Manufacturing Shipping Lead

Manufacturing Shipping Lead (Day Shift)

Classification: Exempt

Reports to: Shipping Manager

Direct Reports: Day Shift Assembly & Pulling Teammates

Summary

The Distribution Shipping Lead provides direct leadership and accountability for warehouse teams. This position is responsible and accountable for managing incoming raw materials and/or finished goods. They support material delivery to external and internal customers for multiple distribution sites, as well as, ensuring the accuracy of inventory, inspection of packaging & labeling requirements (and remediation if defective) and timely execution of shipments. This role may also include (at peak times): offloading/loading of vehicles, receipt of goods, positioning in racks, and physical order preparation.

Essential Functions/Duties

1. Ensure all employees follow and maintain strict safety practices within an older multi-building facility that includes uneven surfaces, tight pathways, and legacy equipment.
2. Oversee site security and safe work conditions across multiple 1940s-era production and storage buildings with limited automation and heavy manual material handling.
3. Provide the Shipping and Distribution teams with clear daily and weekly objectives, ensuring consistent communication, feedback, coaching, and development—particularly important in a facility where physical workflow challenges impact productivity.
4. Manage staffing levels to meet production and shipping demands where manual labor, forklift traffic, and cross-building movement create unique scheduling and workload balancing needs.
5. Ensure associates maintain quality standards for bolts and fasteners, including correct packaging, labeling, and shipment preparation, despite variable equipment conditions and layout constraints.
6. Manage distribution center targets related to labor-intensive operations, material movement inefficiencies, and manual processes, while working with leadership to improve flow across widely separated functional areas.
7. Maintain cleanliness and functionality of equipment and work areas, focusing on older infrastructure where upkeep is critical to both safety and workflow.

Competencies

1. Ability to maintain positive working relationships at all levels within a physically demanding, multi-building manufacturing environment.
2. Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to clearly convey instructions in loud, industrial settings and during cross-department coordination.
3. Exceptional organizational skills to prioritize multiple manual workflows, competing shipping deadlines, and constant movement of materials across dispersed buildings.
4. Proven ability to manage sensitive information while adapting to the operational challenges of an aging facility with limited automation.
5. Ability to work effectively with limited supervision, demonstrating initiative in areas where manual processes require real-time decisions to maintain throughput.
6. Continuous improvement mindset, able to identify process inefficiencies caused by building layout, equipment age, and manual handling, and propose practical, low-cost solutions.
7. Ability to maintain professionalism and composure under pressure, particularly during peak production, equipment downtime, or when cross-building logistics create bottlenecks.
8. Strong capacity to meet critical deadlines in an environment where manual material flow, older equipment, and building separation regularly challenge efficiency.
9. Ability to prioritize tasks and maintain high accuracy despite physical demands, noise levels, and shifting production schedules.

1. Must have an above average working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook applications
2. Must possess an active, unexpired driver's license and a clear Motor Vehicle Record (MVR)

Physical/Cognitive Demands

This is largely a physically active role including walking long distances (over uneven surfaces) to/within our production facility, lifting 50lbs or more, and standing for long periods. Position also requires bending, stooping, squatting or standing as necessary. Cognitive abilities required include deductive reasoning, information ordering, oral comprehension, oral expression, problem sensitivity, written comprehension, and written expression.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

• This position will support all warehouse areas.
• The regular schedule will be Monday through Friday 6:30 AM – 4:00PM
• Mandatory overtime hours are required on a recurring basis.