Aspire Bakeries is a North American baking company with a leadership position in specialty frozen baked goods. Formed from leading bakery companies, its innovative food portfolio includes breads, artisan breads, buns, cookies, donuts, muffins and pastries from beloved brands likeLa Brea Bakery,Otis Spunkmeyer, andOakrun Farm Bakery. With 13 bakeries in North America, we are committed to driving innovation, predicting upcoming consumer trends and flavors, and exceeding our customers' expectations. Aspire Bakeries champions the values of Integrity, Ownership, Customer Focus, Creativity and Care to help us deliver on People Safety, Food Safety, Quality and Collaboration.
As aSr Manager, IT Business Applications for Manufacturing, you will be at the forefront of strategic planning, implementation, and management of Manufacturing, Production, Operations, Quality processes and systems within the organization. Your role will involve leveraging your extensive Manufacturing and Operations systems and product expertise to enhance business outcomes and provide strategic insights that drive growth. You will collaborate closely with various teams to ensure that our Manufacturing systems are robust, efficient, and aligned with our business goals. Your leadership and hands-on management will be crucial in maintaining and improving these systems.
In this role, you will serve as the primary point of contact for assigned departments and business units, offering strategic consulting and guidance. You will work with stakeholders to identify and implement optimal solutions for business process improvements, ensuring continuous enhancement of our manufacturing systems. Additionally, you will support the day-to-day operations of our SAP platform, including process analysis, system design, development, configuration, testing, and training. As the SAP Manufacturing expert, you will resolve issues, support system updates and enhancements, and lead a significant part of our future migration to SAP S/4HANA. Your contributions will be vital in ensuring the efficiency and strategic value of our financial systems.
The position reports to the IT Director, Business Applications and works with other IT leaders, managers, business analysts and business representatives to keep abreast of operational issues and initiatives with a potential system impact. This position may also fill one or more IT Functional Lead role(s) on one or more projects.
SAP ERP & Manufacturing Systems:
- Lead the strategic planning and execution of the SAP Manufacturing functions and related systems solutions for Production, Operations, and Quality Assurance.
- Manage complex technology Manufacturing and Operations related projects, ensuring they align with the company's strategic objectives.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within the SAP manufacturing domain and with the operations community.
- Collaborate with leadership to translate business vision into scalable SAP solutions.
- Drive the Design, Configuration, and Integration of the SAP suite of modules with other business processes, modules, and systems to enhance cross-functional operations.
- Perform Fit/Gap Analysis and Blueprinting activities to capture requirements in functional and technical specifications.
- Champion the adoption of new SAP and non-SAP technologies and practices that can provide competitive advantages.
Cross-Functional Leadership:
- Be the Partner and Technical Expert to liaise and bridge between different departments (all areas of manufacturing & production, operations, quality, information & technology).
- Possess significant business knowledge in assigned functional areas and interface across several business teams while acting as a visionary to proactively assist in defining the direction of future projects and enhancements.
- Consult with functional teams to understand and frame operational problems for further analysis.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify process improvement opportunities, refine processes, and enhance models.
- Drive commitment to change and continuous improvement with teams, stakeholders, and the wider organization.
- Provide knowledge transfer, training, support to other colleagues and analysts as needed.
- May lead small to moderate size projects creating project plans, assigning, and monitoring project tasks, identifying risks, and facilitating team meetings to ensure successful project delivery.
Strategic Planning and Product Development:
- Define the product vision and strategy, aligning it with company, functional, and technical goals.
- Create and maintain a product roadmap, prioritizing features based on customer needs, business impact, technology strategy, and analysis.
- Make recommendations for solutions or improvements to business processes that can be accomplished through new technology or alternative uses of existing technology.
- Deliver Solutions and technology strategies that are appropriate for the business, including researching, analyzing, designing, and proposing.
- Translate business opportunities/problems into compelling narratives for business needs and prioritization on the backlog.
- Prepare business cases with executive summaries, objectives, benefits, scope, cost estimates, and risks.
- Manage the technology product development lifecycle for assigned systems and solutions:
- From initial concept and design to development/configuration/build, testing, and launch.
- Manage ongoing feature and deployment roadmaps.
- Ensure timely delivery within scope and budget.
- Research and maintain knowledge in SAP solutions, emerging technologies, and new solutions to solve business problems.
Configuration and Implementation:
- Manage, facilitate, build technology solutions that enable and integrate business processes with system functions for assigned areas. Includes working internally and with third parties to some hands-on direct.
- Configures systems as needed for proof of concept to solution design to launch and operation.
- Identifies technology related opportunities and integrates resources to fulfill requirements.
- Create and maintain techno-functional documentation of solutions including data flow diagrams, solution overviews.
- Provide support, Help troubleshoot and Resolve errors/issues.
- Assist in testing strategy and facilitate user acceptance testing.
- Coordinate cross-functional, cross-system integration and ensure smooth deployment.
- Execute Change Control practices and procedures.
- Additional duties as required, assigned by supervisor or management.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college in related field or equivalent work experience in manufacturing, industrial, logistics business disciplines. In lieu of degree, 12+ years of experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience required.
- Minimum of 8+ years in implementing and managing SAP Manufacturing, PP/QM modules with at least 3 years in a leadership role; Overall 10+ years of SAP experience including multiple implementations, leading projects, and providing direct support
- 5+ years of proven system/application design experience in building solutions for Finance functions and processes.3+ to 5+ years of experience working in a Manufacturing function (eg. Production Supervisor, Production Engineer) with demonstrated understanding of core business processes. Ideally in a process manufacturing environment. Lean or Six Sigma certification a plus.
- Hands-on functional configuration and design experience with SAP Manufacturing/PP/QM functions in SAP ERP ECC6 and S/4HANA. Strong experience in Production, Operations, and Quality processes using SAP.
- Participation in at least 2 end-to-end SAP Manufacturing implementations, and in a workstream sub-lead or lead role on at least 2 implementations.
- SAP certification in S/4 Manufacturing and or ECC Production Planning & Execution.
- Experience with SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (MII) and or Digital Manufacturing along with Manufacturing Control Systems. Knowledge and experience of production reporting and corporate performance management processes with integrated BW/BI solutions.
- Experience with Enterprise Asset Management or Plant Maintenance functions and processes a plus.
- Experience with multiple ERP systems, manufacturing process control software, and familiarity with Finance/Accounting and Manufacturing industry processes.
- In Depth knowledge of Manufacturing processes, manufacturing principles, continuous improvement and SAP solutions/best practices in PP, QM in manufacturing environments; knowledge of key integration points with other SAP modules and processes such as FI, MM, SD, etc.
- Technical experience with SAP core data tables, troubleshooting, debugging, and solutioning.
- Direct experience working with Manufacturing organizations on business processes and continuous improvement efforts in business analyst, project lead, project manager, product owner type roles.
- Experience leading and working with third party partners and onshore/offshore service delivery models.
Aspire Bakeries LLC values the contribution each Team Member brings to our organization. The final determination of a successful candidate's starting pay will vary based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to location, shift, education, skill, and experience within the job or the industry. The pay scale listed for this position is generally for candidates that meet the specified qualifications and requirements listed In this specific job description. Additional pay may be determined for those candidates that exceed these specified qualifications and requirements. We provide a competitive compensation package that recognizes your experience, credentials, and education alongside a robust benefits program to meet your needs. For union-represented postings, wage rates and ranges are governed by applicable collective bargaining agreements.
Aspire Bakeries is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.
