Position Summary
The Plant Manager is responsible for leading and coordinating all plant floor operations at York Precast, ensuring precast concrete products are manufactured safely, efficiently, and to the highest quality standards. This role serves as the primary operational leader on the plant floor, overseeing production planning, team supervision, equipment readiness, and compliance with safety and quality standards.
The Plant Manager works closely with the technical drafting and design team to translate drawings and specifications into effective plant execution, and partners with leadership to continuously improve production workflows and output.
Key Responsibilities
- Plant Operations & Production Management:
- Provide senior oversight of all plant floor operations, ensuring productivity, safety, and quality standards are consistently met.
- Lead production planning, scheduling, and resource allocation to optimize throughput and reduce downtime.
- Oversee daily production schedules to ensure products are manufactured on time and in alignment with customer demand and shipping deadlines.
- Manage plant workflow across batching, forming, reinforcing, casting, curing, stripping, finishing, storage, and load-out.
- Monitor material usage, production output, and inventory levels to support schedule attainment and cost control.
- Coordinate labour, equipment, and plant resources to minimize bottlenecks and maximize throughput.
- Ensure plant operations comply with safety regulations, quality standards, industry certifications, and any certifications that YPI deem necessary.
- Be knowledgeable in the operation of all machinery and equipment in the plant to ensure efficiency and safety.
- Assist with the installation of precast products and ensure safe loading and unloading of precast panels for transport.
- Work closely with shipping and yard teams to ensure product readiness and on-time delivery.
- Track and manage operational budgets related to plant resources and production activities.
2. Quality Control:
- Ensure compliance with applicable quality standards, plant procedures, and industry requirements, including CSA, CPCI, and HSE requirements.
- Ensure products meet dimensional, structural, and architectural quality requirements through disciplined inspection and quality control processes.
- Reduce defects, damage, and rework through process control, accountability, and root-cause problem solving.
- Support incident investigations, corrective actions, and ongoing safety improvement initiatives.
3. Safety & Compliance:
- Promote a strong culture of safety, care, and continuous improvement across all plant activities.
- Ensure all team members follow company safety policies, procedures, and applicable regulations.
- Support the development and maintenance of safety programs and certifications (COR, CPCQA).
- Oversee incident reporting and collaborate with HSE on corrective actions.
4. Leadership & Team Management:
- Lead, mentor, and develop Team Leads and production staff.
- Set clear expectations and monitor team performance against production, safety, and quality objectives.
- Support hiring, onboarding, employee development and performance management.
- Address and manage employee matters in collaboration with the People & Culture team.
- Maintain strong communication across shifts and departments to ensure alignment on priorities and plant performance.
- Foster a collaborative, respectful, and high-performing plant floor culture.
5. Process Improvement & Cost Management:
- Apply lean manufacturing principles to improve workflow, reduce waste, and increase overall plant efficiency.
- Identify and implement opportunities to improve productivity, quality, capacity utilization, and operating performance.
- Monitor labor efficiency, overtime, scrap, rework, and material consumption to support cost control.
- Establish and track operational KPIs and use data to drive continuous improvement.
6. Cross-Functional Collaboration:
- Work closely with the drafting and technical services team to ensure production drawings and specifications are accurately executed on the floor.
- Work with engineering to review shop drawings, production requirements, and constructability considerations before release to production.
- Collaborate with sales and estimating to support bidding, feasibility reviews, scheduling input, and operational planning.
- Collaborate with internal stakeholders across procurement, quality control, logistics, and project management to streamline operations.
- Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives aimed at increasing safety, efficiency, and quality.
- Other duties as assigned.
7. Maintenance & Equipment Reliability:
- Coordinate with maintenance personnel to support preventive maintenance programs and minimize equipment downtime.
- Help ensure plant equipment, batching systems, cranes, forms, tools, and yard assets are maintained and available to support production.
- Escalate equipment or facility issues that impact safety, quality, or schedule performance.
Qualifications
- Degree or diploma in Construction Management, Engineering Technology, or a related technical field; equivalent experience considered.
- 7+ years of experience in precast concrete, structural concrete, or manufacturing, with at least 3+ years in a supervisory or management role.
- Experience managing production teams, schedules, and plant operations in a fast-paced environment.
- Deep understanding of precast production workflows, plant planning, equipment operation, and quality standards.
- Knowledge of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement principles.
- Familiarity with safety certification programs (COR, CPCQA, ISO).
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to manage and motivate production teams in a fast-paced environment.
- Ability to read and interpret shop drawings, panel plans, and production specifications.
- Excellent communication and problem-solving skills.
- Physically capable of working in a manufacturing environment.
- Valid driver's license and ability to travel as required
