Plant Controller (3714)

About Us:

Carl Buddig and Company, a respected name in the meat manufacturing industry, boasts a legacy of over 80 years. Founded as a family-owned company, we have evolved into a leading producer of premium meat products, including renowned lunchmeats, ready-to-eat cooked meats under our Kingsford, LLC division, and savory snack meats from Old Wisconsin.

As a third-generation family business, our success is anchored in our commitment to quality, innovation, and community. With a workforce of 2,500 dedicated team members spread across Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, we continue to expand, driven by a vision for excellence and a responsiveness to evolving consumer preferences.

At Carl Buddig and Company, we foster a culture centered around teamwork and innovation. We strive to create an environment that values creativity and collaboration, ensuring every team member is empowered to contribute to our collective goals.

Our dedication extends beyond our business operations. We actively support charitable initiatives and community organizations through direct contributions, volunteer work, and partnerships. We aim to make a positive impact and give back to the communities that have supported us over the years.

Join us at Carl Buddig and Company, where tradition meets innovation, and where our passion for quality meat products is matched by our commitment to our people and communities.

Position Summary:

The Plant Controller is a highly visible finance leadership role responsible for operational accounting, cost control, inventory integrity, financial performance support, and finance process transformation for two food manufacturing facilities. This position serves as the key finance business partner to plant leadership, operations, supply chain, IT, and corporate finance and accounting, with particular emphasis on lunchmeat operations. The role will be split between the corporate office in Tinley Park, Illinois and the plant locations in Montgomery and South Holland, Illinois, requiring regular on-site presence to understand operations, build strong relationships, and drive accountability at the floor level. The Plant Controller will lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of financial processes, systems, reporting, controls, and process flows that improve data reliability, strengthen integration between systems, support sound decision-making, and improve operational performance. This individual must be comfortable leading change, mapping current-state and future-state processes, translating business requirements into system and reporting needs, and partnering across functions to implement scalable solutions. The ideal candidate will bring a hands-on, collaborative leadership style, strong cultural fit, high integrity, and the ability to influence across functions while reinforcing a culture of ownership, accountability, continuous improvement, and respect. This role reports directly to the Vice President of Finance and Accounting.

Key Responsibilities:

Controls and Analysis: 

• Proficient in the application of US GAAP.
• Maintain integrity of inventory by implementing controls, overseeing monthly and annual inventory counts, and developing processes to increase inventory accuracy.
• Build a deep understanding of plant layouts, production flows, labor and yield drivers, inventory movement, systems, and standards by spending meaningful time on-site at the Montgomery and South Holland facilities.
• Assess current accounting operations, process flows, system touchpoints, and data handoffs; leverage technology to recommend and implement practical improvements that strengthen controls, increase data reliability, reduce manual work, and improve decision support for plant and corporate leadership.
• Act as the point of contact with external auditors and coordinate audit activities and documentation for lunchmeat plant operational activities.
• Analyze and accurately report operational financial results to the business units and corporate management.
• Establish, monitor, and reinforce operational KPIs with plant leadership, helping translate financial results into clear actions that improve cost, yield, labor efficiency, waste, and inventory performance.
• Responsible for cost analysis and reporting: analyze costs, prepare variance reports, and provide insights to optimize profitability.
• Develop and monitor operational business performance metrics.
• Serve as a trusted finance partner who is comfortable moving between conference-room analysis and plant-floor engagement, asking strong questions, validating assumptions, and driving follow-through.

Budgeting and Forecasting:

• Support FP&A in budget creation, forecasts, cost analysis, inventory activities, understand purchasing price impact on commodity costs.
• Other projects as needed.
   

Process Improvement: 

• Continuously assess and improve plant finance processes, identifying opportunities to streamline process flows, automate manual activities, strengthen data governance, and create more standardized ways of working across locations.
• Lead finance workstreams for system transformation initiatives, including requirements gathering, process mapping, testing, implementation support, user adoption, and post-implementation stabilization for standard costing, inventory, production reporting, and related plant finance processes.
• Partner with IT, operations, supply chain, accounting, FP&A, and external implementation partners to improve integration between ERP, planning, production, inventory, and reporting systems, ensuring process design supports accurate financial reporting and scalable operational execution.

Leadership, Collaboration, and Training: 

• Provide leadership, coaching, development, and practical training to staff, peers, and plant partners to strengthen financial acumen, accountability, and ownership of operating results.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams, including Accounting, Finance, Treasury, Supply Chain, QA, Purchasing, HR, IT, operations, and implementation partners, to align process design, data requirements, system integration points, reporting needs, and user adoption.
• Provide training, documentation, and practical support to users, plant partners, and data stewards on system functionality, master data standards, process changes, and best practices to ensure sustainable adoption.
• Demonstrate strong cultural fit by operating with humility, urgency, credibility, and respect; building trust with plant teams; communicating directly and constructively; and modeling a team-first approach in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
   

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field. CPA a plus.
• 7+ years of experience in a manufacturing environment, including cost accounting, inventory accounting, or a similar role, preferably in the consumer packaged goods industry.
• Strong financial modeling skills using Excel.
• Ability to distill complex financial information into a narrative that drives decision-making.
• Strong cultural fit with a hands-on manufacturing environment, including the ability to build credibility with plant teams, collaborate across all levels, communicate with candor and respect, and balance corporate financial discipline with practical operational partnership.
• Experience with ERP, planning, production, inventory, and reporting systems, with a demonstrated ability to improve process flows, strengthen system integration, and translate operational needs into finance and reporting requirements.
• Proficiency in Microsoft D365 is a plus, and experience with planning tools such as Planful, business intelligence tools, workflow automation, or system implementation projects is a plus.
• Prior experience working with multiple databases, integrating data from different sources, validating data flows, and improving reporting accuracy through better system design and process discipline.
• Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Ability to lead change in a manufacturing environment, including documenting current-state processes, designing future-state workflows, supporting system testing, training users, and driving consistent adoption after implementation.
• Ability and willingness to split time between Tinley Park, Montgomery, and South Holland, Illinois, with regular plant presence required to support operations, controls, inventory, and performance management.
   

Working Conditions: 

• Long periods of sitting.
• Extended periods working on a computer.
• Regular time in manufacturing plant environments; must be comfortable engaging directly with plant teams and observing operational processes.
• Position is expected to be split between Tinley Park, Illinois and the Montgomery and South Holland, Illinois plant locations, with consistent weekly travel to both plants based on business needs.

Pay Range for this position is $150,000 to $167,000, depending on experience.

Benefits for this role include Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, FSA, HSA, 401(k) Plan with Company Match, Vacation & PTO, and Tuition Reimbursement.  There is also a potential for a discretionary bonus this bonus is based on personal & company performance and is not a guaranteed bonus plan.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Employment Decisions Statement 

Carl Buddig and Company does not use artificial intelligence (AI) to make any employment decisions, including recruiting, hiring, promotion, performance evaluations, discipline, or termination. All employment decisions are made by trained HR professionals and company leaders to ensure fairness, consistency, and compliance with the Illinois Human Rights Act.