Plant Manager – Crowley, TX

JOB SUMMARY:

The Plant Manager provides both strategic and hands-on leadership for all manufacturing operations, ensuring excellence in safety, quality, delivery, and cost. This role oversees all production areas — including Detail, Fit-Up/Welding, Assembly, Paint/Finishing, and related support functions — to ensure safe, efficient, and high-quality fabrication of steel utility structures and assemblies. The Plant Manager fosters a culture of accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement, where commitments to customers and employees are consistently met with reliability and integrity. This position oversees approximately 75 employees, including a Plant Superintendent and multiple Production Supervisors across two shifts, with potential for expanded scope and headcount as operations continue to grow.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Leadership & Culture

• Lead all aspects of plant operations to achieve safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance targets.
• Promote a proactive safety culture and enforce compliance with company policies, OSHA standards, and AWS D1.1.
• Build a culture of engagement, mutual respect, and accountability; empower employees to take ownership of results and contribute ideas.
• Mentor and develop Superintendents, Supervisors, and team leads to strengthen leadership capability across the organization.

Operations Management

• Provide direction for all departments: Detail, Fit-Up/Welding, Assembly, and Paint/Finishing.
• Develop and execute daily and weekly production schedules to meet customer delivery requirements and takt-time objectives.
• Monitor throughput, equipment utilization, and labor efficiency; identify and remove constraints.
• Oversee capital improvement and maintenance programs to enhance reliability, safety, and capacity.
• Conduct time studies and workflow reviews to improve ergonomics, layout, and flow efficiency.

Quality & Continuous Improvement

• Ensure adherence to quality standards per AWS D1.1 and customer specifications; minimize rework and nonconformance.
• Drive Lean Manufacturing, 5S, and continuous improvement initiatives using root cause analysis and value stream mapping.
• Lead structured problem-solving to eliminate recurring issues affecting safety, quality, or delivery.
• Collaborate with Engineering and Quality teams to resolve design or process issues quickly and effectively.

Planning, Finance & Coordination

• Partner with Planning, Purchasing, and Supply Chain to ensure material availability aligns with production needs.
• Manage plant budget, forecasting, and cost-control initiatives to achieve financial goals.
• Develop and implement cost savings programs focused on material, labor, and freight.
• Provide operational performance updates to senior leadership through KPI dashboards and action plans.

Customer & Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the primary operational contact for key customers and audits; support customer visits and inspections.
• Maintain alignment and clear communication between Production, Project Planning, and Quality functions.

Minimum Job requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Management, Engineering, Manufacturing, or a related field — or an equivalent combination of education and extensive experience in industrial or manufacturing operations.
• Must have 10+ years of progressive manufacturing experience, including 5+ years in a leadership or plant management role.
• Proven success in steel fabrication or heavy manufacturing environments.
• Strong knowledge of welding processes (SAW, FCAW) and AWS D1.1 compliance.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage complex schedules in a high-mix, low-volume setting.
• Proficiency with Lean Manufacturing, 5S, and continuous improvement tools.
• Working knowledge of ERP systems (Syspro preferred) and Microsoft Excel for KPI tracking.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills with a focus on collaboration, accountability, and results.

Preferred

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) proficiency preferred, but not required.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• On-time delivery of customer orders
• Safety performance (zero recordable goal)
• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
• Labor utilization and efficiency
• Weld/fit-up rework rate
• Adherence to quality standards and customer specifications

Conditions of Employment:

• Successful candidate must submit to post offer, pre-employment physical examination/medical history check.

Working Conditions

• Exposure to typical fabrication shop conditions including heat, noise, dust, and welding fumes.
• Frequent walking and standing in production areas; safety PPE required at all times.
• Occasional lifting of up to 25 lbs; extended periods of computer and administrative work.

EOE Employer