Plant Manager (Rotterdam)

As the plant manager Rotterdam you are the operational lead of the location. With hierarchical responsibility of the production department and dotted line to the local daily representation of SHE, quality and maintenance you manage daily operational processes. You are part of the site management team of AAK NL and report to the site director NL. With your full time presence in Rotterdam you are the eyes and ears for your SMT colleagues on all the operational processes in Rotterdam.

Next to that you lead and develop the production department to accomplish the production plan in compliance with safety, food‑safety, quality and environmental guidelines. In cooperation with the OPEX manager and the process technologist you work on continuous improvement of both organizational and physical processes. Achieve and improve KPI’s like LTI, OEE, First time right, Energy/MT amongst others.

• Manage and motivate the production team (indirect scope of 16 fte) through 5 team leads to accomplish the production plan whilst improving performance and ensuring that products are produced cost effectively against agreed specifications on time in full.
• Support full plant wide compliance with safety rules to further our goal of 0 accidents and encouragement of reporting and correcting near misses.
• Lead daily site meeting and weekly site meeting with local operational team. Function as first escalation for day to day business for the local operational team for SHE, quality, maintenance and HR.
• Translate the site plan into an annual production plan, cascade plant objectives into team and personal objectives of the operations staff.
• Contribute to the effort in controlling costs and minimizing downtime, scrap, poor quality, accidents, utility usage and reduced productivity in pursuit of your daily work.
• Lead continuous improvement by implementing lean principles and sponsor improvement initiatives.
• Hold and maintain close relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Be a member of the site management team, haccp team.
• Initiate and lead root cause analyses applicable in the production area.

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Technology, Engineering, or Business Administration.
• Several years of experience in leadership roles, preferably in cross‑functional environments.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey information effectively across all levels within and outside the organization.
• Knowledge of SAP is preferred.
• Proven experience in production management within the process industry, ideally in the food sector.
• Fluent in both Dutch and English, with strong verbal and written communication skills.

AAK prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, religion, veteran status, and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under state or federal law in any aspect of the access to, admission, or treatment of students in its programs and activities, or employment and application for employment.