Senior Director, Operations & Supply Chain

Founded over 35 years ago, First Quality is a family-owned company that has grown from a small business in McElhattan, Pennsylvania into a group of companies, employing over 5,000 team members, while maintaining our family values and entrepreneurial spirit. With corporate offices in New York and Pennsylvania and 8 manufacturing campuses across the U.S. and Canada, the companies within the First Quality group produce high-quality personal care and household products for large retailers and healthcare organizations. Our personal care and household product portfolio includes baby diapers, wipes, feminine pads, paper towels, bath tissue, adult incontinence products, laundry detergents, fabric finishers, and dishwash solutions. In addition, we manufacture certain raw materials and components used in the manufacturing of these products, including flexible print and packaging solutions.

Guided by our values of humility, unity, and integrity, we leverage advanced technology and innovation to drive growth and create new opportunities. At First Quality, you’ll find a collaborative environment focused on continuous learning, professional development, and our mission to Make Things Better®.

We are seeking a Senior Director, Operations & Supply Chain, for our First Quality Home Care Products, LLC facility located in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The Senior Director of Operations and Supply Chain will build and lead a world-class manufacturing and supply chain organization across multiple existing facilities and new high-speed, highly automated expansion sites in North America. This leader owns end-to-end operational excellence, scales the manufacturing network through major capital expansion, and drives transformation focused on eliminating outdated practices and implementing best-in-class automated, digitally enabled processes. Safety, quality, product safety, lean manufacturing, automation, and continuous improvement are non-negotiable priorities. The role requires extensive travel across the North American manufacturing network, with the majority of time spent onsite at facilities and expansion projects.

Primary responsibilities include:

• Champion a zero-incident safety culture and world-class quality and product safety standards across all manufacturing, engineering, logistics, and warehousing operations
• Lead the design, startup, and ramp of new high-speed, highly automated CPG manufacturing facilities — including site selection support, line layout, equipment specification, commissioning, qualification, and ramp to full-rate production
• Own major capital expansion programs end-to-end — building business cases, managing capex budgets, partnering with finance on ROI, and delivering projects on time, on scope, and on budget
• Drive automation, robotics, and digital transformation across manufacturing and supply chain, including high-speed packaging lines, vision systems, MES, IIoT, advanced analytics, and Industry 4.0 capabilities
• Lead lean manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement programs to achieve world-class OEE, throughput, yield, changeover, and unit cost performance
• Oversee all manufacturing operations, manufacturing and process engineering, EHS, quality, logistics, warehousing, and distribution across the North American network
• Build, scale, and develop high-performing operations, engineering, quality, safety, and supply chain leadership teams — recruiting senior talent and developing internal pipelines to support rapid growth
• Establish and track KPIs around safety, quality, service/fill rate, delivery, cost, OEE, automation uptime, and capital project performance
• Partner with the business unit leader on capacity planning, network strategy, new product introduction (NPI), co-manufacturing strategy, and site expansions
• Embed sustainability practices into manufacturing, packaging, energy, water, and logistics operations

The ideal candidate should possess the following:

·       Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical field; advanced degree (MS, MBA) preferred

·       15+ years of progressive operations leadership in CPG manufacturing and supply chain, including significant time leading multi-site networks in North America

·       Proven track record building and scaling highly automated, high-speed CPG manufacturing facilities — greenfield or major brownfield expansions from concept through full-rate production

·       Demonstrated experience leading major capital expansion programs, including capex planning, vendor and EPC/OEM management, commissioning, and ramp-to-volume on high-speed lines

·       Deep expertise in automation, robotics, high-speed packaging, MES, and digital manufacturing technologies in a CPG environment

·       Strong background in lean manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma, EHS management systems, and quality/food safety systems (e.g., GMP, HACCP, SQF, BRC, FSSC 22000, or industry-equivalent standards)

·       Experience working with retailer service-level requirements, co-manufacturers, and 3PLs

·       Experience embedding sustainability into manufacturing, packaging, and logistics operations

·       Knowledge of SAP or other ERP systems preferred

·       Demonstrated success building and scaling large operations teams — hiring senior leaders, developing succession pipelines, and standing up new site organizations

·       Exceptional change management skills with a track record of driving operational transformation in high-growth CPG environments

·       Minimum of 30% travel required to other First Quality facilities and external meetings

What We Offer You

We believe that by continuously improving the quality of our benefits, we can help to raise the quality of life for our team members and their families. At First Quality you will receive:

• Competitive base salary and bonus opportunities
• Paid time off (three-week minimum)
• Medical, dental and vision starting day one
• 401(k) with employer match
• Paid parental leave
• Child and family care assistance (dependent care FSA with employer match up to $3750)
• Bundle of joy benefit (years’ worth of free diapers to all team members with a new baby)
• Tuition assistance
• Wellness program with savings of up to $4,000 per year on insurance premiums
• ...and more!