Pellet Mills Plant Manager

Job Summary

The Plant Manager is the senior operational leader responsible for the overall performance, productivity, and safety of WCB Outdoor Brands BBQ pellet manufacturing facility in Hope, Arkansas. This role oversees all aspects of plant operations including production, maintenance, quality, safety, logistics, planning, and continuous improvement to deliver high quality pellets that support WCB Outdoor Brands premium products.

The Plant Manager drives operational excellence through strong leadership, cross functional alignment, and disciplined execution. This includes ensuring world class safety performance, maximizing production throughput, maintaining equipment reliability, managing costs, developing talent, and achieving key performance objectives in alignment with company strategy. The Plant Manager serves as the primary decision maker for day-to-day plant operations and a key contributor to long term operational planning.

Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership and People Management

• Lead and oversee all plant departments including production, maintenance, quality, safety, and warehouse and logistics.
• Establish clear priorities, goals, and performance expectations across all shifts to ensure reliable, efficient, and safe operations.
• Coach, mentor, and develop plant leadership team members to build capability, accountability, and bench strength.
• Promote WCB Bradley culture of safety, integrity, and operational excellence.
• Ensure adequate staffing levels, talent development plans, and succession planning for key roles.

Operational Excellence and Production Management

• Direct daily production operations to meet volume, quality, and delivery requirements.
• Optimize production scheduling, material flow, and resource allocation to maximize throughput and reduce operating costs.
• Work closely with maintenance leadership to ensure equipment reliability, minimize downtime, and effectively execute preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
• Drive operational discipline in adherence to standard operating procedures, process controls, and standard work.
• Monitor production performance and adjust operations to meet planned targets.

Safety, Quality, and Compliance

• Champion the Safety First culture and ensure consistent compliance with OSHA, NFPA, and combustible dust standards.
• Ensure timely reporting, investigation, and corrective action for safety incidents.
• Oversee quality assurance processes to ensure pellet specifications, consistency, and performance meet brand standards.
• Maintain compliance with company policies, environmental regulations, and industry safety codes.

Continuous Improvement and Cost Optimization

• Lead and support continuous improvement initiatives using lean, Six Sigma, and reliability centered maintenance principles.
• Identify and eliminate sources of waste, inefficiency, and downtime.
• Drive cost improvements in labor, materials, scrap, and energy while maintaining or improving output quality.
• Utilize data to identify bottlenecks, optimize processes, and improve overall equipment effectiveness.

Performance Management and Reporting

• Monitor and report key operational metrics including:
• Safety performance
• Overall equipment effectiveness and throughput
• Scrap, rework, and yield
• Mean time between failures, mean time to repair, maintenance schedule compliance, maintenance backlog, and downtime
• Labor and overhead cost performance
• Service level and order fulfillment performance
• Analyze production data and lead corrective action plans to meet targets.
• Prepare operational reports and present performance results to senior leadership.

Cross Functional Collaboration

• Partner with engineering on capital projects, equipment upgrades, and long term asset optimization.
• Collaborate with supply chain, planning, and procurement on materials, scheduling, and inventory management.
• Work closely with quality and safety teams to strengthen compliance and standardization across the plant.
• Serve as the primary site representative with internal stakeholders, auditors, and external partners.

Other Duties

• • Provide leadership during emergencies, shutdowns, and high priority operational situations.
  • Perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Qualification Requirements

Minimum Education 

• Bachelor’s degree in business, operations management, industrial technology, or related field required.

Minimum Work Experience 

• Eight to ten years of manufacturing leadership experience, including multi shift operations.
• Experience as a production manager, operations manager, or plant manager in a continuous process environment preferred.
• Experience in wood processing, pellet manufacturing, feed, biomass, or related industries strongly preferred. 

Licenses

• OSHA 30 required or obtained within six months. 

• Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement certifications preferred. 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong understanding of mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, and process equipment common to pellet manufacturing.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex operations in a twenty four hour production environment.
• Excellent communication, leadership, team development, and organizational skills.
• Strong financial and analytical skills including cost management and budgeting.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities under pressure with sound decision making.
• Proficiency in computer maintenance management systems, enterprise resource planning systems, production planning tools, and data analysis.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to work in outdoor environments and occasionally in temperatures above one hundred degrees Fahrenheit and below thirty two degrees Fahrenheit.
• Ability to maintain regular attendance and work flexible hours including nights, weekends, or holidays when needed.
• Ability to work in a constant state of alertness and perform physically demanding tasks when required.