Plant Manager

Job Type
Full-time
Description
About the Company
Established in 1986, Talan Products has achieved an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) exceeding 18% to date, with ongoing growth projections. Our core focus lies in supplying metal stampings and fabricated aluminum extrusions to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) across disruptive industries such as construction, solar energy, LED lighting, and electric vehicles.
Talan stands as a distinguished, award-winning entity, boasting numerous local and national accolades for its remarkable growth, strategic leadership, and commitment to safety. Through rigorous industry benchmarking, we consistently rank at the forefront of our sector across various performance metrics, including quality, revenue per employee, and safety standards.
At the heart of Talan's success is our deeply ingrained organizational culture, anchored in core values of safety, collaboration, tenacity, and respect. These values resonate throughout our workforce, fostering strong internal cohesion, enduring relationships with our initial clients, and the cultivation of new partnerships driving our ongoing growth trajectory.
About the Role
What are we looking for - a results-driven Plant Manager with expertise in lean transformation, team development, and technology implementation.
The Plant Manager position holds significant importance within Talan's esteemed leadership team. Our production team comprises a dynamic blend of seasoned, dedicated individuals alongside emerging talent recruited to meet the escalating demands of our clientele. We seek a candidate who is passionate about nurturing team members, recognizing the considerable growth potential among our enthusiastic learners.
While our historical focus has centered on metal stamping and aluminum extrusions, our operations now encompass a rapidly expanding scope, including automation, assembly, and post-processing. Despite our commendable track record, Talan remains in the nascent stages of its lean journey. The ideal candidate will leverage prior lean-transformation experience and tools to drive enhancements in productivity, quality, and organizational culture.
The role's core responsibilities encompass daily operations leadership, necessitating collaboration with supply chain and customer service for production scheduling, addressing maintenance issues, and implementing proactive improvements. Moreover, there lies ample opportunity for the Plant Manager to influence long-term capacity planning, safety enhancements, capital investments, and staffing strategies. We seek an individual who thrives in hands-on leadership within a dynamic shop environment while simultaneously demonstrating foresight to steer strategic improvements months in advance.
Responsibilities

• Leadership and Coordination: Lead and coordinate a diverse front-line team, ensuring a safe, collaborative, and respectful work environment. Allocate supervisors and support resources effectively to drive utilization and efficiency.
• Communication and Collaboration: Communicate and collaborate with peer managers, other departments, and executive team members to ensure alignment and progress towards organizational goals.
• Process Improvement: Identify opportunities for process improvement through observation, engagement with other leaders and operators, and leading specific lean events (Kaizen, SMED, TPM, etc.). Champion the completion of action items to drive improvement and build momentum.
• Training and Development: Develop supervisors and leads to be agents of change by training them on lean tools, their usage, and implementation. Collaborate with other key stakeholders to refine recruiting, onboarding, training, and feedback processes to drive development, retention, and engagement of front-line team members.
• Strategic Planning: Identify strategic capacity issues and opportunities and present possible improvements, capital investments, etc., to the leadership team. Contribute to product/project launch processes and take ownership of relevant parts of new product launch and debug processes.
• Technology Utilization: Leverage the capabilities of ERP systems to their fullest and identify opportunities to streamline workflows and automate reporting. Support the implementation of technology infrastructure to increase efficiencies and quality significantly.
• Performance Metrics: Define and refine metrics and goals with/for the plant manager, including zero recordable accidents, zero external PPM quality issues, efficiency gains through continuous improvement activities, and 90 and 180-day retention of new hires.

• Foster a culture of safety, collaboration, and respect among team members daily.
• Translate monthly capacity expectations into manageable weekly and daily targets to meet production and customer needs effectively.
• Coordinate supervisor and support resource allocation to optimize utilization and efficiency.
• Enhance scheduling processes and systems to ensure efficient planning and communication.
• Execute current systems and processes with integrity, ensuring strict adherence to procedures.
• Proactively communicate with other departments and stakeholders regarding work status through shift reports, weekly production updates, and contributions to supply meetings.
• Collect and maintain all necessary data for reporting critical metrics, fostering a culture of accountability, and celebrating successes while providing feedback for development where needed.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to continuously improve recruitment, onboarding, training, and feedback processes, aiming to enhance development, retention, and engagement among front-line team members.

• Identify opportunities for process improvement through keen observation, engagement with fellow leaders and operators, and leading specific lean events such as Kaizen, SMED, and TPM.
• Act as a champion for completing action items on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to foster continuous improvement and momentum.
• Develop supervisors and team leads to become agents of change by providing training on lean tools, their utilization, and implementation.
• Implement enhancements in safety systems to enhance the detection of near misses and improvement opportunities.
• Offer suggestions to other departments for systemic improvements that drive outcomes, collaborating with leaders to facilitate implementation.
• Drive personal development and that of direct reports by identifying areas for improvement, charting a path forward, and requesting support and resources as needed.

• Identify and address strategic capacity issues and opportunities by presenting potential improvements and capital investments to the leadership team.
• Contribute to the product/project launch process by taking ownership of relevant aspects, ensuring smooth launches, and debugging processes.
• Maximize the capabilities of our ERP systems and identify opportunities to streamline workflows and automate reporting.
• Support the implementation of technology infrastructure aimed at enhancing efficiencies and quality, including a Production Data Management system with operator interfaces for critical inputs (such as downtime tracking and quality data) and barcode scanning for production claiming and material movement.

1. Attaining a record of zero reportable accidents.
2. Maintaining zero occurrences of external parts per million (PPM) quality issues.
3. Achieving efficiency improvements through ongoing continuous improvement endeavors.
4. Ensuring a 90-day and 180-day retention rate for newly hired employees.

• Leadership: Ability to lead and coordinate a diverse front-line team effectively, fostering a safe, collaborative, and respectful work environment.
• Communication: Strong communication and collaboration skills to interact with peer managers, other departments, and executive team members.
• Manufacturing Experience: Preferably, experience in metal stamping or a related manufacturing industry to understand the core operations and processes.
• Lean Manufacturing: Training and successful implementation track record in lean manufacturing principles and methodologies, such as Kaizen, SMED, and TPM.
• Computer Systems Familiarity: Proficiency in computer systems, including Excel and ERP systems, to efficiently manage work tasks, metrics, and analysis.
• Mechanical or Industrial Engineering: Education and/or experience in mechanical or industrial engineering are highly preferred, providing a foundational understanding of manufacturing processes and systems.

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical or industrial engineering, or a related field, is preferred.
• Significant experience in manufacturing leadership roles, especially in lean manufacturing environments, is highly desirable.
• Certifications or training in lean manufacturing principles and methodologies are advantageous.