Plant Manager

Plant Manager

The Plant Manager is the senior leader accountable for the safety, performance, and financial results of the plant. This role is responsible for strategy and execution across production, maintenance, quality, warehouse, and plant support functions to deliver reliable service, strong quality, and profitable growth. This leader creates a stable, disciplined, engaged culture aligned with VPET's priorities and strategic initiatives. The Plant Manager sets the tone for data-driven decision making, clear accountability, and doing it right the first time. A core part of this role is developing and leading the plant's annual improvement initiative charter — a focused plan aligned with company priorities and strategic initiatives, centered on improving Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and People (SQDCP). Outside the plant, the Plant Manager is a team member of the Operations Leadership Team and will take on key leadership duties within the VPET Continuous Improvement (CI) System, using their expertise and skills to be the multi-site owner of a CI Element.

Essential Responsibilities:

1) Plant Leadership & Daily Execution

• Lead all plant operations: production, maintenance, quality, warehouse, and plant support functions.
• Drive safe, reliable daily execution against quality, service, cost, and output goals.
• Maintain strong floor presence across shifts; escalate issues early and ensure follow-through.
• Run a disciplined operating cadence (daily review, action tracking, accountability).

2) Plant Performance & Financial Ownership

• Own plant performance results, including productivity, conversion cost, and plant profitability.
• Manage plant budgets, forecasts, and capital execution with strong financial discipline.
• Drive waste reduction and cost improvement with a strong "pennies business" mindset.
• Partner with Finance to improve plant-level visibility, costing accuracy, and inventory valuation.

3) Annual Improvement Charter, Reliability & Continuous Improvement

• Build and lead the plant's annual improvement initiative charter aligned to VPET priorities and strategic initiatives.
• Focus the charter on measurable improvements in Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and People (SQDCP).
• Define clear owners, milestones, KPIs, and review cadence for priority initiatives.
• Improve equipment reliability, uptime, and process stability through strong maintenance and operating discipline.
• Reduce scrap, downtime, and process variability through focused problem-solving and line/SKU improvement plans.
• Strengthen preventive maintenance execution, spare-parts readiness, and technical capability.
• Track progress visibly and drive actions to completion with cross-functional support.

4) Quality, Customer Reliability & Schedule Execution

• Deliver consistent quality and service through strong schedule execution and production readiness.
• Partner cross-functionally to reduce pushouts and improve customer reliability.
• Ensure root cause / corrective action discipline for complaints, defects, and recurring losses.
• Support successful startups, qualifications, and process transfers with Operations, Engineering, and NPD.

5) Inventory Accuracy & Plant Controls

• Own plant inventory discipline, including material movement, transactions, cycle counts, and traceability.
• Ensure warehouse and production teams follow standards that support SAP and financial accuracy.
• Partner with IT, Finance, and Planning to improve data quality and reporting reliability.
• Drive accountability for held ware, slow-moving inventory, and disposition processes.

6) People Leadership & Culture Change

• Build and lead a high-performing plant leadership team with clear accountability and follow-through.
• Strengthen frontline leadership, technical depth, and training discipline across the plant.
• Partner with HR on recruiting, retention, performance management, and engagement.
• Reinforce VPET's guiding principles and a culture of ownership, teamwork, and execution.

7) Multi-Site Element Leadership

• Own the content of the Playbook, including definitions and nomenclature and deployment process.
• Drive alignment with the different sites.
• Maintain system health and improvement through governance and feedback.

Plant KPIs (Owned by the Plant Manager) (Final targets set annually by leadership; Plant Manager is accountable for results and action plans)

• Safety & People
• Safety incident rate / # of recordables
• Employee retention / turnover
• Training completion and frontline leadership readiness
• Quality & Delivery
• Customer complaints, Customer returns, and internal defect trends
• On-time delivery / schedule attainment
• Operations & Cost
• OEE / equipment performance and availability
• Scrap rate / yield loss / regrind performance
• Downtime (planned vs. unplanned)
• PM completion and critical spare-parts readiness
• Conversion cost / manufacturing cost performance vs. budget
• Inventory & Financial Discipline
• Inventory accuracy (SAP vs. physical)
• Held ware / slow-moving inventory reduction
• Transaction discipline / traceability compliance
• Plant profitability / EBITDA contribution
• Working-capital and cash-impact improvements (especially waste and inventory)

Qualifications:

Experience

• 10+ years in manufacturing operations leadership, preferably in plastics manufacturing.
• 5+ years in plant leadership with broad cross-functional responsibility.
• Proven track record improving safety, quality, delivery, cost, and team performance.
• Demonstrated experience with plant financials, budgeting, and cost reduction.
• Experience leading change in a fast-paced, high-accountability environment.

Technical / Functional

• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, maintenance, quality systems, and warehousing.
• Experience improving OEE, scrap, downtime, and process discipline.
• Working knowledge of ERP/SAP-driven operations and inventory controls.
• Lean / continuous improvement mindset with practical implementation experience.

Leadership Competencies

• Hands-on, floor-focused leader
• Data-driven and financially disciplined
• Clear communicator and team builder
• High accountability / high standards
• Strong problem-solver with urgency and follow-through
• Builds trust and ownership across functions

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, Supply Chain, or related field preferred.
• Equivalent combination of experience and technical training will be considered.

Work Environment

• Manufacturing plant environment with regular floor presence required.
• Must be able to work across shifts as needed to support safe and reliable operations.
• Occasional travel to other plants, suppliers, or customer sites may be required.

Competitive Benefits:

• Medical, dental and vision insurance premium.
• Employer paid Life Insurance
• Employer Match
• Paid Vacation and Paid Sick
• Holiday Pay

We are an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer and do not discriminate against applicants due to veteran status, disability, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or other protected characteristics.