Co-Products Quality Assurance Manager

Co-Products Quality Assurance Manager

Decatur, IL

Ready for a Quality Assurance career with more impact? Join a market leader in ingredient manufacturing that is poised for a new era of success.      

ABOUT PRIMIENT
 

Established yet entrepreneurial: Primient is an industry leader with proven products, six manufacturing plants, 1500+ employees and deep roots in corn wet milling. Yet we’re also a brand-new company that is ready to drive change and create impact.

Inspired by a meaningful purpose: we use renewable sources to produce plant-based ingredients for some of the world’s best-known brands. It feels good to produce safe, high-quality, sustainable products – that go into everything from sodas to hand cream and cardboard to clothing.

Poised for a new era of success: we’re investing in our plants and people to unlock our potential in the industrial and food sectors. Guided by our values of Safety, Excellence, Integrity, and Growth, we’re focused on growing our business, our reputation, and the career of every colleague.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Primient customers trust us to provide high quality ingredients for their manufacturing processes. Our Plant Quality team leads on key strategic and process initiatives to strengthen our standards even further and ensure we maintain key accreditations.

This role supports the corn elevator operations, and commodities group to assure quality of corn and co-products.

Key responsibilities: Co-Products Quality Assurance Manager

MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Support the operation of Corn elevator system.
  • Develop, implement, and maintain commodity safety and quality programs.
  • Provide necessary training to the employees.
  • Verification of sites based on the corn elevator leadership alignment.
  • Provide tactical problem solving to corn elevator operations.
  • Assist with strategy deployment (POM implementation) and assessments at the corn elevator sites.
  • Partner up with external organizations (related to commodities) to ensure collaboration and internalization of technical knowhow.
    • Grain and feed association (Illinois, Indiana)
    • ICIA (Indiana crop improvement association)
  • Be competent in Federal Grain inspection standards, versed in grain grading (certified grain grader) and support sites with issues related to inspection standards.
  • Support corn elevator managers with product safety and quality matters relating to state regulatory bodies and USDA.
    • State of IL and IN department of agriculture

• Support Corn and Co-Products business unit
  • Support business unit managers with
  • Support any special projects (Internal or over the fence).
  • Partner up with external organizations (related to applications for co-products) to ensure collaboration and internalization of technical knowhow.
    • AFIA, US Grains Council
  • Work with business support to ensure Co-products have all relevant product information, literature and technical data available to support customer requests
  • Participate select customer audits with strategic customers of Co-Products

• Support wet mills
  • Be a technical quality resource for application of science-based decisions to engineer quality in co-products. (Learn PFEMS)
    • Act as liaison between wet mills and corn elevators to ensure corn quality to ensure efficient operation of steeping to ensure quality of Co-Products.
    • Find strategies to monitor and control the quality of corn going entering the steep house. (Continuous monitoring and alarm)
    • Develop and lead strategies to control or eliminate mycotoxins of the corn post-harvest.
  • Work with internal and external experts to assist sites with problem solving at the site level.  

• Support Mycotoxin surveillance and mitigation program
  • Administer the program.
    • Coordinate with the CQC lab on sample submission, analysis, and interpretation
    • Develop and deliver mycotoxin stats report with regulatory.
  • Improve the program.
  • Partner with regulatory to improve compliance and quality of the Co-Products in relation to mycotoxins.   
  • Support corn elevator, plant, and procurement with Mycotoxin mitigation strategy at the beginning of the harvest year
    • Bring in relevant regulatory and quality resources as needed to support the business units.

ABOUT YOU

COMPETENCIES, SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS  

·   Strong foundation in corn elevator operations, wet milling, commodities and co-products.

·   Strong leadership history in supporting diverse set of stakeholders.

·   Product Safety/Quality control experience related to corn and commodity products

·   Ability to work independently, collaborate and find solutions to problems. 

QUALIFICATIONS 

·   Bachelor’s degree with technical training agriculture, or science.

·   Grain grading certification would be plus.

·   PCQI animal food certification would be plus.   

EXPERIENCE 

·   Experience in operations of grain elevator operations and co-products manufacture.

·   Experience in grain storage methodology.

·   Experience with laboratory testing of corn, and co-products.

·   HACCP awareness especially related to assessing microbiological risk.

·   Knowledge of corn sampling and grading methodology, mycotoxin awareness and testing.

·   Experience with supporting co-products manufacture would be a plus.

·   Experience in technologies and tools used in the corn storage, convenience and co-products manufacture process.

SKILLS / KNOWLEDGE 

·   Dedication to safety and commitment to making safety a number one priority 

·   Ability to multi-task and prioritize with attention to detail, quality, and accuracy 

·   Ability and desire to support multiple stakeholders.

·   Initiate and execute projects independently.

·   Good troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.

·   Demonstrate “out of the box thinking” and leverage of technological advances to provide sustainable solutions to the problems.

·   Ability to work well with others and lead teams, that without direct reporting relationships.

·   Excellent communication and computer skills.

·   Possess a customer focus and a desire to meet customer needs.

·   Ability and willingness to travel as needed, up to 60%.

·   Ability and willingness to support after hours/weekends as needed.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Rewards & benefits
Competitive salary / 401 K matching and non-contingent matching plans / Healthcare / Medical insurance

Career development

Our structure provides autonomy and accountability in your role. You have scope to develop a depth of expertise and the opportunity to follow career pathways outside the norm.

Working with us in Decatur

Our Primient plant is the largest and most complex facility across our network, and has been part of the Decatur community for over 100 years. It has been a hub of innovation and technology and will continue to be a flagship facility for Primient. Today, more than 400 people work at our plant and administration building. We are proud of our strong union relations, our excellent safety record, and our local community outreach and service. Our promising future makes it an exciting place to be.

Relocating to Decatur (or our region)

Located c. 180 miles south of Chicago, Decatur is home to around 70,000 people. Decatur scores well for livability, cost of living and schools – this is a place to enjoy the Midwest lifestyle. Our central location means it’s easy to get to Springfield, Bloomington, and Champaign. Chicago, St Louis and Indianapolis are within a 2.5-3-hour drive.    

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

We are passionate believers in the power of difference. We strive to represent the communities in which we operate and to provide an inclusive, welcoming environment for all. We want Primient to be a place where every employee feels they belong and knows they are seen, heard, valued and safe to speak up. Our aspiration is to unlock the full potential in diverse perspectives, while offering everyone an equal chance to grow, thrive and progress.

Primient is an equal opportunity employer, committed to the strength of an inclusive workforce.

California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA")

The Company is committed to complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and all data privacy and laws in the jurisdictions in which it recruits and hires employees. We collect the following categories of personal information for the purpose of hiring the best qualified applicants and to comply with applicable employment laws: Name and contact information; Job preference and work availability; Social Security Number and/or other identification information; Education and qualifications; Employment history and experience; Military service; Reference and background check information, including relevant criminal history and credit history; Social media information; Pre-employment test results; Post-offer medical examination information and results, including drug test results; Voluntary self-disclosure information regarding minority, veteran, and disability status; and Information provided by you during the hiring process.