Ventura Coastal's primary products are customized blends of orange, lemon, and grapefruit juices, oils, essences, and pulp. Ventura Coastal has over 300 clients, including many large grocery store chains and dairies that private label our juice and concentrates as their own. In addition, we sell our products to a majority of very large branded beverage manufacturers. Ventura Coastal maintains production and packaging facilities in Ventura, Visalia, and Tipton, California, with its headquarters in Ventura.

From our founding in 1940, Ventura Coastal expanded from a packer of locally grown fruit into one of the largest wholesale processors of citrus juice in the western United States.

More than half a century ago, we pioneered development of lemon concentrate and frozen lemonade. Our processing expertise later extended into a full range of citrus products. During the Second World War, Ventura Coastal focused its energies toward fulfilling military needs. By War's end, we emerged as a seasoned supplier for exacting clients.

As public demand for citrus products diversified and technology advanced, we kept apace through investment in innovative equipment and processes. In 1973, a national soft drink firm acquired Ventura Coastal, further broadening our corporate horizon and global reach. In 1987, the management team took the company private.

In 2005, three members of the management team purchased Ventura Coastal. Under their leadership, we secured our industry-leading position as a customer-oriented, quality supplier of premium orange, lemon and grapefruit juice, oils, essences, and pulp.

In 2012, Ventura Coastal entered into a joint venture with Sunkist Growers, Inc. that pooled all citrus fruit juice operations, including Sunkist's facility in Tipton, CA, under Ventura Coastal's management.

Our access to abundant supplies and all varieties of orange, lemon and grapefruit year-round assures Ventura Coastal customers a reliable stream of products tailored to their requirements.

We meet the needs of high-volume and specialty consumer brands through our concentration on service, quality and customer satisfaction.

Responsible for supporting the development of plans for the products required to meet customer needs.  Also responsible for planning and compositing all juice and oil blends required to support  Sales activities for one of the largest U.S. processors of customized blends of orange, lemon, and grapefruit juices, oils, and by-products. 

This position will liaise with Management, Production, Purchasing, Quality, Logistics, Sales, and Finance to ensure production, inventory requirements, and company cost and quality objectives are being met. 

This position will be responsible for all day-to-day activities and long-term production plan projections of lemon, orange & grapefruit juice, oil, and pulp.  Responsible for using the company sales forecast and production volumes and yields to develop Sales and Operations Plans that get regularly aligned with Management and communicated to the plants. 

The position will help support the scheduling of the plant’s production blends and oversee the Production Planners ensure the optimal utilization of tank assets and smooth transfer of products between the processing facilities and cold storage sites to meet all blend requirements. 

Responsible for reviewing all floor inventories of drum products, coordinating sales forecasts, and planning on-hand inventory to meet customer demands and specs.

Provide the manufacturing organization with an overview of customer demand and specifications.  This will be accomplished by reviewing customer historical purchase behavior, existing booked sales orders, and forecast information. Required to have a “finger on the pulse” of customer’s purchasing behavior to anticipate inventory requirements and interface those requirements against fruit volume projections.

Responsible for managing an integrated model that considers inventory, production capabilities, and sales projections to identify purchasing requirements to ensure product availability to meet our sales demands.

This position will report to the Director, Production Scheduling and Planning

• Agriculture, Food Science, and or Food Processing experience.
• Must be able to gain a strong understanding of citrus chemistry/analytics.
• Beverage manufacturing experience is a definite advantage.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing activities including production planning processes.
•  Appreciation for the importance of food safety, quality, and product costing on the business.
• Excellent understanding of ERP usage to support planning and capacity requirements.
• Understand customer specifications, product standards of identities.
• Working knowledge of beverage manufacturing activities including production planning processes.
• Leadership and management capability.Able to manage large quantities of data in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
• Detail-oriented.
• A solution-focused thinker.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Products: Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and large-scale ERP applications a must. 
• Ability to organize one’s thoughts, plans, and communications in both written and oral communications a must. 
• Proficient communicator to all levels of the organization.
• Must be able to handle various tasks simultaneously, organize, prioritize, make decisions and work efficiently and effectively under deadlines.
• Must routinely exercise independent judgment and be able to work and think strategically to be able to provide feedback to all levels of the organization.
• Ability to work successfully in a team environment is a must.
• Bachelor’s Degree (B.A.) from four-year college or university in Manufacturing/Planning/Forecast Mgmt/Accounting or a degree in a similar field and 4-6 years’ experience in Production, Demand Planning or Logistics.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

• Manage a team of two Planners, holding direct reports accountable to their annual goals and performance expectations.
• Manage the composites for tanker and packaged blends for juice and oils.
• Escalate critical and time-sensitive issues to the Director, Production Scheduling and Planning as they arise.
• Champion continuous improvement of all Planning processes.
• Regularly monitor production output against stock levels, customer demand, and production schedules.
• Serve as a liaison between the plants and Customer service and Sales to identify variances within demand management, responding to variances in production, QC decisions, and customer orders that may impact production plan, capacities, and efficiencies.
• Coordinate and manage stock levels based on the above to ensure customer service requirements are delivered.
• Strive for consistency in blend analytics to minimize negative impacts on customers.
• Optimize blends to maximize margins.
• Be current on all inventory positions.
• Understand the projections of incoming fruit inventory and provide visibility on any risks.
• Understand citrus chemistry/analytical traits.
• Manage and develop specific blending batches including material lists and packaging requirements to meet established formulas and be able to review production output based upon QC results.
• Responsible for overseeing formula creation, accuracy, and updating within CitrOs.
• Review production plans, sales forecast and product specifications to determine raw material requirements (including packaging) to support production schedules and customer requirements.
• Develop targets for appropriate inventory levels.
• Work with Purchasing to obtain and schedule materials based on production/sales forecasts.
• Provide input to management regarding problems such as constraints, shortages, formula changes and backlogs.
• Ensure appropriate metrics are in place to monitor performance and highlight issues on an ongoing basis.
• Oversees the effective use of CitrOS for planning product and formulations.
• Supervise all input elements of Production Planning including direct reports.
• Prepare and issue Production planning instruction and reports.
• Follow all safety rules and practices to include the wearing of all essential personal protective equipment.
• Follow all food safety and personal hygiene practices.
• Demonstrate reliable attendance, consistent punctuality and a conscientious attitude at all times.
• Act professionally towards customers, vendors and visitors.

Perform other duties as assigned and required.