Operations Plant Controller - Manitowoc, WI

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

The Plant Controller will work closely with plant management on all aspects of the financial operations of the plant for example, explaining and managing the plant costs, the product costing, the plant working capital and cap ex; part of the role will be the identification of cost savings and efficiency opportunities, for Management to make timely and informed decisions concerning business financial performance and enhance profitability.

This role is a key member of the leadership team in the facility and will be expected to be integral to non-financial KPI delivery as well, by understanding, supporting and challenging the other functions as required.

Key responsibilities

• 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, inventory).
• Partner with commercial finance on product costing and new product introduction to support the strategic pricing process.
• Partner with Supply Chain to help aligning Supply & Demand and enhance productivity together with working capital management.
• Present plant financial analysis and scorecard to plant and business unit management, with strong emphasis on Operational performance linked to Productivity and Loss Management.
• Preparation of all daily, weekly, period end operational performance reports with comments and recommendation for corrective actions.
• 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.
• Accountable for 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 submission, ROI calculation (if needed) and performance reporting.

Qualifications and skills

What is in it for you?

This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious finance leader to develop broader operational and strategical skills, plant leadership experience and getting exposure to the business level leadership team, being based at a key plant in our network. The work environment is fast-paced, challenging and results-driven, and has recently transitioned through an ERP change to SAP to align with our global objective to have 1 ERP systems across all our production facilities and head offices, which in turn has delivered its own challenges on site to implement new and improved processes and controls.

This position is responsible for making recommendations based on trends, business opportunities and potential improvements in efficiency or cost savings, costing up capital investments with the appropriate support and delivering day to day operations as required.

This position will have exposure to plant profitability and will work closely with the Business Unit leadership team to enhance Profit & Loss performance.

This position will be working with minimal or no direct supervision on a day-to-day basis.

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 .

Beware of scams online or from individuals claiming to represent us. A Kerry employee will not solicit candidates through a non-Kerry email address or phone number. In addition, Kerry does not currently utilise video chat rooms (e.g., Google Hangouts) to conduct interviews. Refuse any request that asks you to provide payment to participate in the hiring process (e.g., purchasing a “starter kit,” investing in training, or something similar). Kerry will not ask you to pay any money at any point in the hiring process with the exception of reimbursable travel expenses. In addition, any payments made by Kerry will be from official firm accounts bearing the Kerry name.

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