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Decatur Plant Manager

Primient · Decatur, IL

Apply on Primient ↗
Level
Manager
Team
Production
Base pay
$198k–$247k
Degree
Required
Experience asked
10+ years
Industry
Food & beverage
Posted
8 days ago

The role in 30 seconds

A management production role at Primient (food & beverage) in Decatur, IL. A strong understanding of the impacts and countermeasures to control and optimize yield is essential.

They ask for
10+ years · degree required
Tools it names
Root cause, Casting
Base pay
$198k–$247k

Read from the posting. The full description is below.

From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026

Production Engineer roles in Illinois: typical posted base $100k–$150k. This one lists $198k–$247k.

Median of the low and high ends of 16 live postings that list pay, out of 31 production engineer openings in Illinois, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.

Illinois plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →

How this role compares

Against 30 other live production postings in Illinois.

Base pay
About 78% above similar roles

Typical $100k–$150k, from 15 postings that list pay.

Experience asked
More than usual (10+ vs 5+)

Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.

Skills these teams ask for most

  • Lean 52%
  • Team leadership 35%
  • Six Sigma 29%
  • 5S 29%
  • EHS / safety 29%
  • ✓ Root cause 26%

✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.

Stands out: this posting asks for Casting, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.

It asks for 10+ years. If you're close, apply anyway: requirements are a wish list. Talk to someone doing this work there first.

At a glance

Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.

How to get in at this plant

Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.

  1. 1

    Pick 2–3 people on the Production team at Primient

    Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.

  2. 2

    Send a short, curious note

    One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.

  3. 3

    Turn a reply into a short call

    Questions worth asking about this team:

    • What does a normal week look like on your team?
    • How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
  4. 4

    Apply with someone vouching for you

    If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.

  5. 5

    Bring proof to the interview

    One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.

This plant: Primient in Decatur

1 other open role at this site.

Full description from PrimientAs posted on their careers site.Show

About the Role

The Plant Manager for our Decatur, IL Corn Wet Milling Plant provides the overall strategic leadership and expertise to ensure success in operating the plant safely and efficiently while being a good steward of the environment and generating quality finished goods that exceed customer expectations.

The Plant Manager has overall responsibility for the site to ensure standards for Safety, Environmental, Health, Quality, Food Quality, Security, Cost, and Plant profitability are continually met or exceeded through direct and indirect actions by the local Plant Leadership Staff and the larger Primient network.

The Plant Manager will oversee the entire manufacturing process across the site, from raw materials to shipping finished products to customers. The role is accountable for implementing best practices to improve the plant performance including financial performance and capital implementation.

Key Responsibilities

Plant Manager

Required and Preferred Education/Certification​

  • ✓Bachelor's of Science in Chemical or Mechanical Engineering, or related field

Required and Preferred Work Experience​

  • ✓10+ years of extensive prog
Show full description ↓

Decatur Plant Manager | Primient

About Primient

Primient is a century old company with an entrepreneurial spirit. We are a leading producer of food and industrial ingredients made from plant-based, renewable sources. We deliver value through deep technical, commercial, and operational excellence that is backed by our long-standing corn wet milling heritage. Wherever we are in the process, from field to customer, our priorities are focused on ensuring we produce the safest, highest quality products through practices that uphold both our responsibility and commitments to the challenge and drive for excellence, our people and our planet. We are a privately held company with locations across the US, Mexico, Poland, and Brazil. W e’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 teammate.

Safety and Environmental

  • •Responsible for growing a world class zero harm safety and environmental culture ensuring continuous improvement through dialogue, actions and implementation of successful initiatives.
  • •Ensure full compliance with internal and external regulations, policies, initiatives and procedures.
  • •Ensure all environmental permit limits are being met. Report deviations and expedite any repairs needed to return systems to permit limits. Strong collaboration across the operations network environmental counsels.

Team

  • •Partner with Human Resources to execute workforce and talent strategies that strengthen recruitment, retention, employee engagement, leadership development, and inclusion across the site.
  • •Direct change management through proper communication, dissemination of critical information and overall education of the team on critical plant information.
  • •Inspire a culture aligned with our Primient core values: safety, integrity, excellence and growth as well as our guiding principles.
  • •Serve as the senior site leader in fostering a positive and constructive labor-management relationship while maintaining compliance with the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Partner with HR and Legal to lead CBA negotiations.

Quality

  • •Drive delivery of high-quality finished products for the site.
  • •Ensure compliance with all Food Safety regulatory requirements.
  • •Reduce waste and off specification product and achieve industry best practice performance.

Productivity

  • •Deliver production plans aligned to commercial demand.
  • •Work with continuous improvement team to enhance the Primient Operating Model, and develop a robust pipeline of improvement projects to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
  • •Manage operating costs and productivity improvement initiatives.
  • •Partner with Maintenance team to improve reliability and uptime of plant assets and achieve industry best practice performance.
  • •Partner with Finance on budgeting, forecasting, and cost optimization.
  • •Lead the execution of the capital expenditure plan to improve plant safety, reliability, operational efficiency, and cost structure.

Cost

  • •The Plant Director is accountable for cost performance across areas including CapEx, Fixed & Variable performance. This leader will have a strong financial acumen, with proven experience managing a plant P&L and a mindset for delivering year on year EBIDTA related growth. Key areas within this remit include strategy and KPI ownership centered around:
  • •Annual Operating Plan (AOP): Author the complete plant budget, forecasting labor, material, utility, and maintenance spending for the fiscal year.
  • •Variance Recovery: Conduct weekly and monthly reviews of budget variances (Actual vs. Budgeted cost) and execute immediate recovery plans for overages.
  • •Long-Range Asset Planning: Architect a 3-to-5-year capital lifecycle plan to manage equipment obsolescence, capacity expansion, and technological upgrades.
  • •Loss Elimination: Lead formal Root Cause Failure Analysis for any chronic production or machine issue failures.
  • •Yield Performance: The Plant Manufacturing Director must treat yield optimization as a core financial and technical strategy. A strong understanding of the impacts and countermeasures to control and optimize yield is essential.

Leadership

  • •Effectively communicate and collaborate with all levels and categories of stakeholders both internal and external.
  • •Maintain sharp focus on customers and other appropriate external parties.
  • •Respectfully lead and inspire people while overseeing plant operations.
  • •Be an empowered leader and act decisively.
  • •Energize the site with a positive and team-based approach.
  • •Champion collaboration as a best practice sharing within the local team and larger Primient network.

About You

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