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Plant Manager

Winland Foods · Kenosha, WI · $113,000–$198,000 a year · Full time

Posted Sep 29, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about a time you reduced recordable injuries at a plant. What actually changed?

What they are checking: Whether they drive real safety culture change, a key metric for this role.

Tell me about a time you raised employee engagement and retention in a non-union plant.

What they are checking: Whether they can keep good people through communication, fairness, and development.

How do you get every employee involved in continuous improvement?

What they are checking: Whether they can engage the whole workforce in improvement, as the posting stresses.

Tell me how you've improved yields at a food plant.

What they are checking: Whether they know where product waste happens and how to reduce it.

What would you do

What would you do in your first 90 days at the Kenosha plant?

What they are checking: Whether they would learn the plant and people before making major changes.

Case fill rate and on-time delivery are slipping. How do you figure out why?

What they are checking: Whether they can trace service problems to scheduling, reliability, or materials.

A supervisor is hitting production numbers but has high turnover on their shift. How do you handle it?

What they are checking: Whether they value how results are achieved and coach leaders on people practices.

About the work

How would you lower conversion cost year over year without hurting safety or quality?

What they are checking: Whether they can find savings through yield, uptime, and labor efficiency rather than shortcuts.

How do you keep food safety, quality, and organic certifications in good standing through audits?

What they are checking: Whether they understand the systems and discipline behind keeping key certifications.

How do you build an asset reliability program in a 24/7 operation?

What they are checking: Whether they understand preventive and predictive maintenance in a plant that rarely stops.

How do you manage a manufacturing operating budget and hold your managers accountable to it?

What they are checking: Whether they own the budget and connect spending to plant performance.

Practice this interview out loud.

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The full job description

As published by Winland Foods.

The Plant Manager manages, directs and coordinates overall plant operations. Through subordinates, supervisors and managers, safety, continuous improvement, quality, cost, customer service, and production objectives are met or exceeded. Provides coaching and leadership to team members in the areas of safety, continuous improvement, productivity, quality, cost, equipment reliability, and employee engagement. Success relies on the ability to build relationships and fully engage all employees in business improvement. Performance will be managed by the following critical metrics: lower conversion cost year over year, asset reliability, successful retention of key certifications in food safety, quality and organics, reduced total recordable injury rates, improved yields, employee retention and turnover, case fill rate and on time delivery. The Plant Manager is responsible for the Manufacturing Operating Budget. This position directly and indirectly manages employees. The plant employs non-union full-time employees and salaried personnel. Employee Type: Full time Location: WI Kenosha Job Type: Production Operations Job Posting Title: Plant Manager Job Description: Schedule: Monday-Friday, with flexibility as needed 24/7 operations Work Location: 6819 77th Avenue, Kenosha WI 53142 Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401(k) with match, STD/LTD/AD&D/Life, HSA, FSA, EAP, Hospital indemnity, Accident Insurance, Identity and Fraud Protection Plan, Legal, and Critical Illness. Salary, based on experience and other qualifications: $113,000 - $198,000 annually with additional bonus potential Roles & Responsibilities: • Continually coach, direct and train employees utilizing Lean principles. Monitor employees' work performance and attitude and perform formal reviews as required by policy. Coach and counsel employees about work-related issues and assist employees to correct job skill deficiencies. • Ensure adherence to all health and safety policies/protocols and promote a safety culture. • Lead the development, execution and monitoring of the operations strategy in line with the overall operational objectives to achieve performance, quality, and safety improvement and ensure achievement of manufacturing goals. • Lead the continuous improvement program to deliver opportunities in cost, quality, food safety and service. • Drive the development and execution of operational and capital budgets • Utilize available data including Operational Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), line speed target, and efficiency and process data to continuously improve productivity, uptime and reliability. • Ensure all plant personnel are operating in compliance with plant and corporate procedures as well as in compliance with all customer and governmental regulations. • Coordinates manufacturing activities with all other functions of the organization and suppliers to obtain optimum production and utilization of human resources, machines and equipment. • Conduct regular meetings with plant personnel to ensure operational issues are being communicated and addressed expediently with a common understanding of goals. • Drive employee engagement, training and development to maximize safety, quality, and productivity. Qualifications & Experience: • Bachelor’s Degree in Operations Management or Engineering and five years related experience in progressively expanding roles, including in a Senior Plant Leadership role, or equivalent • Manufacturing, Processing or Packaging industry with specific experience in food production • Lean/Continuous Improvement experience strongly desired • Results-driven with a strong desire to grow and learn in a fast-paced environment • Demonstrated track record of meeting or exceeding targets goals • Minimum 5-8 years manufacturing experience preferred in plant leadership • Travel to other sites may periodically be required EEO Statement: Winland Foods seeks to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool, and as a global company we believe our success is enhanced by fostering equity and inclusion in the workplace. Therefore, Winland Foods is committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, military or veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

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