Production Analyst – Manufacturing

Position Overview

We are seeking a data-driven and detail-oriented Production Analyst to analyze manufacturing performance and provide insights that improve productivity, efficiency, quality, and cost.

The Production Analyst will work closely with Production, Quality, Maintenance, Supply Chain, Finance, and IT to turn operational data into practical recommendations. This role will monitor key manufacturing metrics, develop reports and dashboards, identify trends and performance issues, and support continuous improvement initiatives.

The ideal candidate combines strong analytical skills with an understanding of manufacturing operations and is comfortable working with both data and plant personnel.

Key Responsibilities

Production & KPI Analysis

• Track and analyze daily, weekly, and monthly production performance.
• Monitor key metrics such as:
• Throughput
• OEE
• Yield
• Giveaway
• Rework
• Scrap
• Downtime
• Changeover time
• Labor efficiency
• Schedule adherence
• Build reports and dashboards that highlight trends, issues, and opportunities.
• Identify unusual performance trends and investigate potential root causes.
• Translate complex data into clear, actionable recommendations for plant leadership.
• Support supervisors and managers with accurate and timely production information.

Yield, Waste & Production Recovery

• Analyze raw-material-to-finished-product yields by product, line, and SKU.
• Monitor trim recovery, rework, product loss, waste, and giveaway.
• Identify causes of yield loss and recommend opportunities for improvement.
• Partner with Production and Quality teams to improve process controls.
• Track production performance against product specifications and standards.

Capacity, Scheduling & Throughput

• Analyze production capacity, line rates, bottlenecks, and operational constraints.
• Evaluate staffing levels, crew sizes, shift utilization, and line balancing.
• Support production planning and scheduling using actual production rates and historical data.
• Analyze changeover times and planned downtime.
• Develop production scenarios based on changes in demand, seasonality, staffing, or maintenance schedules.

Cost & Variance Analysis

• Partner with Finance to analyze production cost variances.
• Review material usage, labor costs, overhead, and other manufacturing costs.
• Analyze production standards, BOMs, routing times, and labor assumptions.
• Identify opportunities to reduce manufacturing costs and improve efficiency.
• Provide product- and customer-level analysis to support business decisions.

Quality & Food Safety Support

• Partner with Quality and Food Safety teams to analyze production and process performance.
• Track production holds, releases, customer complaints, and corrective actions.
• Analyze the operational and financial impact of quality issues.
• Maintain accurate production information to support traceability, audits, and regulatory requirements.
• Help identify relationships between production processes, quality issues, and overall plant performance.

Downtime & Maintenance Analytics

• Track and analyze downtime by equipment, production line, shift, and cause.
• Partner with Maintenance to monitor equipment reliability and performance.
• Track metrics such as MTBF and MTTR.
• Identify recurring equipment and process issues.
• Support root-cause analysis using tools such as 5 Whys and Fishbone analysis.
• Monitor corrective actions and help verify that improvements are sustained.

Inventory, Traceability & Waste

• Reconcile raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods with ERP/MES records.
• Analyze inventory variances, shrink, waste, and product loss.
• Identify opportunities to reduce waste and improve material utilization.
• Support product traceability investigations by providing accurate production data.
• Work with Supply Chain and Production teams to resolve data or inventory discrepancies.

Reporting & Data Management

• Maintain accurate production data across ERP, MES, timekeeping, and other operational systems.
• Identify and correct data-quality issues.
• Develop dashboards and self-service reporting using Power BI, Tableau, or similar tools.
• Standardize KPI definitions and reporting methods.
• Create and maintain SOPs for data collection, reporting, and KPI measurement.
• Train supervisors and plant employees on proper data entry and interpretation of reports.
• Ensure production reporting is accurate, consistent, and easy to understand.

Continuous Improvement

• Support Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement projects.
• Participate in Kaizen events and other process improvement initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to improve yield, labor productivity, throughput, quality, and cost.
• Develop visual management tools and performance reports for production teams.
• Quantify the financial and operational impact of improvement projects.
• Track project results and report progress to plant leadership.
• Help establish consistent KPI measurement across production operations.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing, Data Analytics, Business, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 2–4 years of experience in manufacturing, production analytics, operations analysis, or a related role.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including formulas, pivot tables, lookups, and data analysis.
• Experience creating reports and dashboards using Power BI, Tableau, or similar tools.
• Understanding of manufacturing KPIs and production data.
• Familiarity with ERP and/or MES systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to explain data to non-technical audiences.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in food manufacturing, meat processing, protein production, or another high-volume manufacturing environment.
• Knowledge of manufacturing metrics such as raw-to-finished yield, giveaway, trim recovery, and process efficiency.
• Experience with ERP systems such as SAP, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, or similar platforms.
• Experience with MES, LIMS, or manufacturing timekeeping systems.
• Knowledge of Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma principles.
• Experience with 5S, SMED, Value Stream Mapping, or root-cause analysis.
• Basic SQL or Python experience.
• Familiarity with USDA, HACCP, GMP, and other food safety requirements.

Key Skills & Attributes

The successful candidate will be:

• Analytical: Able to identify trends, patterns, and opportunities through data.
• Detail-Oriented: Ensures production information and reporting are accurate.
• Business-Minded: Understands how operational performance affects cost, profitability, and customer requirements.
• Problem-Solving: Looks beyond the numbers to identify root causes and practical solutions.
• Manufacturing-Focused: Comfortable working directly with production teams and understanding plant operations.
• Communicative: Able to turn complex analysis into clear recommendations.
• Collaborative: Works effectively with Production, Quality, Maintenance, Finance, Supply Chain, and IT.
• Proactive: Identifies issues and improvement opportunities rather than simply reporting results.
• Adaptable: Comfortable working in a fast-paced, multi-shift manufacturing environment.