Sr. Production Manager - Electrode Unit

Overview

Join us at Panasonic Energy as we expand to De Soto, Kansas, where we’re building the world’s largest lithium‑ion battery factory. This is an exciting opportunity to grow your career while contributing to the future of electric vehicles. As part of our team, you’ll help push the limits of battery technology, enhancing performance and efficiency in sustainable transportation.

Job Summary: The Senior Production Manager provides strategic and operational leadership across multiple production departments within a high-volume, 24/7 manufacturing environment to achieve plant-level safety, quality, cost, delivery, and productivity objectives. The role owns end‑to‑end manufacturing performance for a major value stream or functional area, ensuring alignment to plant strategy and operational excellence initiatives.

Functional Leadership & Operations:

• Own manufacturing performance across multiple production departments or value streams, ensuring achievement of safety, quality, cost, delivery, and productivity targets
• Lead and develop Production Managers to ensure effective execution of production strategy and operational plans
• Oversee long‑range capacity planning, workforce planning, and operational scalability initiatives
• Manage departmental operating budgets, cost structures, and financial performance metrics
• Support capital investment planning, equipment strategy, and resource allocation decisions
• Serve as senior escalation point for complex operational, quality, and organizational issues

Strategic Alignment & Continuous Improvement:

• Translate plant and enterprise strategy into multi‑year operational roadmaps and performance objectives
• Champion large‑scale Lean transformation, cost reduction, and productivity improvement initiatives
• Drive systemic loss elimination through structured problem‑solving and data‑driven analysis
• Establish sustainable operational systems that improve stability, predictability, and performance
• Lead change management efforts associated with production ramp‑ups, new product introductions, and business expansion

Team Development & Knowledge Sharing:

• Develop and mentor Production Managers, ensuring leadership growth and succession readiness
• Build organizational capability across multiple layers of manufacturing leadership
• Partner with HR and plant leadership on workforce strategy, talent planning, and engagement initiatives
• Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement across departments
• Reinforce alignment to Panasonic’s Seven Core Principles through leadership example and organizational expectations

Cross‑Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement:

• Partner with Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Facilities, Finance, and EHS to drive integrated operational performance
• Collaborate on new product introductions, capacity expansions, and capital projects
• Provide operational insights, performance forecasts, and risk assessments to plant leadership and executive stakeholders
• Influence cross‑functional decisions that impact cost structure, customer delivery, and production scalability

Quality, Safety, Compliance, &

Risk Management:

• Ensure enterprise‑level safety performance through proactive risk mitigation and system‑level controls
• Oversee quality management systems within assigned areas, ensuring systemic defect prevention and sustainable corrective actions
• Drive compliance with regulatory, environmental, and operational standards
• Establish risk management frameworks to prevent operational disruption and customer impact

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Provide direct leadership to Production Managers and indirectly oversee Production Supervisors and hourly production personnel across multiple departments
• Responsible for organizational structure design, leadership development, performance management, and succession planning within assigned manufacturing areas

Travel Requirement:

• Minimal travel as required for business needs

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Requirements:

• Employees may be required to wear PPE such as a full Tyvek suit, safety shoes, gloves, safety glasses, face mask, bump cap, and a full hazmat suit with respirator

The…