Plant Manager

Plant Manager

$170,000 - $200,000 DOE + Benefits

Northern New Jersey

The Company i s a rapidly expanding manufacturing organization in the flexible packaging and converting space. The company has experienced significant growth in recent years, driven by substantial capital investment across its facilities in New Jersey, Ohio, and Indiana.

The flagship facility alone employs over 300 individuals and operates a large-scale production environment featuring multiple high-value assets, including large-format printers, laminators, and packaging lines. The company has doubled its production capacity through new buildings and equipment, positioning itself as a major player in its industry.

The Opportunity

My client is seeking a hands-on Plant Manager to lead the day-to-day performance of its New Jersey flexible-packaging manufacturing operation. This leader will own plant execution across safety, quality, delivery, productivity, labor, cost, employee capability, maintenance coordination, and continuous improvement.

The successful candidate will bring structure and accountability to a fast-paced environment while remaining highly visible on the production floor. This role requires a leader who can understand how work moves through the facility, identify constraints early, develop department leaders, and ensure commitments remain visible through completion.

Position Summary

The Plant Manager plans, directs, and coordinates plant resources to achieve production requirements safely, on time, within budget, and according to customer and quality specifications.

The role leads through department managers and frontline supervisors while partnering closely with Quality, Maintenance, Engineering, Planning, Supply Chain, Shipping, Customer Success, Human Resources, and senior leadership.

The Plant Manager converts business priorities into disciplined plant execution through operating routines, performance review, corrective action, leadership development, cost control, and cross-functional coordination.

Primary Responsibilities

Plant Operations and Execution

• Lead daily operations across assigned production shifts and departments.
• Translate production schedules and customer priorities into clear operating plans.
• Confirm staffing, materials, tooling, equipment availability, technical support, and quality readiness before production is affected.
• Maintain a consistent floor presence and regularly engage department leaders, supervisors, operators, and support teams.
• Create clear ownership for open issues, required actions, completion expectations, and escalation.
• Ensure effective shift-to-shift and department-to-department handoffs.
• Lead disciplined responses to production interruptions, material constraints, staffing gaps, equipment failures, and quality concerns.

Safety, Quality, and Compliance

• Establish safety as a non-negotiable requirement and hold plant leadership accountable for safe execution.
• Ensure compliance with PPE, machine guarding, lockout/tagout, safe work practices, GMPs, sanitation requirements, and company procedures.
• Partner with Quality and Safety leadership to maintain audit readiness and address nonconformities promptly.
• Stop or escalate work when safety, product integrity, regulatory requirements, or approved procedures are not being met.
• Support investigations, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and sustained follow-through.
• Reinforce accurate documentation and reliable recordkeeping throughout plant operations.

Performance and Continuous Improvement

• Establish and manage a practical plant scorecard covering safety, quality, delivery, productivity, labor, cost, downtime, schedule performance, waste, and employee capability.
• Review operational data on a defined cadence and require owners to explain gaps, corrective actions, and expected recovery.
• Lead root-cause analysis for significant or recurring operating problems.
• Standardize effective work through SOPs, work instructions, visual controls, training, and management routines.
• Identify bottlenecks and coordinate improvements across departments.
• Validate that implemented improvements produce sustained results.

Leadership and Organizational Capability

• Lead, coach, and hold managers and supervisors accountable for employee leadership, operating discipline, communication, and results.
• Set clear expectations and decision rights for plant leaders.
• Participate in selecting, onboarding, developing, evaluating, and retaining plant leadership and critical operational talent.
• Build succession and cross-training plans for key production and leadership responsibilities.
• Partner with Human Resources on workforce planning, recruiting, attendance, performance management, employee relations, and development.
• Strengthen engagement through management visibility, clear communication, and follow-through.

Cost and Cross-Functional Leadership

• Monitor labor productivity, overtime, downtime, scrap, waste, rework, schedule attainment, and other approved plant measures.
• Align manpower and equipment utilization with production requirements and budget limitations.
• Partner with Planning to identify schedule and readiness risks before they affect customer commitments.
• Partner with Maintenance and Engineering to improve equipment reliability and reduce avoidable downtime.
• Participate in operating plans, forecasts, cost-reduction initiatives, and capital priorities.
• Present concise updates on results, risks, corrective actions, decisions, and support needs to senior leadership.

Key Performance Measures

• Safety performance and corrective-action closure

• Schedule attainment and on-time delivery

• Overall equipment effectiveness, throughput, and downtime

• Labor productivity, staffing efficiency, and overtime

• Scrap, waste, defects, rework, and complaint trends

• Preventive-maintenance completion and equipment reliability

• Training, cross-training, attendance, and retention

• Operating-cost and budget performance

• Department-leader development and succession readiness

• Open-action aging and closure discipline

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience.
• 3+ years leading managers, supervisors, or multiple operating departments.
• Demonstrated responsibility for safety, quality, delivery, labor, productivity, and cost performance.
• Proven ability to develop frontline leaders and strengthen accountability.
• Working knowledge of production planning, staffing, labor management, KPI reporting, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and continuous improvement.
• Experience using ERP, MRP, production-reporting, maintenance, or manufacturing-performance systems.
• Strong financial and operational judgment, including analysis of labor, overtime, waste, downtime, and operating costs.
• Ability to work on-site and maintain a significant presence throughout the production facility.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Experience in flexible packaging, flexographic printing, converting, plastics, film, food packaging, or closely related manufacturing.
• Experience with printing, lamination, slitting, pouching, mounting, ink, maintenance, quality, or related converting operations.
• Working knowledge of SQF, GMP, HACCP, FDA-regulated manufacturing, OSHA requirements, and food-contact packaging expectations.
• Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent continuous-improvement training.
• Experience in a multi-shift operation.
• Bilingual English and Spanish capability strongly preferred.

Leadership Profile

• Visible
• Leads from the floor and understands actual operating conditions.
• Accountable
• Establishes ownership and follows commitments through closure.
• Data-Driven
• Uses defined measures while remaining connected to practical plant realities.
• Development-Oriented
• Builds capable managers rather than absorbing every operational task.
• Structured
• Creates repeatable routines, standards, and communication channels.
• Collaborative
• Coordinates effectively across production and support functions.
• Resilient
• Maintains sound judgment and professional communication under pressure.
• Financially Aware
• Understands how labor, waste, downtime, quality, and delivery affect profitability.

Work Environment

This is a fully on-site leadership position in a fast-paced, multi-shift manufacturing facility. The role requires regular movement throughout manufacturing and support areas, interaction with employees across shifts, and responsiveness to significant production, safety, quality, staffing, or equipment issues. The Plant Manager must comply with all required PPE, GMP, food-safety, and plant-safety standards.