Plant Manager

We are partnering with an established manufacturing organization seeking an experienced Plant Manager to lead a complex, high mix manufacturing operation in Minden, Nevada. This role sits at the intersection of production, quality, procurement, process engineering, maintenance, warehouse operations, and people leadership. The facility supports a diverse production environment spanning metal fabrication, wood, finishing, paint and powder coating, and final assembly, with a mix of repeatable production, made-to-order products, and custom builds.

The organization is looking for someone who can strengthen day to day plant execution while developing the supervisors and functional leaders responsible for running it. This is a highly visible leadership opportunity for someone who enjoys being close to the operation, developing people, solving problems, and building a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Why This Opportunity Stands Out This is an opportunity to lead a manufacturing operation where the answer is not simply producing more of the same product faster. The plant operates in a high mix environment where standard production, made to order products, and custom projects compete for capacity, labor, materials, and shared manufacturing resources. Success requires a leader who understands how to create structure and measurable improvement in an environment where traditional high-volume manufacturing metrics do not always tell the entire story.

You’ll have the opportunity to lead and influence:

Production and day to day plant execution

Leadership development across the manufacturing organization

Quality, root cause analysis, and corrective action

Procurement, material readiness, planning, and warehouse operations

Production scheduling, capacity, labor, and resource management

Metal fabrication, wood, finishing, paint and powder coating, and assembly

Maintenance, equipment reliability, and capital planning

New product launches and manufacturing readiness

Engineering changes and product lifecycle processes

Manufacturing systems and future MES capabilities

Continuous improvement across safety, quality, delivery, cost, and people

This is a highly visible role for someone who enjoys being close to the operation, developing people, solving difficult manufacturing problems, and building systems that create sustainable improvement.

What You’ll Be Doing

Lead day to day manufacturing execution across a complex, high mix production environment

Provide leadership across Production, Procurement, Quality, Process Engineering, Maintenance, Planning, and Warehouse operations

Spend meaningful time on the manufacturing floor observing work, coaching leaders, identifying problems, and helping teams solve issues at their source

Partner with Planning to establish realistic production schedules based on capacity, labor, skills, materials, changeovers, and customer commitments

Identify constraints, aging work, material issues, and delivery risks early and establish clear recovery plans

Strengthen quality performance through disciplined root cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions, process controls, documentation, and follow-through

Ensure corrective actions address underlying causes and prevent problems from recurring

Develop supervisors and functional leaders through coaching, delegation, feedback, and clear performance expectations

Build greater ownership throughout the leadership team so problems can be solved at the appropriate level rather than consistently escalating to the Plant Manager

Strengthen cross-training, skills coverage, succession planning, and overall organizational capability

Establish consistent operating rhythms around safety, quality, delivery, cost, and people

Balance immediate operational issues with longer-term improvement priorities so urgent problems do not continually derail strategic progress

Improve the accuracy and reliability of work-order status, labor reporting, material transactions, and manufacturing data

Manage plant performance against financial expectations, including labor, overtime, scrap, rework, productivity, and controllable operating costs

Partner with Maintenance to strengthen equipment reliability and evaluate future capacity and capital requirements

Work closely with Engineering on new product launches, product lifecycle activities, and engineering changes to ensure manufacturing readiness

Improve communication and execution between Manufacturing, Engineering, Planning, and other functions

Help strengthen the use of manufacturing systems and data as the organization continues evolving its ERP, WMS, and MES capabilities

What They’re Looking For

Proven manufacturing leadership experience with direct accountability for production or plant performance

Experience leading within a high mix, low volume, custom, made to order, build to order, or similarly complex manufacturing environment

A hands on leadership style and willingness to work directly with supervisors and teams on the manufacturing floor

Demonstrated success improving quality, delivery, productivity, cost, or overall operational performance

Strong experience developing supervisors, managers, team leaders, or other manufacturing leaders

Hands on experience with root cause analysis, corrective action, preventive action, and structured problem solving

Strong understanding of production planning, capacity management, labor utilization, material readiness, and manufacturing execution

Experience working across multiple plant functions such as Production, Quality, Maintenance, Materials, Planning, Procurement, or Warehouse operations

Working knowledge of manufacturing drawings, bills of material, routings, ERP/MRP systems, and manufacturing execution concepts

Ability to connect operational performance with financial outcomes including labor, overtime, scrap, rework, and plant cost performance

Experience partnering with Engineering on new product introductions, product launches, engineering changes, or manufacturing readiness

Ability to establish accountability while creating an environment where employees and leaders are comfortable surfacing problems early

Strong communication skills and the ability to align Operations, Engineering, Planning, Finance, and other functions around shared priorities

Experience with metal fabrication, wood, paint or powder coating, assembly, electronics, audio, precision manufacturing, or similar manufacturing processes is beneficial but not required. Experience with warehouse or broader end to end facility leadership is also valuable.

Specific ERP experience is not required, but candidates should understand how ERP, MRP, and manufacturing execution systems support material flow, production planning, inventory, and shop-floor execution.

The Right Person The strongest candidate will be someone who has grown through manufacturing and understands operations from firsthand experience.

You enjoy being on the floor. When a production issue occurs, you're comfortable walking into the area with a supervisor, understanding what is happening, asking the right questions, and helping the team determine what needs to change.

At the same time, you understand that being hands on does not mean becoming the person who solves every problem. You develop people. You coach supervisors and managers, establish clear expectations, hold people accountable, and help existing team members become stronger leaders. You measure your success partly by whether the organization becomes less dependent on you over time.

You are also comfortable operating in complexity. You understand that a high-mix manufacturing environment requires balancing customer commitments, capacity, labor, materials, quality, custom requirements, and changing priorities. You can respond quickly when something genuinely requires immediate attention without allowing everything to become a fire.

You lead with a quality first mindset, use data and structured problem solving, and understand the importance of fixing root causes rather than repeatedly working around the same problems.

Most importantly, you can bring people and functions together. You build relationships across Manufacturing, Engineering, Quality, Planning, Materials, and other teams and create shared accountability for delivering results.

On-site leadership position based in Minden, Nevada

Relocation candidates will be considered

Regular presence on the manufacturing floor is an essential part of the role

Approximately 100 employees within the overall plant operation

Leadership responsibility spans Production, Procurement, Quality, Process Engineering, Maintenance, Planning, and Warehouse operations

The role partners closely with Engineering, Finance, and other cross-functional teams

Compensation is expected to be competitive with senior plant leadership/director-level manufacturing positions and will be evaluated based on experience

#J-18808-Ljbffr