Production Operator

Lehi Valley Trading Company is a family owned business based in East Mesa. We specialize in snack food wholesale, private labeling and retail brands. We have nearly 30 years of experience in the food industry and manufacture many of our items such as granola, popcorn, brittle and trail mix at our facilities.

The Production Operator is responsible for operating or tending to cooking equipment, such as kettles, roasters, extruders, vats, and boilers to prepare food products.

* Tends, operates and controls equipment such as kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, and boilers, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing. * Sets temperature, pressure, and time controls, and starts machines or pumps. * Cleans, washes, and sterilizes equipment and cooking areas, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses. * Observes gauges, dials, and product characteristics, and adjusts controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure, and flow of ingredients. * Listens for malfunction alarms, and shuts down the equipment and notifies manager when necessary. * Removes cooked material or products from equipment. * Adds ingredients to cooking elements and removes products from equipment and transfers products for cooling and storage. * Measures and weighs ingredients, using scales and measuring containers. * Reads work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications. * Collects and examines product samples during production to test them for quality, color, content, consistency, viscosity, acidity, or specific gravity. * Records production and test data, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results. * Pours or loads prescribed quantities of ingredients or products into cooking equipment manually. * Activates paddles to mix or stir ingredients, stops and begins to box product once ingredients are thoroughly mixes. * The incumbent has the authority to take immediate corrective actions when dealing with Food Safety and Food Quality issues and is required to report these issues to the Department Manager or Food Safety Manager for further action, if required.

* High School diploma or equivalent required. * 1-2 years of previous experience performing food manufacturing in a commercial or manufacturing setting. * Must have food safety knowledge and experience in areas such as FDA, GMP, SQF, and HACCP. * Must have knowledge of industrial cooking machines and tools, such as buckets, boilers, baking ovens, floor or platform scales, forming machines, hand trucks, and roasting equipment. * Must have knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, and other techniques for manufacturing food. * Must have excellent skill with watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure machinery is working properly. * Must be able to perform considerable use of arms and legs and moving the whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials. * Must have the skills to use the hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating tools and equipment. * Must be skilled in inspecting equipment, structures, and material to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects. * Must have the skill to identify information and categorize it, estimate, and recognize the differences or similarities and detecting changes. * Must have the ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong or recognize there is a problem. * Must have the ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken word or in writing. * Must have good communications skills in expressing information in person and in writing. * Must have general knowledge of office equipment and computers such as Excel, Outlook, Internet browsing and practical application of mathematics to solve problems. * Must be able to lift 40 lbs. unassisted. * Must be able to be forklift certified.