Assistant Plant Manager

Assistant Plant Manager (Salem, OH)

Location & Hours:

Salem, Ohio. Fully onsite, floor-based operational leadership role inside a high-output acrylics, thermoforming, HIPS, and fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP) manufacturing environment. Standard operating schedule is Monday–Thursday, 5:30 AM–4:00 PM; however, the role requires flexibility to support extended hours, Friday/Saturday coverage, and sustained floor presence during periods of operational escalation or production stabilization. Consistent visibility and direct engagement on the production floor are essential components of the mandate.

Company Overview

American Bath Group is one of North America’s largest manufacturers of bathware products, serving residential, commercial, hospitality, and builder markets across multiple manufacturing operations. The Salem facility plays a critical role inside the broader operation and is currently focused on strengthening execution consistency, operational discipline, labor stability, and production reliability across its manufacturing environment.

The site operates within a technically demanding production environment involving acrylics, thermoforming, HIPS, and fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP) manufacturing processes.

The Opportunity

This role exists because the Salem operation needs stronger operational leadership depth during an important stabilization and operational improvement period.

The Assistant Plant Manager will operate as the Plant Manager’s right hand and help strengthen the operating foundation across production, supervisors, labor, maintenance coordination, accountability systems, operational planning, and execution discipline.

This is not a maintenance-mode leadership role inside a mature operating environment. The plant is actively working to improve production consistency, labor reliability, process discipline, operational planning capability, and organizational stability while continuing to meet demanding production expectations.

The role is highly visible and carries significant influence across operations, supervisors, engineering, maintenance, and frontline production teams. The individual who succeeds here will help shape the future operating structure and leadership foundation of the facility.

Success in Year One

Success in this role will be defined by the ability to help create a more stable, accountable, and reliable operating environment across the Salem facility.

Within the first year, the Assistant Plant Manager is expected to improve schedule attainment, strengthen production execution consistency, reduce operational firefighting, improve labor onboarding and retention, strengthen accountability across supervisors and operators, and improve communication and coordination across production, maintenance, and engineering functions.

The role will also be measured by its ability to improve operational discipline through stronger KPI management, escalation ownership, production follow-through, and day-to-day leadership presence on the floor.

By the end of year one, the operation should be less dependent on constant escalation support from senior leadership and better positioned for long-term operational stability.

The Mandate

The Assistant Plant Manager will help lead plant execution across a complex manufacturing environment operating under sustained production demands and ongoing operational improvement initiatives.

This role requires a leader capable of simultaneously driving production reliability, labor accountability, execution discipline, maintenance coordination, and leadership consistency across the plant.

The position is heavily floor-oriented and execution-focused. The successful leader must be comfortable operating directly inside production while helping strengthen the broader operating system around it.

The role requires immediate operational ownership and the ability to influence across supervisors, operators, engineering, maintenance, and plant leadership teams.

Year One Critical Outcomes

• Improve production schedule attainment and output consistency across operations.
• Reduce scrap, repair rates, and process variability across acrylics and HIPS manufacturing.
• Strengthen labor onboarding, accountability, and frontline execution consistency.
• Improve coordination between operations, maintenance, and engineering to support stronger equipment reliability and production continuity.
• Implement stronger KPI accountability rhythms, operational huddles, escalation tracking, and execution follow-through.
• Reduce reactive production firefighting and improve escalation ownership across shifts.
• Strengthen supervisory consistency, floor leadership presence, and operational communication.
• Improve internal execution reliability tied to shipping support, lead times, and order flow consistency.
• Help build a more durable operational leadership structure capable of sustaining long-term production stability.

Why This Role Is Hard

The Salem operation is not a polished or maintenance-mode environment. The role requires a leader who can operate effectively inside ongoing operational complexity while simultaneously helping improve structure, planning discipline, accountability, and execution consistency.

The environment includes:

• Extended operating hours.
• High production expectations.
• Labor and onboarding challenges.
• Continuous cross-functional coordination.
• Technical manufacturing complexity.
• Real-time production escalation management.

The successful candidate must be capable of maintaining urgency, operational discipline, emotional steadiness, and visible leadership presence while helping stabilize and organize the broader operation.

There is limited room for technical ramp-up. The operation needs someone who can contribute quickly inside acrylics, thermoforming, FRP, or highly comparable manufacturing environments.

This role is best suited for operators motivated by building operational structure, strengthening leadership systems, improving execution discipline, and creating long-term production stability inside demanding manufacturing environments.

Leadership Profile

The strongest candidates will demonstrate:

• Direct operational leadership inside thermoforming, acrylics, FRP, HIPS, or comparable plastics manufacturing environments.
• A visible, floor-oriented leadership style.
• Experience leading through operational instability, rapid growth, turnaround conditions, or complex manufacturing transitions.
• Strong execution discipline and accountability orientation.
• Ability to proactively organize operations and identify execution risks ahead of escalation.
• Ability to lead supervisors and hourly labor simultaneously.
• Operational planning capability and proactive escalation management.
• Emotional steadiness under pressure.
• Strong onboarding and frontline labor integration capability.
• Strong cross-functional coordination with maintenance, engineering, and production leadership teams.
• Comfort operating inside demanding manufacturing environments requiring sustained leadership presence.

Experience Requirements

• Manufacturing leadership experience within acrylics, thermoforming, FRP, HIPS, or closely related plastics manufacturing environments.
• Proven operational leadership experience inside high-output manufacturing operations.
• Experience leading supervisors, operators, and cross-functional production teams.
• Demonstrated exposure to KPI-driven manufacturing environments.
• Experience improving operational accountability, execution consistency, or production stability.
• Background working closely with maintenance, engineering, and process engineering teams.
• Experience inside turnaround, operational transition, rapid-growth, or labor-intensive manufacturing environments strongly preferred.
• Willingness to work onsite in Salem, OH and operate inside an extended-hour manufacturing environment.

Why the Right Candidate Will Be Excited

This is a rare opportunity to step into a highly visible operational leadership role with real influence over plant performance, leadership structure, production execution, and long-term operational maturity.

The Assistant Plant Manager will work directly with plant leadership, help shape the future operating structure of the facility, and play a central role in improving execution consistency across the operation.

For leaders who are energized by solving difficult operational problems, building structure inside demanding environments, and driving visible operational improvement, the role offers substantial ownership and long-term growth potential.

Why This Role Matters

The Salem facility is at an important point operationally. The Assistant Plant Manager will play a direct role in strengthening production reliability, stabilizing leadership execution, improving labor consistency, and helping create a more sustainable operating structure across the plant.

This role matters because the operation needs more than production oversight — it needs a leader capable of helping build a stronger operational foundation while production continues moving at full pace.

The individual who succeeds in this role will have a measurable impact on plant performance, leadership stability, execution discipline, and the long-term trajectory of the Salem operation.