Vice President & Site General Manager

Confidential Search | Leading High-Growth Precision Machining Company

Location: Rockford, Illinois, just west of Chicago

On-site Executive Manufacturing Leadership Role

The Avery Point Group has been retained to conduct a confidential search for a Vice President & Site General Manager for a leading, high-growth manufacturer in the precision machining space. The company is a recognized leader in its industry and is seeking a hands-on executive manufacturing leader who can lead site operations, drive operational discipline, strengthen quality and compliance, and support continued growth.

This is a senior site leadership role with broad responsibility for the performance of a high-mix, low-volume precision CNC manufacturing operation. The successful candidate will be accountable for safety, quality, delivery, cost, customer performance, operational execution, workforce development, Lean continuous improvement, and disciplined use of operating metrics.

The right leader will combine executive presence with strong floor-level credibility. This is not an office-based general management role. The company needs a leader who can operate strategically as part of the executive leadership team while also staying deeply connected to daily manufacturing execution, customer scorecards, production flow, capacity planning, quality performance, and frontline leadership development.

Position Summary

The Vice President & Site General Manager will direct all site operations, including production, scheduling, supply chain, quality, facilities, safety, and operational performance. This leader will ensure that customer requirements are met through disciplined execution, strong planning, effective communication, and a consistent management cadence.

This role will also be responsible for helping the site scale by improving operating systems, strengthening leadership routines, developing talent, improving capacity visibility, and driving practical Lean improvements across the business.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead all site operations for a high-mix precision machining manufacturing environment.
• Serve as a member of the executive leadership team and contribute to the company’s strategic direction, growth priorities, and operating plans.
• Drive safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, customer performance, and continuous improvement across the site.
• Direct production scheduling, supply chain coordination, quality, facilities management, and operational execution.
• Lead the transition of new work from development or early production phases into stable, repeatable, full-rate production.
• Establish and maintain a disciplined operating cadence that connects strategic priorities to daily and weekly execution.
• Drive regular Gemba walks, visual management, cross-functional alignment, and structured operating reviews.
• Coach production planning and operational leaders on schedule adherence, late-order recovery, capacity planning, inventory priorities, and customer commitments.
• Monitor and improve key operating metrics, including on-time delivery, PPM, customer scorecards, productivity, quality, inventory, capacity utilization, and operational responsiveness.
• Strengthen forward-looking capacity planning to support decisions around staffing, capital investment, continuous improvement, and production flow.
• Support effective inventory management, material availability, and customer delivery performance in a high-mix environment.
• Ensure strong adherence to quality, regulatory, security, and customer requirements, including relevant standards such as AS9100, ISO 9001, ITAR, and CMMC Level I .
• Oversee site security protocols and export-control compliance expectations.
• Champion a safety-first culture, including OSHA compliance, preventive maintenance discipline, and proactive risk reduction.
• Recruit, train, mentor, and develop managers, manufacturing engineers, production leaders, and skilled CNC machining talent.
• Build a culture of accountability, responsiveness, problem-solving, continuous improvement, and disciplined execution.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a hands-on manufacturing executive who has successfully led precision machining operations in a high-mix, customer-driven environment. This person should understand the realities of CNC manufacturing, production planning, capacity constraints, customer scorecards, quality requirements, and the importance of disciplined operating routines.

This leader should be equally comfortable reviewing site-level financial and operational performance, walking the floor with supervisors and machinists, discussing quality issues, evaluating capacity requirements, coaching planners, and making decisions around staffing, process improvement, capital investment, and customer commitments.

The right candidate will bring the leadership strength to raise expectations, the Lean discipline to improve flow and execution, the technical credibility to lead in a precision machining environment, and the business judgment to help scale a growing company.

Required Experience

• 8+ years of progressive operational leadership experience in manufacturing.
• At least 3+ years in a Plant Manager, Site Leader, General Manager, Director of Operations, VP Operations, or similar senior operations leadership role.
• Strong experience in precision CNC machining or a closely related high-precision manufacturing environment.
• Hands-on understanding of advanced multi-axis CNC machining.
• Ability to read and understand technical drawings, including GD&T notations.
• Experience leading high-mix, low-volume manufacturing operations.
• Strong understanding of production scheduling, capacity planning, supply chain coordination, inventory management, and customer delivery requirements.
• Demonstrated success improving on-time delivery, quality performance, productivity, capacity utilization, and customer scorecard performance.
• Experience with Lean manufacturing, daily management, Gemba walks, visual management, structured problem-solving, and continuous improvement.
• Experience working in regulated manufacturing environments with strong quality, documentation, compliance, and security requirements.
• Familiarity with AS9100, ISO 9001, ITAR, CMMC, OSHA, and related manufacturing compliance expectations preferred.
• Ability to support or pass required background checks associated with regulated and security-sensitive manufacturing environments.
• Proficiency with ERP systems, Microsoft Office, operating dashboards, and manufacturing reporting tools.
• Strong leadership, communication, coaching, organizational, and problem-solving skills.

Education

A bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Operations, or a related technical discipline is preferred. An MBA or relevant advanced degree is a plus.