Plant ManagerPosition Overview:The
Plant Manager leads all day-to-day operations at EMI Industries' Cranston, Rhode Island manufacturing facility, a project-based custom metal and millwork plant of 120+ employees. Work is engineered-to-order: nearly every job is built to a unique customer drawing rather than a repeating standard unit. This
role owns safety, quality, delivery, cost, and people performance across receiving, inventory, metal fabrication, wood millwork, assembly, finishing, and shipping. The Plant Manager must be technically credible in either metal fabrication or wood millwork and willing to become proficient in both, convert custom drawings into executable shop plans, and promote a high-performance culture grounded in continuous improvement and LSI's core tenets: Sense of Urgency, Attention to Detail, and Respect Others.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:- Provide strategic and tactical leadership for all plant operations, including receiving, warehouse and inventory management, metal fabrication, wood millwork, assembly, finishing, shipping, and supply chain.
- Plan and sequence production from backlog and customer promise dates. Balance custom jobs through shared equipment and skilled trades so neither the metal shop nor the millwork shop is starved of work or capacity.
- Translate customer drawings, specifications, and engineering packages into shop-ready work, including travelers, cut lists, weldment sequences, hardware kits, and pack lists. Stop work when information is incomplete or unbuildable.
- Foster a culture of safety that meets OSHA and company standards. Lead safety walks, daily safety reviews, and incident investigations with root-cause follow-through.
- Address hazards unique to a mixed metal and wood plant, including welding, grinding, forming, cutting, woodworking machinery, dust, finishing, and material handling. Ensure preventative maintenance is executed so equipment uptime supports custom promise dates.
- Ensure every job is built to the drawing and to customer specification. Read and interpret job orders, technical drawings, weld symbols, millwork elevations, hardware schedules, and finish specifications.
- Partner with Engineering and Sales on design-for-manufacture. Flag costly details, long-lead hardware, and field-fit risks before metal or wood is cut. Support first-article builds and capture actual labor and material for quoting.
- Champion Lean Manufacturing, 5S, visual management, PDCA, and root-cause problem solving in a high-mix, project-based environment. Apply these tools to changeover, kit accuracy, first-pass yield, and information flow.
- Develop and enforce SOPs and standard work where the process repeats (setup, weld quality, finish, pack-out), while using job-specific work instructions on true one-off custom work.
- Build, coach, and evaluate supervisors across production, warehouse, inventory, and shipping/receiving. Develop frontline leadership and a culture of accountability across a 120+ employee, multi-trade workforce.
- Maintain a strong shop-floor presence in both fabrication and millwork. Engage in problem-solving and hands-on support when a custom job is at risk. Staff the plant to the backlog and cross-train related skills where it improves flow.
- Optimize inventory, vendor relationships, and material flow for project work. Use ERP/MRP or equivalent tools for job status, material readiness, and capacity. Partner with Sales, Engineering, Finance, HR, Maintenance, Quality, and IT.
- Drive daily and weekly performance to KPI targets in safety, quality, on-time delivery, first-pass yield, productivity, and cost. Own the plant operating budget and support ROI-based capital requests.
- Perform other duties as assigned to support business needs.
Qualifications:- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Business, or a related field, or equivalent senior plant leadership experience.
- Ten (10) or more years of progressive manufacturing leadership, including at least five to eight (5-8) years at plant or multi-department leadership level in a facility of 100+ employees.
- Direct experience leading custom, project-based, engineered-to-order, or high-mix / low-volume manufacturing operations.
- Working knowledge of both metal fabrication (cutting, fabricating, welding, finishing) and wood millwork / casework, preferred.
- Ability to read and interpret customer drawings, shop drawings, bills of materials, weld symbols, and millwork specifications.
- Demonstrated results in safety, quality-to-print, on-time delivery, and manufacturing cost control. Proficient in Microsoft Office; experience with ERP / production systems (JD Edwards a plus).
- Proficiency with Lean / continuous improvement methods and the ability to apply them in a custom, high-mix plant.
- Strong leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills, with a visible, hands-on shop-floor leadership style.
- Ability to manage multiple custom jobs, shifting priorities, and a multi-shift workforce in a deadline-driven manufacturing environment.
- Prior experience leading and developing production supervisors and a multi-trade workforce is required.
- Experience in store fixtures, retail display, restaurant equipment, architectural millwork, custom metal fabrication, or similar make-to-order products is strongly preferred.
- Lean Six Sigma Green or Black Belt, or a comparable structured improvement record in a job-shop or high-mix plant, is a plus.
- Data-driven mindset with a hands-on, roll-up-the-sleeves approach to leadership.
- Proven track record of building accountable, high-performance cultures.
Benefits: - 401(k)
- Health insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Paid Time off
