Manufacturing Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Manufacturing Manager

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership in manufacturing excellence, ensuring customer satisfaction and continuous improvement across safety, quality, productivity, cycle time, delivery, and cash flow

• Partner closely with supervisors, team leaders, engineering, planning, and support teams to strengthen execution and elevate performance

• Build and sustain a culture of operational discipline and continuous improvement

• Lead hourly and manufacturing support teams while aligning people, processes, and resources to business objectives

Location: Muskegon County, Michigan

Benefits

• Salary: $115,000+

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance

• 401(k) savings plan with employer match

• Paid time off including vacation, holidays, and sick leave

• Life insurance and employee assistance programs

• Professional development and leadership training

• Collaborative environment focused on safety, continuous improvement, and performance excellence

Job Roles

• Empowering talent – Identifies and removes obstacles to productivity; equips employees to perform at their best; supports cross-training and capability growth

• Flexibility – Responds quickly to changing priorities; navigates varied responsibilities and fast-moving operational demands

• Organized and time conscious – Manages time effectively; understands process duration; balances availability with proactive leadership

• Business-minded – Aligns people and resources with operational demand; anticipates needs using data and insights; supports informed decision-making

• Interpretation and synthesis – Converts multiple inputs into clear actions; interprets data, trends, and qualitative information to justify decisions and direction

• Rigor – Participates in audits; leverages systems thoroughly; gathers input across shifts; drives continuous improvement in processes

• Team orientation – Participates at both tactical and strategic levels; supports technical and operational needs when appropriate

• Trust and relationship building – Communicates openly; stays visible on the floor; reinforces expectations while highlighting strengths and achievements

• Ingenuity – Seeks efficiencies; solicits and implements improvement ideas from all levels

• Professional posture – Handles escalations objectively; reframes challenges as opportunities; represents the brand and workplace professionalism

Key Responsibilities

• Lead efforts to enhance manufacturing excellence and operational performance

• Ensure adherence to all safety regulations and promote a clean and safe work environment

• Strengthen shop-floor discipline, manufacturing planning, and execution

• Provide leadership for lean manufacturing, ABS, and continuous improvement initiatives

• Identify and eliminate non-value-added waste across operations

• Improve product flow and implement method improvements to reduce labor content

• Develop and train team leaders, supervisors, cell facilitators, and manufacturing support personnel

• Promote Injury Free Event (IFE) reporting and address safety issues immediately

• Maintain accountability for department budgets and financial performance

• Maintain effective communication and relationships with customers

• Develop budgets, strategic plans, goals, and objectives aligned with business unit priorities

• Cascade goals and objectives throughout the organization and ensure executional alignment

• Participate in cross-functional, site-specific, and enterprise-level teams

• Ensure delivery performance and customer commitments are consistently met

• Conduct capacity analysis to support standard work accuracy and labor planning

• Drive cost reduction initiatives to improve profitability

• Reduce work-in-process (WIP) and cycle time using lean tools

• Communicate operational priorities and performance clearly to staff, customers, and leadership

• Apply constraint management and OEE principles to improve throughput and efficiency

• Collaborate with engineering on process improvements that enhance quality and production flow

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in manufacturing, including at least 5 years in leadership
  OR

• Minimum of 3 years of leadership experience with at least 1 year overseeing leaders

• Legally authorized to work in the United States (no visa sponsorship available)

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration or Engineering

• Experience in investment casting and/or manufacturing environments

• Strong leadership skills with the ability to engage and motivate teams

• Ability to drive improvement using lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and total quality methodologies

• Strong technical understanding of manufacturing processes

• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, interpersonal, organizational, and negotiation skills

• Strong financial literacy and understanding of plant-level financials

• Experience with tooling, molds, and dies (investment casting, injection molding, or stamping preferred)