Live Operations & Whole Bird Planner

Company: Butterball
Location: Huntsville
Posted on: April 18, 2025

Job Description:

Butterball, LLC, one of America's most iconic brands, helps consumers celebrate Thanksgiving and every day in between. Located in the thriving Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina area, our goal is to provide a diverse array of career opportunities and paths which include our farms, processing facilities and support offices.
We are the largest producer of turkey products in the U.S., and we make a lot more than Thanksgiving turkeys. Our company's measurable growth is in no small part due to our team members in North Carolina, Arkansas, Illinois, and Missouri, who each have a seat at the table to contribute to our success
Job Summary: - -The Live Operations & Whole Bird Planner is responsible for directing daily logistics related to live bird placement, harvest schedules, and loading schedules to ensure smooth operations for the Midwest processing plants. This role assists in Whole Bird Planning (WBP) inventory deployment, ensuring that inventory aligns with demand and is positioned appropriately across facilities. Additionally, the Live Operations & Whole Bird Planner is accountable for reviewing and balancing live housing availability and poult placement, as well as creating and adjusting whole bird plant production schedules to optimize efficiency and meet production needs. -Essential Functions, Duties & Responsibilities: -Establishes weekly harvest schedule for Ozark, AR and Huntsville, AR plants, including confirmation of NPIP clearance of flocks for harvest (avian influenza negative, pesticide residue negative, etc.).Creates and maintains weekly live haul and loading schedules for crews and drivers, balancing resources against plant needs and timing to prevent any disruption of live bird supply to plant operations.Forms weekly hen poult placement schedules for the Ozark, Arkansas, Huntsville, Arkansas, Carthage, Missouri divisions.Balances weekly hen poult placements with available housing in each live division.Partners with Sales division to establish annual live volumes to meet customer demand for whole birds and meat birds.Collaborates with poult suppliers (internal and external) to establish/confirm annual poult needs for all Midwest live divisions to meet live volume goals for whole bird and meat bird sales demand.Leads Whole Bird planning and execution for Fresh Holiday Season - concentrating on both live and plant processes.Works with transportation and warehousing corporate teams, manage whole bird inventory deployment between production plants and outside storage facilities.Assists with the design and execution of the annual strategic whole bird deployment and preposition plan.Conducts inventory reconciliation to ensure proper code date rotation and publish aged inventory reports to sales.Maintains systems to accurately project inventory availability vs sales demand.Tracks and reports year-to-date actual sales vs projected plans.Develops weekly plant production schedules for both Ozark, Arkansas and Huntsville, Arkansas plants.Supports and leads continuous improvement initiatives.Performs other duties as assigned. -Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:Exceptional verbal and written communication, and interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate with stakeholders and cross-functional teams.Understands the intricacies of the food manufacturing industry, including the operational model spanning from harvest schedules to further processing and distribution.Strong analytical and statistical analysis skills with an attention to detail.Demonstrates a proficiency in inventory and purchase planning methodologies.Excellent organizational skills and time management skills with the ability to effectively manage multiple priorities.Ability to adapt and respond quickly to changes in live/plant arenas, capability to think ahead and high level for future business impacts.Shows a dedication to continuous improvement and the ability to lead change.Robust Microsoft Excel skills with the ability to maintain spreadsheets, create formulas, and utilize advanced functions such as lookups, power query and pivot tables. -Education & Experience: -Associate's degree in Supply Chain Management, Agricultural Business, Poultry Science or similar; will consider a combination of education and work experience in lieu of a college degree.3+ years of experience working in environments such as a live poultry grow-out operations or poultry processing plant.Proficient in Microsoft Suites (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Access, Outlook, etc.) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems such as SAP. -Working Conditions: - - - -Office, Plant, and Farm environments. Possibility of being exposed to varying conditions in Plant & Farm setting, such as cold areas, warm areas, chemicals, dust, and other site conditions.Noise level of the environment is usually moderate, however varies per location.Physical requirements of the position include sitting, standing, and walking for prolonged periods of time.May require the ability to occasionally lift up to 20 pounds.Ability and willingness to travel to multiple locations up to 30% of the time.Adaptable to scheduling needs to accommodate business requirements during Fresh Season. -The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of what is required of personnel so classified. - Furthermore, they do not imply or establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the employer. -Butterball, LLC is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to the fair and impartial treatment of all employees and applicants for employment without regard to gender, age, race, religion, color, national origin, physical or mental disability, military/veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, marital status, parental status, pregnancy, or any other status protected by law. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. -
We embrace equal opportunity employment. Butterball is committed to the fair and impartial treatment of all employees and applicants for employment without regard to gender, age, race, religion, color, national origin, physical or mental disability, military/veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, marital status, parental status, pregnancy, or any other status protected by law.

This position is deemed Safety Sensitive for purposes of Butterball's Drug/Alcohol Screening & Testing Policy. Details will be provided to individuals who receive a conditional job offer, or upon request.

Keywords: Butterball, Fayetteville , Live Operations & Whole Bird Planner, Other , Huntsville, Arkansas