Pablo Perez

Global CPG operations executive with 28+ years leading food, beverage, consumer-health, and regulated manufacturing across the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and Asia. Held full P&L accountability for a 17-site manufacturing and distribution network representing approximately $1.4B in annual revenue and $800M in annual OPEX, with leadership of 5 Regional Directors, 18 Plant Managers, and 4,800+ employees. Directed a $50M capital portfolio over 18 months and deployed real-time manufacturing technology across three major facilities, improving operating efficiency by 38% and reducing OPEX by 22% in the first three months.

Combines

Fortune 500 operating disciplines from Kraft Heinz, Nestle Waters, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever with hands-on turnaround, network integration, food safety, reliability, and leadership development experience.

Vice President, Manufacturing & Operations at OPC - Oregon Potato Company (2024-09 – 2026-07)

Held full P&L accountability for a 17-site manufacturing and distribution network representing approximately $1.4B in annual revenue and $800M in annual OPEX; led 5 Regional Directors, 18 Plant Managers, and 4,800+ employees across manufacturing, warehousing, inventory, logistics, and distribution.

• Directed a $50M CAPEX portfolio over 18 months, prioritizing automation, capacity, reliability, food safety, and modernization projects with targeted payback periods below 12 months while protecting production continuity.
• Implemented Worximity real-time production and downtime management across Albany, Brooks and Quincy; Phase 1 improved operating efficiency by 38% and reduced OPEX by 22%.
• Managed gross-margin drivers through cost per pound, labor, maintenance and repair, scrap, first-pass yield, cost per unit and overhead absorption; established standardized KPI governance and site operating reviews.
• Presented monthly financial results, operating performance, capital priorities, business risks and recovery plans directly to the President and CFO; standardized HACCP, GMP, FSQA and leadership routines across the network.

Associate Director, Manufacturing Strategic Execution at Kraft Heinz (2022-03 – 2024-09)

Led productivity, yield, waste, service and OPEX optimization across the U.S. and Canadian food-manufacturing network – 31 plants, supporting frozen foods, ketchup and cheese operations.

• Harmonized operations and logistics for 200M pounds of ketchup across North America, improving service performance 37% while reducing cost and network variability.

Plant Manager - Cedar Rapids, IA at Kraft Heinz (2021-07 – 2022-03)

Led 175 employees across five production lines producing 70M pounds annually with an $18M OPEX budget; reduced operating cost $1.4M in six months while improving uptime and throughput.

Group Lead, Manufacturing / Continuous Improvement Manager at Kraft Heinz (2018-11 – 2021-07)

• Raised yield from 28% to 62%, achieved 98% centerline effectiveness, and coached three Green Belt projects delivering $11.8M in cumulative business impact.
• Delivered $8.4M through process-capability and GMP/QA specification optimization; improved OEE from 52% to 65% across eight high-volume lines.

Container Resource / Operations Manager at Nestle Waters (2014-06 – 2018-11)

Led 30 maintenance technicians and subject-matter experts supporting high-volume beverage manufacturing across U.S. and Canadian operations; sustained OEE above 92% through TPM Autonomous and Planned Maintenance.

• Improved MTBF 17x - from 24 minutes to 6.8 hours - by strengthening asset care, troubleshooting, lubrication, spare-parts discipline and technician capability.
• Built Autonomous Work Groups in cleaning, inspection, lubrication, centerline, and 5S standards; earned Best Overall Team recognition at Nestle North America TPM training.

Process Excellence Leader at Johnson & Johnson - McNeil Healthcare (2011-10 – 2014-06)

Led Zero Defect and Make To Win programs across regulated consumer-health operations; contributed to a 220-person manufacturing-excellence organization implementing highly automated cells that increased production efficiency 52% and reduced operating cost 28%.

• Improved OEE from 39% to 72%, generating $2M per year in sustained productivity through changeover reduction, minor-stop elimination and planned-stop optimization.
• Delivered $7.5M per year in material, maintenance, and spare-parts savings plus $2.8M per year in raw-material cost variance improvement through stronger process control and capacity release.
• Expanded manufacturing capacity by 1B units, generating $8.3M in volume savings; earned Six Sigma Black Belt certification through Tylenol process-capability work.

Maintenance Planner / Production Supervisor / TPM Lead at Unilever (2009-06 – 2011-10)

Improved MTBF by 45% within six months by launching TPM Autonomous Maintenance, 5S, Kaizen, lubrication standards, and frontline capability building.

Industrial / Project Engineer at Showa Denko KK - Hard Disk Division (2004 – 2009)

Production Manager at Vincorte Cauca - Beverage Company (2001 – 2004)

Production Supervisor at Johnson & Johnson (1995 – 2001)

B.Eng. in Industrial Engineering – Universidad Autonoma (1992 – 1997)