpath Belleville plant is a blending and packaging operation producing a variety of sugar containing products for customers in Canada and the U.S. The plant operates state-of-the-art high-speed mixing and packaging systems supported by high level safety, quality and logistics systems.

**OVERVIEW**

The primary responsibility of the Assistant Operations Manager is to effectively plan, coordinate, and manage all the blending & packaging operations in a safe, environmentally responsible, quality-focused and financially responsible manner. Full-time dayshift role designed to support Operations, regularly working from Tuesday to Saturday, with periodic shift coverage when backup responsibilities are needed.

**RESPONSIBILITIES**:

- Accountable for the health and safety of shift employees in the process department. Responsible for ensuring that all operations are safe and that employees work in compliance with established work practices and procedures.
- Manage site operations supervisors and coordinates with on and off-site emergency response teams during emergencies.
- Leads the work of the operations shift teams in a manner that supports exceeding daily standard production rates, product quality, customer service and utility efficiencies.
- Back up for Operations Manager when needed.
- Attend daily meetings, convey operations challenges
- Create and present daily, weekly and monthly reports.
- Responsible for Supervisor and hourly team scheduling
- Review daily packaging results with operations team supervisors with respect to overall efficiency, product requirement, and production schedule. Review current inventory levels and anticipate customer demand with Distribution to assure adequate order fulfillment.
- Diagnose problems in the operation using the WonderWare & Redzone control systems, laboratory database and independent observations. Able to then make the required decisions to resolve them to support the plant goals.
- Develop and implement plans to improve performance, drive continuous improvement, and build technical depth and leadership capability. Collaborate with the department supervisors/managers to determine the future state of the department and develop and implement plans that drive towards the future state.
- Leads continuous improvement problem solving sessions to action improvement opportunities through root cause analysis. Engage hourly employees in continuous improvement efforts (Kaizen and 5 Why).
- Oversees operator training on safety, quality, maintenance, operations and other areas as required.
- Supervises the packaging and blending operations when required to cover the Operations & Warehouse Supervisor as needed

**REQUIRED SKILLS**
- Ability to communicate effectively across all levels of the organization.
- Manage multiple priorities with overlapping tasks and work independently with mínimal supervision.
- Ability to lead diverse teams to challenge the status quo to achieve operational improvements
- Strong organization skills, attention to detail and follow-through to resolve any outstanding issues.
- Proficient skills specifically in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SAP, Redzone and Outlook are required.
- Fundamental understanding of food standards, safety and sanitary regulations and good manufacturing practices.
- Maintain a good working climate by developing a team. Conduct performance evaluations on a timely basis and establish performance goals. Ensure that supervisors are building teams, setting expectations and holding employees accountable.
- System Expert - Learn to use and teach manufacturing systems to drive results (RedZone, SAP, Wonderware)

**EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE**:

- College or University graduate with technical or engineering focus preferred.
- Minimum of 5 years Supervisory experience leading teams in an Industrial setting or demonstrated leadership and supervisory skills.
- Demonstrated ability to supervise, coach and train employees.
- Experience leading a large work group of 75+ employees required.
- Experience working in a unionized environment required.
- Demonstrated understanding of structured problem solving (CI), Lean experience an asset.
- Experience with sugar refining or a continuous production process preferred.
- Proficient in use of Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook MS Office skills required. Knowledge of SAP is an asset.

For more than 100 years, our employees have taken pride in “Making Life a Little Sweeter” by providing our customers and consumers with quality service and sugar products. Our commitment to that principle drives us in all that we do and encourages us to uphold our company’s high ethical standards of business conduct to ensure our continued success.