Plant Manager
POSITION TITLE: Plant Manager
LOCATION: New Berlin, WI
Position Summary: The Plant Manager is responsible for leading all aspects of manufacturing operations at Tekra's production facility, ensuring safe, efficient, and high-quality production of specialty coated films and related material solutions. This position provides strategic and day-to-day leadership for production, maintenance, quality, safety, inventory, and continuous improvement initiatives. The Plant Manager drives operational excellence through employee development, process optimization, lean manufacturing principles, and cross-functional collaboration to achieve customer satisfaction, financial objectives, and organizational growth.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:Operations Leadership - Direct all plant operations to achieve safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost objectives.
- Develop and execute production plans to meet customer requirements and business goals.
- Monitor manufacturing performance metrics and implement corrective actions as needed.
- Ensure efficient utilization of labor, equipment, materials, and facility resources.
- Lead daily production meetings and establish accountability for departmental performance.
Safety & Environmental Compliance - Foster a culture of safety and ensure compliance with all OSHA, environmental, and regulatory requirements.
- Lead safety initiatives, risk assessments, incident investigations, and corrective actions.
- Partner with leadership to reduce workplace injuries and strengthen employee engagement in safety programs.
- Ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations.
Quality Management - Maintain a strong quality culture focused on customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.
- Partner with Quality leadership to ensure products meet customer specifications and internal quality standards.
- Lead root cause analysis and corrective action activities related to quality issues, customer complaints, and production variances.
- Support audits, certifications, and continuous improvement of quality management systems.
Continuous Improvement - Drive Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement initiatives throughout the facility.
- Identify opportunities to improve throughput, reduce waste, improve yield, and optimize operating costs.
- Utilize data and analytics to monitor plant performance and make informed operational decisions.
- Lead capital improvement projects and process enhancement initiatives.
Leadership & Talent Development - Provide leadership, coaching, and development for production managers and operations team members.
- Build a high-performance culture based on accountability, teamwork, communication, and employee engagement.
- Collaborate with Human Resources on workforce planning, employee relations, training, and succession planning.
- Support recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and employee development initiatives.
Financial Responsibility - Develop and manage plant operating budgets.
- Monitor labor, material, maintenance, and overhead costs.
- Identify and implement cost savings opportunities without compromising safety, quality, or customer service.
- Contribute to annual business planning and strategic initiatives.
Cross-Functional Collaboration - Work closely with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Sales, and Product Development teams.
- Support new product introductions and process transfers.
Qualifications: Education
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Business, or a related field required.
- MBA or advanced degree preferred.
Experience
- 8+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience.
- 5+ years of plant management or senior operations leadership experience.
- Experience in coated films, converting, plastics, specialty materials, packaging, printing, or related manufacturing environments preferred.
- Demonstrated success leading continuous improvement and operational excellence initiatives.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, quality systems, and production planning.
- Knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Kaizen, and continuous improvement methodologies.
- Experience managing budgets and operational metrics.
- Strong leadership, coaching, and team development skills.
- Excellent problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
- Effective communication and interpersonal skills.
- Proficiency with ERP systems, manufacturing software, and Microsoft Office applications.
WHAT WE OFFERMativ benefits say a lot about how we care for each other. Our employees and their families have many different needs. As a result, our benefits offer choices on many levels and are high in quality, competitive in the marketplace, and affordable.
