Production Manager

Facility: Burlington Manufacturing Plant

Location:
Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Workplace Type: Onsite

Dawn Foods is a global leader in bakery manufacturing and ingredients distribution. As the partner of choice for inspiring bakery success, we help customers grow their business through meaningful partnerships, research-driven insights and innovations, and products and expertise they can depend on. As a family-owned company, our commitments to our people, products, customers, and corporate values, are all part of our recipe for success.

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Dawn Foods is a global leader in bakery manufacturing and ingredients distribution. As the partner of choice for inspiring bakery success, we help customers grow their business through meaningful partnerships, research-driven insights and innovations, and products and expertise they can depend on. As a family-owned company, our commitments to our people, products, customers, and corporate values, are all part of our recipe for success.

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Why work for Dawn Foods?

PEOPLE. PRODUCTS. CUSTOMERS.

Why should you apply? We invest in you

• Industry-leading health insurance on Day 1
• Competitive Pay
• Generous company matched retirement benefit contributions
• 10 Paid Company Holidays
• 3 weeks PTO
• Professional training
• Family-owned business over 100 years in service
• An opportunity for career advancement, working as part of an empowering workforce

Schedule/Shift: This is an on-site role primarily working 5 days per week during the day or morning shift. The Production Manager will need to flex at times to provide optimal support for all shifts in production. To be successful in this role, providing support to night shift or potential weekend coverage by being available in either a physical sense or by phone will be critical.

Job Purpose and Overview

As a Production Manager at Dawn Foods, you are responsible for leading the daily production of processing and packaging for this operation. You will ensure safe production of quality products to meet customer needs in the most cost-effective manner while also effectively leading a team of Operators, Leads, and Supervisors to drive continuous improvement and operational excellence. The Production Manager will also engage and develop their team through effective coaching strategies and drive ownership and accountability to help their team achieve results across people, safety, quality, service, and cost.

What will you do as a Production Manager at Dawn Foods?

• Responsible for the development and implementation of programs and procedures to maximize production, minimize waste, increase capacity and efficiencies, and maintain product quality and integrity.
• Leads and sponsors teams for the continued improvement of operations in production.
• Establishes safety as a critical priority through training, equipment and job design, work assignments and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure product safety and establish high performance standards in housekeeping, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), International Food Standards (IFS), British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) requirements.
• Ensure efficiency, waste reduction, and cost control in production processes.
• Adhere to the Food Defense and Security functions within the facility.
• Constantly evaluates team performance to efficiently coordinate the necessary resources for schedule attainment.
• Lead, mentor, and develop Production Supervisors and Production Team Leads to foster a culture of accountability and engagement.
• Coaches, teaches, coordinates, and evaluates programs for team members to develop skills advantageous to the company's needs and goals.
• Operational responsibilities include Controlling Costs in:
• Raw ingredients – Packaging and Ingredients
• Direct Labor – Staffing Levels and OT
• Operating Expenses including Overhead Spend
• Monitor KPIS (yield, throughput, efficiency, downtime, labor cost, etc.) and drive performance improvements.

• Safety Responsibilities:

• • Promote a safety – first culture across all departments
• Develop, implement, and maintain health and safety programs that comply with local and federal regulations
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of local and federal safety regulations
• Coordinate safety training for all employees and ensure proper documentation
• Conduct regular safety audits, inspections, and risk assessments

• Lead incident investigations and implement corrective/preventative actions

• Develops in coordination with other managers an annual budget for production.

• Works closely with the Maintenance Team or other key plant stake holders to coordinate improvement projects (Capital and Local Budget).
• Conduct regular department meetings to foster Team Member engagement, communicate any changes to company policies and procedures, address TM concerns, foster idea-sharing and suggestions for improvement.
• Additional duties as required.

What Does It Take to be a Production Manager at Dawn Foods?

Below are the minimum qualifications to be a fit for this job.

• BA/BS Degree required with a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience OR in lieu of a degree, a high school diploma/GED and a minimum of 12 years of relevant experience.
• A minimum of 3 years of people management experience with a strong background in operations is required.
• 3 years of experience with laminated bakery products, icings, fillings, and dry mix bakery products or other food processing operations is preferred.
• Ability to professionally interact and influence internal and external contacts positively and proactively
• Computer skills, including MS Outlook, Teams, and Excel
• Exceptional organizational skills with the ability to prioritize multiple tasks.
• Prior experience with Continuous Improvement/Lean methods required. Green or Black belt certification preferred.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills required
• Must have the ability to resolve issues in an organized and logical manner.
• Must be able to handle many diversified tasks at one time.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a Team Member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. A reasonable accommodation may be provided to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Required to use motor coordination with arm, hand, finger, and leg dexterity.
• Required to exert physical effort in handling objects more than 25 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to focus.
• Ability to stand and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• Ability to withstand cool and/or cold temperatures.
• Normal setting for this job is manufacturing environment and office.
• Will be exposed to a physical environment, which involves dirt, odors, noise, weather extremes or similar elements most of the workday.

Note: The level of physical effort may vary from site to site and in some cases be greater or lesser than documented here.

Company Provided/Required PPE

• Non-slip shoes
• Gloves
• Hair Net
• Beard Net (if needed)
• Safety googles/ safety ear protection
• Additional PPE may be required

If this sounds like the opportunity that you have been looking for, please click "Apply."

About Our Benefits

Dawn is proud to employ the top talent in the baking industry, and we reward our people with comprehensive health and well-being coverage, competitive compensation packages, and award-winning benefit offerings. We also help protect your future financial health with a generous RRSP matching program matching program that provides additional retirement funds and many tools and resources on financial wellness. Dawn encourages professional growth through tuition assistance and educational programs, and we are always searching for ways to improve our industry-leading services and benefits.

Compensation:

Base salary range $97,180 to $145,770 with bonus potential

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An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/gender expression, citizenship status, military or veteran status, genetic information or any other status or condition that is protected by applicable law.

Requisition ID: 37456

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Date: Oct 15, 2025

If you need accommodation for any part of the employment process because of a disability, please send an email to