Company Name
Joriki Inc.
Search Job Title
Vice President of Plant Operations
Client Profile
Joriki Inc. is a North American beverage manufacturer founded in Canada for leading consumer brands with 4 manufacturing facilities across North America. The newest & largest flagship operation is located in the Northeast US offers 8 filling lines for both high acid & low acid products with over 400,000 sq. ft. under roof including 150,000 sq. ft. direct-to-customer high-density chilled warehouse.
Role Objectives & Challenges
To support our client’s rapidly growing US market share, our client prioritized the creation of a Vice President of Plant Operations to oversee the site leadership team with a commitment to Safety, Quality, Productivity, Reliability and Cost Efficiency. The challenge was to source & qualify a top-tier hands-on operations leader experienced in plant start-ups, large scale capital projects, with deep expertise building successful hot & cold-fill beverage manufacturing & quality programs from the ground up while optimizing them to world class standards. Furthermore, the VP must be an enthusiastic advocate of continuous improvement, root-cause problem solving, corrective & preventative action, to drive a culture of excellence and empowerment, to ensure alignment of functions and facility operations to increase customer satisfaction for quality and delivery metrics. The preferred goal was to ultimately identify and qualify an interested senior executive with the interest, professionalism, and skills to be further promoted to direct all N.A. plant facilities.
Our Approach to Solve the Search
After successfully completing two other retained Director level searches at this site, SCM Talent interviewed again for an opportunity to lead an even more complex and demanding “Retained” national search targeting best-in-class executive plant leaders, w/ demonstrated team building skills and exceptional references. To meet/ exceed our client’s hiring expectations, we agreed to connect weekly with the CEO and submit updated Candidate Sourcing Pipeline reports highlighting candidate sourcing progress, submittals and screening notes.
The Hire & Results
Nine top-tier candidates were presented for collective review with four finalist candidates interviewing onsite. Ultimately one candidate stood out as the preferred finalist to receive an offer, due to his superior career progression and leadership acumen. The excellent level of communication and partnership established with the client allowed SCM Talent the ability to adjust to the evolving hiring expectations and secure the World-Class talent sought after with placement approximately 16 weeks from search start in August 2023.
