Full-Time
Plant Manager
Primient
501-1,000 employees
Plant-based ingredients for food, care, industry
Compensation Overview
$197.8k - $247.3k/yr
Decatur, IL, USA
In Person
Bachelor's
 Operations & Logistics (1) |
|---|
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- A Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
- At least 10 years of extensive progressive chemical process and plant experience and at least 5 years of manufacturing leadership experience.
- Experience leading large, unionized manufacturing operations.
- Experience in planning, design, procurement, labor management, production scheduling, quality control, shipping, and finance.
- Ability to analyze problems and develop better solutions using a continuous-improvement mindset.
- Solid conflict-resolution and decision-making abilities.
- Ability to multitask, prioritize, and manage time efficiently.
- In-depth knowledge of the industry and its place in the market.
- Provide overall strategic leadership and expertise to ensure the Decatur corn wet milling plant operates safely and efficiently, protects the environment, and produces quality finished goods.
- Maintain standards for safety, environmental, health, quality, food quality, security, cost, and plant profitability through the local Plant Leadership Staff and the broader company network.
- Oversee the entire manufacturing process from raw materials through shipping finished products to customers.
- Implement best practices to improve plant performance, financial performance, and capital implementation.
- Build a world-class zero-harm safety and environmental culture through dialogue, actions, and successful initiatives.
- Ensure compliance with internal and external regulations, policies, initiatives, and procedures.
- Ensure environmental permit limits are met, report deviations, and expedite repairs needed to return systems to permit limits.
- Partner with Human Resources to execute workforce and talent strategies that strengthen recruitment, retention, employee engagement, leadership development, and inclusion across the site.
- Direct change management through effective communication, dissemination of critical information, and education of the team.
- Inspire a culture aligned with the company's values and guiding principles.
- Serve as the senior site leader in fostering a positive labor-management relationship while maintaining compliance with the collective bargaining agreement and partnering with Human Resources and Legal to lead CBA negotiations.
- Drive delivery of high-quality finished products for the site.
- Ensure compliance with all food safety regulatory requirements.
- Reduce waste and off-specification product and achieve industry-best-practice performance.
- Deliver production plans aligned to commercial demand.
- Work with the continuous-improvement team to enhance the operating model and develop improvement projects to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
- Manage operating costs and productivity-improvement initiatives.
- Partner with Maintenance to improve plant-asset reliability and uptime.
- Partner with Finance on budgeting, forecasting, and cost optimization.
- Lead execution of the capital expenditure plan to improve plant safety, reliability, operational efficiency, and cost structure.
- Own cost performance across capital expenditures and fixed and variable performance.
- Author the complete plant budget, forecasting labor, material, utility, and maintenance spending for the fiscal year.
- Conduct weekly and monthly reviews of budget variances and execute recovery plans for overages.
- Architect a three-to-five-year capital lifecycle plan covering equipment obsolescence, capacity expansion, and technological upgrades.
- Lead formal root-cause failure analyses for chronic production or machine failures.
- Drive yield optimization as a core financial and technical strategy.
- Communicate and collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
- Maintain focus on customers and appropriate external parties.
- Lead and inspire people while overseeing plant operations.
- Act decisively as an empowered leader.
- Energize the site with a positive, team-based approach.
- Champion collaboration and best-practice sharing within the local team and broader company network.
Primient provides plant-based solutions for the food, personal care, and industrial sectors. It produces bio-based additives for personal care, corn-based animal feed, industrial starches, and sweeteners by turning agricultural crops into usable products. The system works by extracting and processing plant materials to create ingredients and materials that customers—from food manufacturers to adhesives and personal care brands—can use in their products, aligning with sustainability goals. What sets Primient apart is its integrated portfolio across multiple industries and its emphasis on sustainable practices, using plant-based inputs to deliver eco-friendly products and stable supplies. Its goal is to drive positive community impact and environmental stewardship by delivering reliable, sustainable, and innovative plant-derived solutions to a broad base of customers.
Company Size
501-1,000
Company Stage
Private
Total Funding
$1.8B
Headquarters
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Founded
1906
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Primient signed CIBO in March 2026 to expand regenerative acres and Scope 3 reporting.
- Sustainea’s $400 million Lafayette Bio-MEG plant creates an immediate anchor customer.
- Safic-Alcan expanded ZEMEA distribution in July 2026, widening European personal care demand.
What critics are saying
- EPA fined Primient $101,855 in January 2026 for Clean Air Act violations.
- Lafayette’s new growth bets depend on Sustainea and commercial adoption by 2027.
- Corn-input concentration exposes Primient to farmer participation, process outages, and customer defection.
What makes Primient unique
- Primient owns bio-based PDO after buying Primient Covation on February 27, 2026.
- Its Lafayette and Decatur assets anchor corn-to-ingredients scale and commercialization infrastructure.
- Primient pairs agricultural sourcing with sustainability credentials like USDA BioPreferred and lifecycle data.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
401(k) Retirement Plan
401(k) Company Match
Disability Insurance
Life Insurance
Paid Holidays
Paid Vacation
Parental Leave
Professional Development Budget
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 19%1 year growth
↑ 19%2 year growth
↑ 19%Safic-Alcan and Primient expand their partnership into Central and Eastern Europe with the ZEMEA(R) propanediol range. Published on July 29, 2026 Building on an established collaboration in Brazil, Safic-Alcan and Primient extend their relationship to a new territory - bringing 100% bio-based ZEMEA(R) propanediol to formulators across the DACH region and Central and Eastern Europe. Paris-La Defense, July 29, 2026 - Safic-Alcan, a leading global specialty chemicals distributor, and Primient, the world's largest producer of 100% bio-based 1,3-propanediol, have signed a distribution agreement for the ZEMEA(R) propanediol range across Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Slovenia. The agreement began in June 2026. Under the agreement, Safic-Alcan becomes the regional distributor for ZEMEA(R) propanediol, serving cosmetics and personal care formulators. The partnership pairs Primient's bio-based ingredient platform with Safic-Alcan's local technical and commercial network across 10 European markets, giving regional customers direct access to formulation support, regulatory documentation and supply. ZEMEA(R) propanediol is a 100% bio-based, plant-derived alternative to petroleum-derived glycols such as propylene glycol and butylene glycol. Produced from regeneratively grown industrial dent corn in the Midwestern United States, it is a multifunctional ingredient that functions as a humectant, emollient, preservative booster, solvent, viscosity enhancer, and carrier for active ingredients and botanical extracts. It is certified 100% biobased under the USDA BioPreferred(R) Program, recognized by the Natural Products Association, and meets the ISO 16128 criteria for a derived organic ingredient. Compared with propylene glycol, ZEMEA(R) propanediol can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 86%, based on life cycle assessment. The agreement responds to a clear market signal: demand for bio-based, traceable, and lowercarbon ingredients is accelerating across European personal care, driven by clean-beauty positioning, brand owner sustainability commitments, and tightening expectations on ingredient transparency. Backed by full life-cycle data and microbiome-friendly certification, ZEMEA(R) propanediol gives formulators a documented route to replace petroleum-based glycols without compromising sensory performance. Extending its collaboration with Primient from Brazil into Central and Eastern Europe is a natural next step. Safic Alcan already know their bio-based platform and the depth of data behind it. Bringing ZEMEA(R) propanediol to formulators across the DACH region and CEE gives its customers a documented, high-performance alternative to petroleum glycols - backed by local technical support in their own markets. Philippe Villequey Business Unit Director Home & Personal Care Safic-Alcan ZEMEA(R) propanediol strengthens its regional portfolio precisely where the market is moving. Across Central and Eastern Europe, brand owners are reformulating toward biobased, traceable ingredients, and a 100% plant-derived, multifunctional glycol alternative answers that demand directly. With its laboratories and commercial teams close to the customer, Safic Alcan can turn this range into formulation wins across the region. Matthias Pfaffernoschke Managing Director, Central & Eastern Europe Safic-Alcan This expansion builds on a successful partnership and reflects its shared commitment to making bio-based innovation more accessible. With a broader distribution footprint, Safic Alcan can accelerate the adoption of ZEMEA(R) propanediol - an ingredient recognized for its renewable sourcing, excellent formulation performance, and strong sustainability profile - helping customers achieve both product performance and environmental objectives. Marjorie Morris ZEMEA(R) Global Marketing Director Primient About Safic-Alcan. Safic-Alcan is a leading specialty chemicals distributor, operating across more than 70 countries through 44 offices worldwide, with a turnover of €1,018 million in 2025 and more than 1,000 employees. The group distributes highly technical products used in specific applications across Rubber, Plastics, Coatings, Adhesives, Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics, and Nutrition. Safic-Alcan is committed to providing expert technical support and sustainable specialty chemical solutions to its customers and supplier partners. About Primient. Primient is a bioeconomy leader dedicated to transforming corn into innovative, sustainable ingredients used in food and beverage, personal care, packaging, coatings, animal nutrition, and other products for many of the world's most recognized brands. With approximately 1,800 employees across facilities in the U.S., Poland, and Brazil. Primient is committed to safety, excellence, integrity, and growth to deliver solutions that enrich lives through plant-based solutions. Learn more. Let's build your next solution together. Guiding you through every stage of your innovation journey.
Primient earns Great Place To Work Certification across the U.S., Poland, and Brazil. Published Jun 17, 2026 Primient has once again been recognized as a Great Place To Work(R), with certification spanning the U.S., Poland, and Brazil. This is the second consecutive year Primient has been certified globally. Primient's locations in Poland and Brazil have earned certification for three consecutive years. What makes this recognition meaningful is how it's earned - through the experiences and feedback of employees. Across its global teams, people shared what it's like to work here, offering an honest view of its culture, its leadership, and the day-to-day moments that shape the employee experience. Its results reflect a culture grounded in safety, excellence, integrity, and growth - and a workplace where employees feel supported, respected and connected to the work they do. Just as importantly, the feedback highlights where Primient group can continue to improve. Listening - and acting on what Primient group hear - remains a critical part of how Primient group strengthen its culture over time. Earning Great Place To Work(R) Certification across all three regions is a shared achievement. It speaks to the commitment its teams bring every day and the environment Primient group is building together - one where people can do meaningful work and continue to grow. Congrats to all teams on this recognition! To learn more about what it's like to work for Primient, visit its careers site.
Study confirms bio-based carbon materials offer lower climate footprint. Jun 08, 2026, 11:00 ET Primient partnered with TrueNorth Collective to conduct lifecycle assessment for bio-based synthetic material made from corn sweetener. The analysis showed that bio-based 1,3-propanediol (bio-PDO) has the potential to reduce carbon footprint by 86 percent compared to fossil-based PDO. MONONA, Wis., June 8, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ - EU-based nova-Institute recently published a study on the environmental footprints of renewable carbon-based materials, showcasing the benefits of bio-based 1,3-propanediol (bio-PDO) made from fermented corn dextrose. The analysis compares the environmental impact of conventionally produced crude oil-derived propanediol. Bio-PDO, marketed under the brand names Zemea(R) propanediol and Susterra(R) propanediol, is used in a wide range of consumer and industrial products today - from cosmetics and personal care to functional fluids for cooling systems. Sustainability consultancy TrueNorth Collective conducted a comprehensive lifecycle assessment for the bio-based alternative, made by Primient (formerly Primient Covation), assessing 22 different impact categories from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to land use considerations to carbon dioxide uptake during plant growth. The analysis showed that bio-PDO has the potential to reduce carbon footprint by 86 percent (or 4.41kg CO2 eq.) compared to fossil-based PDO. "After gathering high-quality primary data across the full value chain to quantify life cycle impacts, we conducted scenario analyses and submitted all data to an independent panel for review," said Mandy Montazeri, TrueNorth Collective LCA Services Director. "This ensured our results are credible and accurately demonstrate the environmental advantages of using bio-PDO as a building block compared to conventional alternatives." "Primient is committed to manufacturing of bio-based PDO as a sustainable alternative that helps reduce reliance on fossil-based materials. By enabling lower-carbon, high-performance solutions, we are helping product manufacturers meet their sustainability goals while empowering consumers to choose products that contribute to a reduced climate impact and a more sustainable future," said Sukh Rabeendran, Vice President of Biosolutions & PDO Plant Manager at Primient. To read the full report of all renewable materials studied by the nova-Institute, click here. The analysis of Primient's bio-PDO, conducted by TrueNorth Collective, can be found on pages 62-65. About Primient Primient is a leader in the bioeconomy solutions industry, dedicated to providing innovative and sustainable solutions. Its commitment to excellence and its strategic vision drive Biofeedback Federation of Europe to continuously improve and expand its capabilities. The company produces corn-derived products which are used in a wide variety of applications, including carbonated beverages, confectionery products, packaging applications, and animal feed for some of the world's most recognizable food and beverage brands. Primient employs approximately 1,800 people across six manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Brazil. For more information, visit www.primient.com. About TrueNorth Collective TrueNorth Collective is a sustainability consultancy established in 2021. Its team of product development, factory operations, design and engineering experts help manufacturers across a diverse range of industries meet their business goals by developing sustainability programs that prioritize lifecycle data assessment and people-planet-profit outcomes. For more information, visit https://www.truenorthcollective.net/. Media Contact SOURCE Primient
IMA recognizes Primient as Centennial Manufacturer. Published Apr 21, 2026 At Primient, its story is deeply rooted in American agriculture - and this year, Primient group is honored to celebrate a milestone that reflects both where Primient group has been and where Primient group is going. The Illinois Manufacturers' Association (IMA) recently recognized Primient as a Centennial Manufacturer. This designation honors companies that have operated for 100 years or more. For Primient group, this recognition reflects the people, partnerships, and purpose that have sustained its work for more than a century and continue to guide Primient group forward. Its journey began in Decatur, IL in 1906 with the vision of A.E. (Gene) Staley, whose determination helped lay the foundation for what would become a lasting presence in the agricultural and manufacturing industry. From those early beginnings, the company evolved alongside the farmers, producers, and communities it served - adapting to change, advancing technology, and responding to the needs of a growing world. Over the last 120 years, agriculture and manufacturing have transformed in ways few could have imagined. Through it all, its focus has remained steady: creating value from agricultural resources while supporting the people and systems that make that work possible. Today, as Primient, Primient group is proud to be a leader in the bioeconomy solutions industry, dedicated to developing ingredients and solutions that support food, feed, and industrial applications around the globe. The IMA's Centennial Manufacturer recognition celebrates companies that have demonstrated resilience, adaptability, and impact across generations. For Primient, that recognition belongs to every employee who has contributed their expertise, care, and commitment to its operations. It also reflects the trust of its customers, the partnership of growers and suppliers, and the support of the communities where Primient group live and work. As the global demand for sustainable, plant-based solutions continues to grow, Primient is building on its legacy to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead. Innovation today looks different than it did in 1906, but it is still driven by the same spirit of curiosity, problem-solving, and commitment to progress that shaped its earliest days. Being recognized as a Centennial Manufacturer is a meaningful moment. Primient group is proud of its roots, grateful for the people who have shaped its path, and energized by the role Primient group can play in the future of agriculture and manufacturing.
CIBO's data and analytics bolster Primient's regenerative agriculture scale-up. PR Newswire MINNEAPOLIS, March 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - CIBO Technologies, the leading independent data and analytics platform for agriculture, today announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Primient, a leader in plant-based, renewable ingredients, to advance regenerative agriculture practice adoption and reduce Scope 3 emissions across Primient's agricultural supply chain. This is CIBO's second strategic partnership to be announced in 2026. Primient is the ideal partner for food and bioeconomy companies that require sustainable sourcing and strong agricultural supply chain resilience. Since 2018, Primient has supported regenerative agriculture practice adoption across tens of thousands of acres throughout the U.S. Midwest. The organization has monitored and enabled regenerative agriculture practice adoption across all its procured corn acres, helping to build soil health, biodiversity and long-term supply chain resilience. Scaling regenerative agriculture with streamlined data, verification and reporting Primient's regenerative agriculture program supports the adoption of cover crops and low- or no-tillage farming practices. Within the partnership, Primient will leverage CIBO's proven platform and unbiased data and analytics to manage, measure and report on its Scope 3 emissions program, with a goal to expand participation across its supply shed in Illinois, Ohio and Indiana. With CIBO's trusted data and reporting, Primient can confidently demonstrate to its customers that regenerative agriculture supports a stronger, more resilient agricultural supply chain. Reducing data burden and scaling enrollment while delivering system-wide insights Through remote sensing and advanced modeling, CIBO can validate and verify regenerative agriculture outcomes, including practice adoption, crop performance, nutrient use efficiency, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and soil health. With CIBO's partnership, Primient can reduce manual processing and resolve one of the biggest obstacles to scaling regenerative practices: fragmented, manual data collection and verification. CIBO will also support ongoing monitoring for reversals, ensuring Primient's Scope 3 reporting is aligned with evolving Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) guidance, and GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Standard (LSRS). Additionally, Primient will have access to CIBO's Trusted Advisor Network, which includes small and large retailers across the country, to enroll farmers in its regenerative agriculture program. CIBO's network will provide the technical and agronomic support farmers need when adopting new practices and help ensure Primient's program is aligned with farmers' needs and priorities.