Plant Manager

Cal-Maine Foods

Burlington, WI

Shift: Full time

Echo Lake Foods is a leading manufacturer of ready-to-eat egg products and breakfast foods, including waffles, pancakes, French toast, scrambled eggs, omelets, and egg patties, serving major retail, foodservice, and national restaurant customers across the United States. Founded in 1941 and headquartered in Burlington, Wisconsin, the company operates multiple production facilities throughout the Midwest and has built a strong reputation for quality, innovation, and customer partnerships. In 2025, Echo Lake Foods was acquired by Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., the largest producer and distributor of fresh shell eggs in the United States, marking an exciting new chapter of growth. This partnership strengthens our resources, expands our capabilities, and supports continued investment in our people, facilities, and products. Creating new opportunities for employees to grow their careers within a stable and expanding organization. Summary The Plant Manager is responsible for overseeing all operations of a food manufacturing facility, with full Profit & Loss (P&L) accountability. This role ensures the safe, efficient, and high-quality production of food products while meeting financial, operational, and regulatory objectives. The Plant Manager will lead a diverse team, driving continuous improvement, and maintain compliance with food safety standards, fostering a culture of operational excellence and employee engagement. Essential Functions • Full accountability for the facility’s financial performance, including cost control, budgeting, and forecasting. • Develop and implement strategies to optimize profitability, reduce waste, and improve operational efficiency. • Management of multiple departments (direct reports include Production Leads, Safety, Receiving, Dispatch, Maintenance, etc.). • Drive lean manufacturing principles, continuous improvement initiatives, and process optimization to enhance productivity. • Promotes cross-functional goal alignment and common vision across functions. • Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as production costs, yield, labor efficiency, and material utilization. • Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations, including FDA, USDA, and HACCP standards. • Maintain rigorous adherence to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and food safety protocols. • Ensures machines are maintained as required to deliver and optimum utilization and operational performance. • Develops or revises standard operational and working practices and observes workers to ensure compliance with standards. • Meets and exceeds qualitative and quantitative performance standards as established by management. • Ability to function under highly stressful conditions and interact cordially with co-workers to accomplish common tasks. • Foster a culture of safety, accountability, and collaboration while promoting employee engagement and retention. • Implement training programs to enhance skills and ensure compliance with safety and operational standards. • Lead, mentor, and develop a team of supervisors, production staff, and support personnel. • Ensure preventive maintenance programs are executed to minimize downtime and extend equipment life Core Competencies • Problem Solving • Customer Focus • Budget and Cost Control • Collaborative Leadership • Communication Proficiency • Managing for Results Supervisory Responsibility This position is responsible for the direction, coordination, and evaluation of the facility while on shift. This position carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems. Work Environment The work environment characteristics described herein are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to work independently as well as with and around others. There is frequent verbal and face-to-face contact. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. Sensory and Physical Demands The sensory and physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to engage their sensory functions. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. Although this job is primarily sedentary and requires the ability to sit for