Product Data Manager

Product Data & GDSN Manager

Food Manufacturing | Chicago, IL

About Wichita Packing Company

Wichita Packing Company is a family-owned Chicago food manufacturer that has served the foodservice industry since 1964. We manufacture and distribute a broad range of meat and protein products to leading foodservice distributors, restaurants, retailers, and other customers throughout the United States.

We are seeking a highly organized, detail-oriented Product Data & GDSN Manager to own our product information, GDSN database, and customer product-data synchronization.

This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys working with detailed product information, identifying and correcting discrepancies, and coordinating across departments and with major foodservice customers.

Position Summary

The Product Data & GDSN Manager will ensure Wichita Packing Company's product information is complete, accurate, current, and successfully synchronized with our customers and trading partners.

Key Responsibilities

GDSN & Product Data Management

• Manage and maintain the company's GDSN product catalog and product master information.
• Conduct a complete audit of existing products and GTINs.
• Identify missing, incomplete, inconsistent, or inaccurate product information and coordinate corrections.
• Create and publish new products and product hierarchies through GDSN.
• Monitor GDSN publications, subscriptions, validation errors, and synchronization status.
• Troubleshoot and resolve rejected, unpublished, or incorrectly synchronized items.
• Maintain accurate GTIN, GLN, product hierarchy, and GS1-related information.

Customer Data Synchronization

• Serve as the primary product-data contact for major foodservice distributors, including Sysco, US Foods, Performance Food Group and other trading partners.
• Ensure required products are properly published and synchronized with each customer's systems.
• Research and resolve discrepancies between Wichita Packing's product information and customer product databases.
• Assist with distributor new-item setup and product-information requests.
• Track outstanding customer data issues through resolution.

Product Data Accuracy

Maintain and verify product attributes including:

• Product names and descriptions
• Internal item numbers and GTINs
• Brand information
• Pack and case configuration
• Net and gross weights
• Case dimensions
• TI/HI and pallet configuration
• Storage and handling information
• Shelf life
• Ingredients
• Allergens
• Nutritional information
• Preparation and cooking information
• Product claims and certifications
• Product and packaging images

Work closely with Quality Assurance, Regulatory, Operations, Sales, Customer Service, and other departments to ensure information comes from the appropriate internal source and is accurately represented in customer-facing systems.

New Product & Change Management

• Develop and manage a standardized process for adding new products to GDSN and customer systems.
• Ensure new products contain all required attributes before publication.
• Coordinate product-data requirements for new-product launches.
• Establish procedures for updating product information when packaging, formulation, weights, dimensions, ingredients, nutrition or other attributes change.
• Maintain appropriate records of product changes and effective dates.
• Help establish clear ownership and approval processes for product information across departments.

Data Quality & Reporting

• Develop a master product-data control file or system containing the authoritative information for all active products.
• Establish routine audits of product information.
• Develop data-quality metrics and report outstanding issues to management.
• Monitor product-data completeness and synchronization with major customers.
• Identify opportunities to improve or automate the flow of product information between internal systems, GDSN, and customer platforms.

Qualifications

Preferred experience:

• 3+ years of experience in product data, master data, GDSN, PIM, item setup, customer data management, or a related function.
• Experience in food manufacturing, foodservice distribution, or consumer packaged goods strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of GDSN and GS1 standards.
• Experience with GTINs, GLNs, product hierarchies and product-data synchronization.
• Experience working with a GDSN-certified data pool such as 1WorldSync or Syndigo is highly desirable.
• Experience working with Sysco, US Foods, Performance Food Group, or other major foodservice distributors is highly desirable.
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills.
• Experience with ERP, PIM, or master-data systems is beneficial.

Skills & Attributes

The successful candidate will be:

• Exceptionally detail-oriented and accurate.
• Comfortable working with large amounts of product information.
• Persistent in researching and resolving discrepancies.
• Highly organized and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Comfortable communicating directly with customers, distributors, and technology providers.
• Able to work effectively across Sales, Quality Assurance, Regulatory, Operations, Customer Service and IT.
• Strong at identifying problems and following them through to resolution.
• Comfortable establishing processes where formal processes may not currently exist.
• Able to work independently while keeping management informed of progress and outstanding issues.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first several months, the successful candidate will:

• Complete an audit of all active products in GDSN.
• Identify and correct inaccurate or incomplete product information.
• Ensure all active products requiring GDSN publication are properly established.
• Verify synchronization with key foodservice distributor customers.
• Establish a master product-data control process.
• Create a documented procedure for new products and product changes.
• Establish ongoing product-data quality and synchronization reporting.

Why This Position Matters

Accurate product information is increasingly critical to the foodservice supply chain. Our distributors and customers depend on complete, reliable, and current information to properly identify, market, purchase, receive, and sell our products.

This position will have the opportunity to own an important company-wide initiative and build the processes that will govern Wichita Packing Company's product information going forward.

• Job Type: Full-time
• Location: Chicago, Illinois