Production Machine Operative

Rowcliffe is Britain's leading importer and distributor of fine foods to the specialist Independent trade.

The story begins in 1967 with the young Anthony Rowcliffe resolving to change British attitudes to cheese. Having discovered artisanal cheeses from small producers at a French market, he set off in 1966, armed with his best schoolboy French to sell red wax English cheeses in France. Returning with quality speciality cheeses from all over Europe he went on to conquer the UK market and the cheese available today is thanks to Anthonys campaign to champion and support small producers.

We are proud to say that our wider expertise in selling British and Continental cheese continues to secure prestigious invitations to be represented on judging panels for the British Cheese Awards (BCA), World Cheese Awards (WCA), Great Yorkshire Show, Global Cheese Awards, International Cheese Awards along with the high profile Concours Général cheese judging competition in France.

Our business turnover is circa £20M and around half of this is with premium multiples M&S, Waitrose, Booths and Ocado. The other £10M is with the independents and foodservice.

As the Production Machine Operative at Rowcliffe, you will be working both alone and as part of a team with efficiency and commitment to complete your work and strive to maintain the business performance targets.

You will have good autonomy of your work, and you will have sole responsibility for the running and control of our production equipment including maintaining hygiene standards while completing all quality and safety documents. You will be required to adhere to all company policies and procedures, including Health & Safety, BRC food standards and Codes of Practice.

Operating the machinery can involve a substantial amount of manual handling including lifting heavy materials to load on to the production line so it is important to ensure that you have a moderate level of fitness to enable you to work safely and comfortably in a chilled environment to carry out your tasks.

• Daily set up of machines in the High Care area prior to production, ensuring all quality and safety checks are carried out and documented in accordance to the companys standards.
• Observe and carry out all relevant food safety procedures.
• Liaising with our in house maintenance engineer, reporting any mechanical or electrical issues found with the production equipment.
• Disassembly and reassembly of the machinery for cleaning.
• Checking quality of products after processes have been completed.
• Always keeping the production area clean and tidy, ensuring high standards of hygiene are maintained.
• When the production machinery is not required to be used, you will be working with the Production team, hand cutting and packing cheeses and assisting with the completion of the daily production plan set by the Senior Production Supervisor.

• Previous experience of operating and the disassembly/reassembly of food production machinery
• Ability to meet the physical demands of the job
• Strong sense of urgency and dedicated work ethic
• Reliable and dependable
• Ability to follow instructions and manage workload effectively to meet deadlines
• Strong initiative
• Excellent team player
• Good level of literacy and numeracy