Production Manager

Job Summary

To provide day-to-day leadership and management of production operations and supply chain activities for the facility. The Production Manager is responsible for ensuring safe, efficient, and cost-effective production while maintaining product quality, customer service levels, inventory accuracy, and timely availability of raw materials and finished products.

Production Leadership

• Provide leadership and direction to production employees, ensuring policies, procedures, safety requirements, and quality standards are followed.
• Manage daily production activities to meet customer demand while maximizing labor, equipment, and plant efficiency.
• Develop and manage production schedules in coordination with customer requirements, inventory levels, raw material availability, and transportation needs.
• Monitor production performance, downtime, labor utilization, yields, and other key performance indicators.
• Identify opportunities to improve production efficiency, reduce costs, minimize downtime, and improve overall plant performance.
• Ensure products are manufactured according to established formulas, specifications, quality standards, and customer requirements.

Safety and Quality

• Serve as a safety leader and champion for the facility, ensuring World Class Safety standards are met.
• Ensure employees receive appropriate safety training and that safety procedures and policies are consistently followed.
• Identify safety concerns and work with the Plant Manager and appropriate departments to develop and implement corrective actions.
• Promote a strong safety culture and hold employees accountable for safe work practices.
• Support quality programs and ensure products meet company and customer quality standards.
• Assist in investigating and resolving customer complaints, non-conformances, and production-related quality issues.

Supply Chain Management

• Coordinate production requirements with raw material availability, inventory levels, customer demand, and transportation schedules.
• Monitor raw material and packaging inventories to ensure adequate supplies are available to support production.
• Work with Supply Chain and Purchasing to identify material needs and prevent production interruptions due to shortages.
• Assist with purchasing decisions and coordinate the timing of raw material deliveries based on production requirements and available storage capacity.
• Monitor inventory levels and support company inventory-turn and working-capital objectives.
• Help maintain accurate inventory records and investigate inventory variances.
• Coordinate finished-product inventory requirements to ensure products are available for customer orders and shipments.
• Work with Customer Service, Supply Chain, and Transportation to prioritize production and shipments based on customer needs.
• Assist with managing freight, transportation, and logistics issues that impact plant operations or customer service.
• Identify opportunities to improve supply chain efficiency, reduce freight costs, improve inventory utilization, and minimize obsolete or excess inventory.

Production Planning and Scheduling

• Manage the facility's daily and weekly production schedule in coordination with customer demand and supply chain requirements.
• Adjust production schedules as needed based on changing customer requirements, raw material availability, equipment downtime, staffing, and transportation needs.
• Ensure production priorities are clearly communicated to employees and supporting departments.
• Maintain appropriate finished-goods inventory levels while avoiding unnecessary production and excess inventory.
• Coordinate with other Hubbard/Akralos facilities when production needs to be transferred or supported by another location.

Inventory Management

• Maintain accountability for accurate raw material, packaging, work-in-process, and finished-product inventories.
• Participate in physical inventory counts and investigate discrepancies.
• Monitor inventory aging, excess inventory, and obsolete materials.
• Work with Supply Chain and Finance to identify and resolve inventory variances.
• Ensure proper storage, handling, identification, and rotation of materials and finished products.
• Support inventory-control initiatives and company working-capital goals.

Employee Leadership and Development

• Assist with hiring, training, coaching, performance management, and development of production employees.
• Establish clear expectations and hold employees accountable for performance, attendance, safety, quality, and productivity.
• Develop cross-training plans to provide adequate staffing flexibility.
• Conduct performance assessments and provide regular feedback to employees.
• Work with the Plant Manager and Human Resources regarding employee relations and appropriate discipline.
• Ensure staffing levels are appropriate to meet production and customer requirements.

Maintenance and Facility Coordination

• Work closely with Maintenance to prioritize equipment repairs and preventative maintenance activities based on production needs.
• Communicate equipment issues and production impacts to the Plant Manager.
• Help identify opportunities to improve equipment reliability and reduce unplanned downtime.
• Maintain plant facilities in good working order and ensure housekeeping standards are consistently maintained.
• Support environmental, regulatory, and compliance requirements applicable to plant operations.

Continuous Improvement

• Support company objectives and initiatives including inventory-turn goals, benchmarking, LEAN manufacturing, productivity improvements, and cost-reduction initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, eliminate waste, reduce costs, and improve customer service.
• Use production, inventory, labor, and financial data to identify trends and develop improvement opportunities.
• Lead or participate in continuous-improvement projects as assigned.

Financial and Cost Management

• Monitor production costs, labor utilization, overtime, material usage, and other operating expenses.
• Assist the Plant Manager with developing and managing the facility's operating budget.
• Identify opportunities to reduce operating costs without compromising safety, quality, or customer service.
• Authorize expenditures within established company guidelines and approval limits.
• Assist with capital expenditure projects, including researching options, developing project justification, obtaining quotes, and implementing approved projects.

Communication and Coordination

• Maintain open communication with the Plant Manager and other departments regarding production, supply chain, inventory, staffing, quality, safety, and customer service.
• Communicate production constraints or supply issues that may impact customer service.
• Participate in production, supply chain, safety, quality, and operational meetings as required.
• Provide accurate and timely reporting of production and supply chain performance.
• Coordinate with other company locations when production, inventory, transportation, or supply chain support is required.