Also called: Food Production Manager, Plant Director
Runs a factory that makes food, like a cereal plant, dairy, or meat processor, responsible for safety, output, and hundreds of workers.
You start with a production meeting reviewing last night's output and any safety issues. Then you walk the floor in a hairnet and hard hat, fixing bottlenecks, talking to supervisors, and planning a new production line. When a machine breaks, every minute costs money.
Industrial production managers.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in food science, engineering, or business plus years of plant experience; some rise from the line.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Food Science, Industrial Engineering, Business Administration.
Growing about average (about 2% over 10 years). Industrial production managers.
Low risk for 10 years. AI scheduling and predictive maintenance boost output; leading hundreds of workers and owning safety stay human.
Classes: Chemistry, Business, Algebra II.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-3051.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.