The Manufacturing Manager, Cooking is responsible for overseeing and managing operations of the cooking facility, ensuring efficient production, maintaining high-quality standards, and meeting production goals. This role involves strategic planning, process improvement, budget management, and team leadership to achieve operational excellence and support the company's growth objectives.
This is a hands-on plant leadership role in a discrete manufacturing environment that produces residential cooking appliances (ranges, ovens, cooktops, and related products). Core processes include sheet-metal fabrication, welding, finishing, sub-assembly, final assembly, and product test. The manager spends significant time on the production floor and is accountable for Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and People (SQDC) results.
Essential Job Results Strategy, Planning, and Capacity
- Develop and implement manufacturing strategies aligned with company goals.
- Plan production needs and capacity, including labor, equipment, and material requirements, based on the provided forecast.
- Build contingency plans for demand swings, material shortages, and equipment constraints.
- Support new-product introduction: process capability, work instructions, tooling, staffing, and production ramp.
Daily Operations and Delivery
- Oversee manufacturing from incoming material readiness through finished-product release, within the defined scope of the role.
- Own schedule attainment, line balance, changeovers, and throughput on a high-mix product portfolio.
- Ensure efficient, cost-effective production while protecting quality and safety standards.
- Escalate shortages, quality holds, and equipment issues quickly and drive recovery plans.
Quality and Product Integrity
- Drive first-pass yield, scrap and rework reduction, and containment when defects occur.
- Partner with Quality on in-process inspection, end-of-line test, audit readiness, and customer or field issues.
- Support compliance with applicable product-safety and certification requirements for gas and electric cooking appliances.
- Lead or sponsor root-cause analysis and lasting corrective action (8D, 5-Why, or equivalent).
Continuous Improvement and Technology
- Implement and sustain lean manufacturing and continuous-improvement practices (standard work, 5S, visual management, kaizen, SMED, poka-yoke).
- Use production data to find waste in labor, material, downtime, and flow, then close the gap.
- Evaluate and implement process technology and automation that improve safety, quality, or productivity, with a clear business case.
- Stay current with manufacturing methods relevant to appliance and metal-fabrication operations and adopt proven practices.
People Leadership
- Lead, mentor, and develop managers, supervisors, and production staff; build bench strength for key roles and skilled trades.
- Set clear expectations, run daily tier or stand-up meetings, and coach supervisors through Gemba rather than managing only from the office.
- Conduct performance evaluations; provide feedback, training, and accountability.
- Own staffing models, skills matrices, cross-training, attendance, and overtime discipline.
- Foster a respectful, collaborative plant culture where safety and quality are not traded for output.
Cost, Inventory, and Resource
- Develop and manage the manufacturing budget, including labor, materials, supplies, and equipment-related expense.
- Optimize resource utilization and partner with Supply Chain and Warehouse to keep inventory at the right level without starving the line.
- Control overtime, scrap, and premium freight; explain variances and correct the drivers.
- Partner with Maintenance on preventive maintenance, downtime reduction, and capital justifications.
Safety, Health, and Environment
- Ensure a safe working environment by enforcing safety protocols and being present on the floor.
- Ensure compliance with OSHA and applicable health, safety, and environmental regulations, including LOTO, machine guarding, hot work, forklift, and gas-system safety.
- Lead incident investigation, corrective-action close-out, and near-miss reporting.
- Treat housekeeping and 5S as operating standards, not periodic campaigns.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Collaborate with Engineering, Supply Chain, Sales, Finance, Quality, and Maintenance to hit plant and company goals.
- Communicate production status, risks, and results to senior management with facts and a plan.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Engineering, Business Administration, Operations, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Seven or more years of manufacturing operations experience, including at least five years leading supervisors and hourly production teams.
- Hands-on leadership experience in discrete manufacturing such as metal fabrication, welding, finishing, and/or assembly. Process-only plant experience is not a substitute.
- Strong knowledge of manufacturing processes, quality control, and lean manufacturing principles.
- Proven ability to hit SQDC targets and explain results with data.
- Excellent leadership, coaching, and team-management skills.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving ability, including root-cause tools.
- Effective written and verbal communication with the floor and with senior leadership.
- Proficiency with manufacturing software and ERP / MRP systems, plus Microsoft Excel.
- Working knowledge of budgeting, cost control, and labor management.
- Working knowledge of OSHA requirements and plant safety systems.
- Ability to work on-site in Greenwood, MS, and spend the majority of the day on the production floor.
Preferred Qualifications- Master's degree in Business, Engineering, or Operations.
- Experience in residential or commercial cooking appliances, HVAC, or similar durable goods involving sheet metal, gas or electric heating systems, wiring, and cosmetic finish standards.
- Lean, Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt, or equivalent demonstrated CI results.
- Experience with ISO 9001 or a comparable quality management system.
- Capital-project experience, including ROI justification and implementation of new equipment or automation.
- Experience leading multi-shift operations.
- Bilingual English/Spanish.
