Operations Manager

Pharmachem Laboratories LLC

Are you the kind of person that is always thinking, sketching, seeking, and adjusting? Who needs to understand how things work and then figure out how they can work better? Are you a passionate, tenacious, solver who loves to work with others who share your drive? Are you positive, constructive, and ingenious?

Are you always solving?

Then we’d like to meet you and bet you’d like to meet us.

Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a Operations Manager to join our Life Sciences business at our Totowa, NJ site. This is a very visible, significant role within the Company and the manufacturing function. This position will report to the Plant Manager.

The Operations Manager is accountable for the compliant, safe, cost effective, and efficient operation of the Totowa, NJ manufacturing facility.  This critical role will lead a team of 20 production employees and support 2 adjacent buildings.  This leader will insist on employee safety and food safety plan delivering the highest quality product.  This location is part of the Life Science division of Ashland and is primarily a spray drying facility for product in the food and dietary supplements markets.  In addition to leading direct reports, the Operations Manager will coordinate with shared and dotted line resources across the NJ network for safety, quality, hr and maintenance activities.  This is a highly visible location experiencing strong growth which provides future career opportunities within Ashland.

The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Passionately drive a zero-incident safety culture
• Prioritize quality in all steps of manufacturing & act in union with our food safety management policy
• Align production plan with capacity, track production performance against targets
• Keep accurate production records in SAP (or another ERP tool)
• Develop yearly budget and identify cost improvement opportunities; explain performance vs targets
• Identify OPEX and CAPEX improvements, calculate ROI, request funding, and track active projects
• Coordinate with maintenance and vendors to maintain the manufacturing & QC/R&D facility (in the adjacent building)
• Effectively communicate and apply HR policies
• Protect inventory integrity by maintaining locations and quantities in SAP (or another ERP tool)
• Engage with commercial teams to support customer expectations
• Other responsibilities as needed

In order to be qualified for this role, you must possess the following:

• Bachelor of Science in STEM or food engineering or equivalent experience
• 10 years of industry experience
• Bilingual (English & Spanish)
• Cross-functional leadership experience
• Spray dryer experience

The following skill sets are preferred by the business unit:

• Experience with SAP
• Knowledge of GMP, FDA, OSHA, FSMA, NFPA, FSSC, ISO  
• Powder processing experience

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Third party recruiters and agencies (“Agency”) should not contact employees of Ashland or its subsidiaries directly. Any resumes sent by an Agency to a hiring manager, recruiter or submitted to Ashland’s career portal are considered unsolicited and property of Ashland. Ashland will not pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume, unless the Agency has a signed contract with Ashland’s Human Resources/Procurement department in advance of submitting a candidate for consideration. Verbal and written approvals will not be considered a valid contract for service.

In more than 100 countries, the people of Ashland LLC. (NYSE: ASH) provide the specialty chemicals, technologies and insights to help customers create new and improved products for today and sustainable solutions for tomorrow. Our chemistry is at work every day in a wide variety of markets and applications, including architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, personal care and pharmaceutical. Visit www.ashland.com to see the innovations we offer.
 
At Ashland our vision is to be a leading, global specialty chemicals company whose inspired and engaged employees add value to all we touch. In fact our people, employees, customers and vendors define who we are. They are the driving force behind everything we do.
 
Not only do we value our customers but we value our employees, and we work to offer them a dynamic and challenging environment. We hold ourselves to high standards at Ashland, and we value integrity and honesty.
 
Ashland has a history of attracting the best people and keeping them. The reasons are simple: industry competitive salary and benefits, pay-for-performance incentive plans and a diverse work environment where employees feel challenged and valued. People come to Ashland and stay. As a growing Fortune 500 specialty chemicals company, we offer opportunities for development and advancement throughout our global organization. Our values define who we are and what we care about as a company. If you are looking for a relationship with a company instead of simply a job, this may be a great fit.

Ashland is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer Minorities/Women/Veterans/Disabled/Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation. 

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. NOTE:  We do not accept resumes from external staffing agencies or independent recruiters for any of our openings unless we have a signed recruiting agreement in place to fill a specific position.