Ashland Inc

Operations Manager

Ashland Inc • $85K — $110K *
Kenedy, TX 78119In-Person
Manufacturing & Automotive
5 - 7 years of experience
2 weeks ago
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-8 years in manufacturing within chemical or process industry
  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Chemical Engineering
  • 2-3 years in a leadership role in production or operations
  • Proven track record managing production teams for safety, quality, and cost
  • Experience with batch or continuous processing systems, preferably in polymer chemistry
  • Cross-functional collaboration with maintenance, engineering, and EH&S teams
  • Strong communication and organizational skills

Responsibilities

  • Maintain and monitor Production department budget compliance
  • Ensure completion of production schedules for Aquaflow and Derivatives
  • Oversee training and qualification of personnel on procedures
  • Coordinate system downtime with maintenance needs
  • Plan and direct day-to-day operations to exceed customer expectations
  • Drive root cause analysis for production losses and quality issues
  • Allocate resources effectively to optimize production output
  • Analyze data to identify waste and performance bottlenecks
  • Develop tracking systems for productivity and performance metrics
  • Support capital projects, startups, and shutdowns
  • Lead investigations and follow-up on safety incidents
  • Manage employee issues and grievances in line with collective agreements
  • Promote a culture of accountability and continuous improvement

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work for a reputable chemical company
  • Engagement in a culture of continuous improvement and operational discipline
  • Involvement in innovative capital projects
  • Chance to develop leadership skills in a hands-on environment
  • Support for training and professional development opportunities
Full Job Description
Ashland LLC has an exciting opportunity for an Operations Manager to join our team at our Kenedy, TX location. This position will report to the Plant Manager. The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Maintain budget for the Production department and assist in monitoring compliance to the budget
  • Ensure production schedules for both the Aquaflow and Derivatives production groups are completed
  • Ensure training completion and qualification of personnel on procedures and operating standards
  • Coordinate system downtime with maintenance needs
  • Plan, organize, direct and run optimum day-to-day operations to exceed our customers' expectations
  • Increase production, assets capacity and flexibility while minimizing unnecessary costs and maintaining current quality standards
  • Drive root cause analysis and corrective actions for recurring production losses, downtime, and quality issues
  • Allocate resources effectively and fully utilize assets to produce optimal results
  • Collect and analyze data to find places of waste (eg: labor utilization, bottlenecks, process variation, performance losses)
  • Develop systems and processes that track and optimize productivity and standards, metrics and performance targets to ensure effective return on assets
  • Participate in management of change (MOC) reviews for process, equipment, or procedural changes
  • Support capital projects, startups, shutdowns, and commissioning activities
  • Lead incident investigations, corrective actions, and follow-up on safety observations
  • Address employees' issues or grievances and administer collective bargaining agreements
  • Promote a culture of accountability, operational discipline, and continuous improvement across the production organization
In order to be qualified for this role, you must possess the following:
  • 5-8 years of manufacturing experience in a chemical or process industry
  • BS degree in Mechanical or Chemical Engineering
  • 2-3 years of leadership experience in a production or operations environment
  • Proven track record of managing production teams and delivering results across safety, quality, cost, and throughput
  • Experience with batch and/or continuous processing systems (bulk solids handling and polymer chemistry preferred)
  • Demonstrated experience working cross-functionally with maintenance, engineering, and EH&S teams
  • Good written and oral communication skills are required
  • Strong organizational and time-management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities
The following skill sets are preferred by the business unit
  • Strong leadership and interpersonal skills with the ability to build high-performing teams and drive accountability
  • Experience working in a union environment
  • Ability to make data-driven decisions using operational metrics
  • Proven capability to lead safety culture initiatives, incident investigations, and continuous improvement efforts
  • Strong communication skills with the ability to influence across functions and manage competing priorities
  • Working knowledge of Process Safety Management (PSM), Management of Change (MOC), and GMP requirements
  • Experience with ERP/MRP systems (SAP preferred), including production scheduling and inventory control
  • Training in Lean/Six Sigma methodologies and structured problem-solving

About Ashland Inc

Ashland Global Holdings Inc. is a global specialty chemicals company that provides innovative solutions to customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care and pharmaceutical. Through our three business units - Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Ashland Performance Materials and Valvoline - we use good chemistry to make great things happen for customers in more than 100 countries.
Learn more about Ashland Inc
Size
3,800 employees
Market Cap
$5.7 billion
Industry
Business Services
Net Income
-$484 million
Founded
1924
5 Year Trend
+0.7%
Revenue
$2.3 billion
NASDAQ
ASH
* Ladders Estimates

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