Production Supervisor

Production Supervisor

At Dr. Squatch, we're raising the bar on men's personal care with our line of natural, high-performance products. We're on a high-growth, fast-moving ride, continually introducing new product categories, launching into retailers nationwide, and growing internationally. We are looking for passionate, talented people who want to join us in our mission to inspire and educate men to be happier and healthier!

About the Role:

The Production Supervisor is a frontline manufacturing leader responsible for safely executing daily production across cold process soap and natural deodorant operations while meeting SQDC (Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost) targets. This role leads a shift team to deliver schedule attainment, throughput, and yield while ensuring product quality and compliance with GMPs, SOPs, and sanitation standards (where applicable).

This position is hands-on and requires strong floor presence—coaching teams in real time, removing barriers, managing performance, escalating risks early, and driving root-cause problem solving. The Production Supervisor partners closely with Quality, Maintenance, Planning, and Warehouse to deliver results and strengthen standard work.

This is a full-time role with company benefits based in Brea, CA. The anticipated base compensation range for this role will be $70,000 to $85,000. Compensation will be commensurate with the candidate's experience and local market rates.

Core Responsibilities:

1) Safety Leadership (Non-Negotiable)

• Own shift-level safety performance: enforce PPE, LOTO awareness, chemical handling procedures (e.g., caustics), ergonomics, and safe material movement.
• Lead daily safety huddles, pre-shift readiness checks, and hazard identification (behavior-based and condition-based).
• Ensure immediate response and escalation for incidents, near misses, and unsafe conditions; lead or support incident investigations.
• Maintain high standards in housekeeping (5S), spill response, and aisle discipline to prevent slips/trips/falls and cross-contamination.
• Ensure all team members are trained and compliant with safety SOPs and required certifications (forklift/pallet jack, chemical safety, etc. as applicable).

2) Production Execution & Schedule Attainment

• Execute production plans for cold process soap and natural deodorant lines to meet daily/weekly schedules and volume targets.
• Conduct shift start-up readiness checks: labor plan, materials availability, line clearance, equipment readiness, QC readiness, and staffing contingencies.
• Coordinate changeovers, startups, shutdowns, and product transitions with minimal downtime and maximum adherence to standards.
• Lead real-time decision making on labor allocation, line balancing, bottleneck removal, rework disposition, and escalation.
• Ensure shift communication is tight: passdowns, shift notes, downtime logs, abnormality reporting, and escalation protocols.

3) Quality & GMP Compliance

• Ensure product is manufactured and packed to specification: weights, fill levels, appearance standards, labeling accuracy, lot traceability, and packaging integrity.
• Enforce GMP and sanitation standards: line clearance, fragrance controls (as applicable), tool control, and contamination prevention.
• Partner with Quality to ensure in-process checks are completed on time and documented correctly (SPC checks where applicable).
• Respond to quality holds, deviations, and nonconformances; support investigations, containment, and corrective actions (CAPA).
• Drive "Quality at the Source" culture—operators own checks, stop-and-fix mindset, and proactive defect prevention.

4) People Leadership, Coaching & Performance Management

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of hourly associates and leads; set expectations for behavior, output, and standards.
• Conduct daily coaching, recognition, and corrective conversations to reinforce accountability and performance.
• Complete performance documentation as required: attendance, coaching logs, disciplinary actions, and performance improvement plans (in partnership with HR).
• Build a training culture: ensure cross-training depth, skill matrices updated, and certification to standard work.
• Support hiring, onboarding, and ramp-up: participate in interviews, provide role clarity, and ensure new hires meet competency milestones.
• Maintain a respectful, inclusive, high-trust environment aligned to Dr. Squatch values—no shortcuts, no chaos, no drama.

5) Continuous Improvement (CI) & Daily Management System

• Run daily tier meetings and shift scorecards; track and close actions related to Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost.
• Identify losses (downtime, yield loss, labor inefficiency, scrap, rework) and lead structured problem solving (5 Whys, Fishbone, A3 thinking).
• Drive standard work adoption: audit adherence, refresh SOPs, and eliminate variation.
• Partner with Engineering/Maintenance on reliability improvements and preventative actions.
• Support Kaizen events, line trials, and process changes; ensure changes are properly trained and controlled.

6) Materials, Inventory, and Flow

• Coordinate with Warehouse/Materials on raw material staging, component availability, WIP control, and finished goods flow.
• Ensure accurate material transactions if applicable (NetSuite or site ERP): consumption, scrap recording, lot tracking, and production reporting.
• Prevent line starvation and overproduction through strong communication with Planning and Materials.

7) Equipment Care & Maintenance Partnership

• Enforce basic equipment care and operator PMs (clean, inspect, lubricate, tighten where applicable).
• Escalate maintenance issues quickly; ensure tickets are written with clear details and urgency classification.
• Collaborate on reducing repeat failures, improving changeover consistency, and standardizing settings.

8) Administrative & Compliance Responsibilities

• Ensure shift documentation is complete and accurate: batch records, downtime logs, quality checks, training sign-offs, safety forms, and production reports.
• Maintain audit readiness: organized records, traceability, SOP adherence, and clean work areas.
• Participate in internal audits, customer audits, and regulatory inspections (as applicable).

About You:

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of manufacturing leadership experience (supervising hourly production teams), preferably in CPG, cosmetics/personal care, food, pharma, or chemical processing environments.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams in a fast-paced production environment with high standards for safety, quality, and output.
• Strong working knowledge of standard work, line balancing, and shift execution; root cause problem-solving (5 Whys, Fishbone, CAPA); and KPI management (SQDC, downtime, scrap, labor efficiency).
• Comfort with hands-on shop floor leadership; able to coach operators in the moment.
• Strong communication skills: clear expectations, calm under pressure, structured escalations.
• Proficiency with basic tools (Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets) and willingness to learn ERP systems (e.g., NetSuite).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cold process soap, cosmetics/personal care manufacturing, or similar batch/fill-pack operations.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, TPM, OEE measurement, or Daily Management Systems.
• Familiarity with HACCP-style thinking, sanitation programs, fragrance controls, and traceability.
• Experience with ERP/MES systems (NetSuite, Parity Factory, or similar).
• Bilingual (Spanish/English) strongly preferred for many manufacturing environments.

Leadership Competencies (What We Look For)

• Safety First Mindset: never trades safety for output.
• High Standards / Low Drama: calm, firm, consistent, and fair.
• Execution Excellence: creates stability and hits commitments.
• Coach + Accountability: develops people while holding the line on expectations.
• Problem Solver: runs toward problems, uses data,