Plant Manager

With 12 locations in three countries, 750+ employees, and over 60 years of excellence, the Central Wire (CWI) Group of Companies is a world-class manufacturer. As the only fully integrated maker of wire, rope and assemblies, our solutions are found in aerospace, defense, med tech, and heavy industry applications around the globe- in large part because of the people behind our products.


Position Summary / Essential Function

The Plant Manager plans, directs, and controls plant operations at the Perris, California facility to produce wire coil and bar stock in accordance with safety, quality, cost, quantity, and delivery requirements.

The essential function of the position is to exercise independent managerial judgment and provide sustained leadership of production and maintenance, including directing leaders and employees, allocating labor and equipment, monitoring operational and financial performance, developing workforce capability, and implementing corrective and continuous-improvement actions.

The role translates business objectives into disciplined daily execution while maintaining process control, equipment reliability, customer confidence, and compliance with applicable Company, customer, quality-system, and regulatory requirements.

Key Duties and Responsibilities
• Provide overall leadership for Perris plant production and maintenance operations, establishing clear expectations for safety, quality, delivery, productivity, cost, attendance, conduct, and continuous improvement.
• Direct, coach, and develop production and maintenance leaders and employees; establish accountabilities, review performance, build bench strength, support succession planning, and make or recommend personnel decisions consistent with delegated authority and Company policy.
• Develop and execute production plans for wire coil and bar stock that align labor, materials, equipment, tooling, priorities, capacity, and maintenance availability with customer requirements and plant objectives.
• Monitor plant performance through daily management systems and key performance indicators, including safety, schedule attainment, on-time delivery, throughput, labor efficiency, scrap, yield, downtime, quality, customer complaints, inventory accuracy, employee retention, and budget performance.
• Maintain a safe work environment; enforce safety requirements; lead observations, incident investigations, corrective actions, risk-reduction efforts, emergency preparedness, and employee participation in safety programs.
• Ensure products and processes conform to customer specifications, internal standards, documented procedures, and applicable quality-system requirements, with particular attention to high-quality and high-reliability applications serving medical and aerospace customers.
• Champion an effective quality culture in partnership with Quality, including process discipline, traceability, change control, inspection and testing effectiveness, nonconformance containment, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and prevention of recurrence.
• Support and sustain the requirements of AS9100 and other applicable customer or quality-management standards; ensure operational readiness for internal, customer, registrar, and regulatory audits.
• Lead structured problem solving and Lean Six Sigma initiatives using verified data, defined baselines, measurable outcomes, documented controls, and accountability for sustaining gains.
• Identify and remove production constraints, process variation, bottlenecks, non-value-added activity, and sources of quality loss; improve flow, capability, cycle time, yield, reliability, and cost.
• Lead the maintenance function to strengthen preventive and predictive maintenance, equipment uptime, spare-parts controls, work-order discipline, repair prioritization, and long-term asset reliability.
• Partner with Engineering and Maintenance on equipment upgrades, automation, capacity expansion, facility needs, capital projects, and modernization initiatives; develop business cases and ensure safe, controlled implementation.
• Own plant operating budgets and controllable spending; analyze labor, overtime, material usage, yield, scrap, downtime, maintenance expense, and other operating costs; support forecasting, annual planning, and capital justification.
• Partner with Supply Chain and Procurement while maintaining clear role boundaries: communicate production demand, material requirements, supplier-related quality or delivery risks, and inventory constraints, but do not hold functional responsibility for procurement.
• Coordinate with Planning, Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, Sales, Customer Service, Finance, Human Resources, and Environmental Health and Safety to resolve constraints, support new-product introduction, and achieve business objectives.
• Lead workforce planning, staffing, training, cross-training, qualification, and skills-development efforts to ensure adequate capability across shifts and critical processes.
• Promote respectful, effective communication across a diverse workforce. When bilingual, use English and Spanish communication skills to improve understanding, engagement, training effectiveness, and issue resolution, while ensuring access to appropriate language support when needed.
• Communicate operating priorities, risks, resource requirements, performance results, customer concerns, and recovery plans clearly and promptly to leadership and affected stakeholders.
• Maintain accurate and audit-ready records, including work instructions, standard work, training and qualification records, performance documentation, maintenance controls, staffing plans, and evidence of operating controls.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable environmental regulations and permits, including EPA, DTSC, AQMD, and stormwater requirements. Oversee hazardous waste management, pollution prevention programs, environmental reporting, spill response, and continuous improvement initiatives to protect employees, the community, and the environment.
• Perform other related duties consistent with the role, grade, delegated authority, and business needs.

Required Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, Business, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and progressively responsible manufacturing leadership experience.
• Minimum of ten years of progressively responsible manufacturing experience, including at least five years leading managers, supervisors, and production or maintenance personnel in a plant or comparably complex operating environment.
• Demonstrated accountability for safety, quality, delivery, productivity, labor utilization, equipment reliability, cost control, budgets, and employee performance.
• Experience in metals, wire, bar, coil, precision manufacturing, or another process-oriented manufacturing environment with rigorous product and process controls.
• Demonstrated use of production data and key performance indicators to identify gaps, establish priorities, implement corrective action, and sustain results.
• Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing, structured root-cause analysis, standard work, process capability, and continuous-improvement methods.
• Experience with ERP or MRP systems and proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Excel.
• Ability to exercise independent managerial judgment, manage competing priorities, communicate across organizational levels, lead organizational change, and hold others accountable.
• Ability to work regularly in an active manufacturing environment and to be available outside regular business hours as operational needs require, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Preferred Qualifications
• Plant leadership experience in high-quality or high-reliability manufacturing supporting medical-device, medical-component, aerospace, or defense customers.
• Experience implementing, maintaining, or operating within an AS9100-certified quality management system, including audit readiness, corrective action, risk-based thinking, configuration or change control, and product traceability.
• Professional proficiency in both English and Spanish.
• Demonstrated success improving safety, throughput, schedule attainment, on-time delivery, scrap, yield, labor efficiency, equipment utilization, employee retention, and customer quality performance.
• Experience leading capital projects, equipment upgrades, automation, capacity expansion, facility improvements, and new-product introduction.
• Experience with statistical process control, process capability analysis, value-stream mapping, daily management systems, total productive maintenance, and change management.

Key Skills and Competencies
• Plant and manufacturing operations leadership
• Safety leadership and risk reduction
• Quality systems and customer compliance
• Production planning and resource allocation
• Maintenance and equipment reliability
• Financial and operational analysis
• People leadership and talent development
• Lean Six Sigma and continuous improvement
• High-reliability manufacturing discipline
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Decisive problem solving and sound judgment
• Clear communication, accountability, and follow-through

Work Environment / Physical Requirements

The role operates in both office and active manufacturing environments. It requires regular presence on the production floor; frequent walking and standing; observation of machinery, material flow, and production activities; use of a computer and standard office equipment; and communication in areas where hearing protection or other personal protective equipment may be required. The position may require work outside regular business hours to respond to operational needs. Reasonable accommodations will be considered in accordance with applicable law. This description identifies the essential functions of the position but is not intended to list every physical activity or working condition.

Benefits

Subject to the terms, eligibility requirements, and amendment provisions of the applicable plans and policies:
• 401(k) with matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Referral program
• Tuition reimbursement
• Vision insurance

Pre-Employment Drug Testing

All applicants who are offered a position with the Company will be required to successfully complete a post-offer drug screening, where permitted by applicable law and in accordance with Company policy.

At-Will Employment

Nothing in this job description alters the at-will nature of employment where applicable. Nothing in this job description creates a contract of employment or alters the at-will employment relationship.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination or harassment based on any protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law.