Plant Controller

Leading to better encompasses all we do at Kerry, it's how we've become the worlds leading taste and nutrition company. Whether it's building and manufacturing sustainable solutions for food, beverage or pharmaceutical consumers, our commitment to lead the world to better nutrition drives us forward. With 24,000+ colleagues across the globe and 15,000+ Kerry products, your opportunities are limitless.

About Kerry

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.

About the role

We have a Plant Controller open position in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. Kerry has over 41 sites across North America. Our Sturtevant facility plant is part of the Meat division business, and has over 200 employees. This site is re-structuring operations and investing capital on improvement projects for long term sustainability, efficiency and capacity generation.

Key responsibilities

The Plant Controller will manage a new role we have created for an Inventory/Plant Accountant who will support our complex portfolio; Inventory and performance management, whilst also supporting our much smaller sister plant in Brampton, Canada remotely with some travel. The Plant Controller in Sturtevant will ultimately oversee both plants, but main focus will be on Sturtevant. Some of the main responsibilities include:

• Partner with all members of the site leadership team to ensure ownership and accountability of financial performance, whilst identifying process improvement and cost reduction opportunities across all plant related cost categories (materials; labor; equipment; indirect purchases; and inventory);
• Present plant financial analysis and scorecard to plant and business unit management, with strong emphasis on Operational performance linked to SKU and Asset Productivity and Inventory/Waste Management (with support from Plant Accountant);
• Preparation of all daily, weekly, period end operational performance reports with comments and recommendation for corrective action (with relevant support from the Plant Accountant);
• Partner with the Plant Manager in the monthly presentation of operating results to business unit management, and future strategical decisions for the plant;
• Responsible for Month End period closing, and associated balance sheet management, accruals and purchase order reconciliation (with relevant support from the Plant Accountant);
• Be hands on to ensure strong process adherence across the plant for all relevant metrics including, but not limited to Inventory Control and Risk Management, Cycle Counting Accuracy, Inventory Obsolescence, Vendor Payment Management and Customer Billing (AP and AR are centralized, but the plant processes are key to a smooth operation).
• The plant controller is expected to understand the processes sufficiently to support the operation of them, and whilst not responsible for day to day completion, they are the site gatekeeper to ensure compliance.
• Capital Projects Performance Reporting (linking in with Meat Divisional Capital resource);
• Budgeting, Forecasting and Financial Planning;
• Kerry Best Practice Implementation; and
• Participate in Gemba walks.
• All other duties as assigned.

Qualifications and skills

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in Accounting required
• CPA, CMA or equivalent is desired but not required
• Proficient knowledge of SAP and Accounting Systems and experience with performance-based measurement highly desired. Strong and broad knowledge of Excel and associated systems is essential.
• ERP/SAP and Company specific systems training will be provided as required
• Strong analytical mindset with attention to detail, good communication, organization, prioritization and time management skills while handling multiple ongoing projects in a very fast-paced, deadline driven environment.
• Prior experience with long term strategic planning, investing analysis, acquisition, capital, cost management, capital reporting, budgeting, forecasting, profitability analysis, financial reporting, managing fixed assets, closing the books, processing accounts receivable and accounts payable, budgeting, intercompany allocations, year-end audit and technical accounting are all highly desired
• Experience in commercial and manufacturing (food, chemical or Pharmaceutical industry) very beneficial, but not required
• Experience in leading people desired.

Kerry is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. Kerry will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States for this opening. Any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of a background investigation and drug screen. EEO is the Law poster can be found here. Additional information can also be here .                               

For further information, and to apply, please visit our website via the “Apply” button below.