Plant Manager (Longburn) | New Zealand

Job Description

Beverages Plant Manager – Longburn Dairy

About Goodman Fielder

Goodman Fielder is a leading food company committed to making everyday food better for everyone. We are home to some of New Zealand's most recognised and trusted brands, including Meadow Fresh, Puhoi Valley, Vogels, Molenberg, Edmonds and others.

We are passionate about our people, our products and building a workplace where teams are proud to deliver safe, high-quality food every day.

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced Beverages Plant Manager to lead our production team at our Longburn Dairy manufacturing site.

Reporting to the Manufacturing Manager, this role is responsible for leading a manufacturing team of approximately 36 staff, ensuring safe, reliable and efficient production while delivering daily customer requirements.

This is a hands-on leadership role where you will build a high-performing team culture grounded in safety, accountability, continuous improvement, quality, and care for our people.

Key Responsibilities

Health, Safety & Environment

• Champion a proactive safety culture where risks are identified, reported and addressed.
• Ensure site safety standards, procedures and compliance requirements are consistently followed.
• Lead incident, hazard and near-miss reporting and support corrective actions that reduce risk.

Quality & Food Safety

• Ensure RMP, GMP, food safety and quality standards are maintained across daily operations.
• Drive audit readiness, quality documentation accuracy, product escalation discipline and cleaning compliance.
• Work closely with Quality and operations teams to improve process control and product outcomes.

Operational Excellence

• Lead daily production delivery, ensuring labour, equipment and materials are planned and used effectively.
• Drive performance across OEE, line utilisation, downtime, waste reduction, productivity, DIFOT and cost control.
• Support production planning, maintenance follow-up, stock control, new product trials and continuous improvement initiatives.

People Leadership

• Lead, coach and develop team leaders and production staff to build capability and accountability.
• Drive engagement through clear communication, regular team meetings, 1:1 conversations, development plans and succession planning.
• Manage rosters, annual leave, absenteeism and labour budgets to support efficient and sustainable operations.

Continuous Improvement

• Embed a continuous improvement mindset using team input, data and structured problem solving.
• Identify and lead improvement opportunities that improve safety, quality, reliability, cost and customer service.
• Support a culture where people are encouraged to speak up, simplify processes and get stuff done.

What You'll Bring

• Proven leadership experience in dairy, food, beverage or another regulated manufacturing environment.
• A strong understanding of GMP, RMP/food safety requirements, quality systems and audit expectations.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver results across safety, quality, production efficiency, waste, cost and customer service.
• Experience leading frontline teams, developing people, managing performance and building a positive team culture.
• Continuous improvement mindset with practical experience using performance data, OEE, Lean or structured problem-solving tools.
• Confident communication skills, sound computer literacy and the ability to work collaboratively across production, quality, maintenance, planning and support teams.
• SAP or similar manufacturing system experience would be advantageous.

Why Join Us?

At Goodman Fielder, we are driven by our values: We Grow Together, We Keep Things Simple, and We Get Stuff Done.

You will join a collaborative manufacturing team at an important New Zealand dairy site, with the opportunity to make a real impact on safety, quality, performance and people development.

In return for your leadership and commitment, we offer a competitive remuneration package and the opportunity to grow your career with a business that makes products Kiwis know and trust.

If you are ready to lead a capable team and help shape the next stage of performance at Longburn Dairy, we would like to hear from you.

Apply now.