Plant Manager

The Plant Manager is accountable for the overall operating performance of the manufacturing complex one of the companys largest, most complex, and most visible operations. This role leads two manufacturing facilities, offsite warehouse and a customer service building, ensuring these operations consistently deliver safe, reliable, high quality, and cost competitive products that support both internal and external customers.

The Defiance complex is the sole producer of marbles, fiberglass pipe covers, and several critical OEM and performance material product lines, supplying multiple plants and external customers. The Plant Manager must sustain operational excellence while leading significant capital investments including furnace rebuilds, automation initiatives, and potential expansion projects.

Success in this role is defined by the ability to improve safety performance, increase engagement, raise throughput, improve quality, strengthen financial results, and execute capital projects on time and on budgetall while leading a unionized workforce of 600+ hourly and 60+ salaried employees in a highly visible, multisite environment.

The Plant Manager is expected to:

• Achieve yearoveryear improvement in safety metrics, ensuring the Defiance complex meets or exceeds safety, health, and environmental commitments.
• Maintain full regulatory compliance while reducing risk through proactive hazard identification, strong safety culture, and disciplined operating practices.

• Improve plant productivity, throughput, yield, and uptime through disciplined execution of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement systems.
• Ensure Defiance remains a reliable, high quality supplier to internal plants and external customers, improving customer satisfaction and reducing quality escapes.
• Balance shortterm operational demands with longterm process stability and asset reliability.

• Build and sustain an engaged, accountable, performance driven culture aligned with values.
• Develop leaders and succession pipelines by coaching, setting clear expectations, and holding leaders accountable for results.
• Effectively lead within a union environment, maintaining productive labor relations while driving performance.

• Deliver annual operating results against budget and forecast, including cost, working capital, and inventory performance.
• Translate financial analysis into actionable operating decisions that improve profitability and asset efficiency.

• Lead major capital programs including furnace rebuilds, automation, and capacity expansions delivering projects safely, on schedule, and within approved funding.
• Improve plant efficiency and strategic flexibility through disciplined evaluation and execution of capital investments.

• Establish and maintain robust operating metrics, management routines, and reporting systems that drive accountability and continuous improvement.
• Partner with senior leadership to align site execution with both nearterm business priorities and longrange strategic objectives.

• Serve as the primary representative of for the Defiance complex with community stakeholders, regulatory agencies, customers, and corporate leadership.

• Enterprise Critical Leadership Role:
  Lead one of JMs largest, most complex, and most visible manufacturing complexes with direct impact on networkwide supply and performance.
• True Scale and Accountability:
  Full responsibility for a multisite, capital intensive operation with 600+ hourly and 60+ salaried employees, multiple unions, and diverse product lines.
• Transformation Opportunity:
  Drive major capital investments including furnace rebuilds, automation, and potential expansions shaping the future of the plant, not just maintaining it.
• High Visibility, High Impact:
  Significant interaction with senior leadership and corporate stakeholders; success here is highly visible and career accelerating.
• Career Defining Challenge:
  Ideal for a proven plant leader seeking complexity, influence, and the chance to leave a lasting operational and cultural legacy.

• Bachelors degree required (engineering or technical related degree preferred) with 12+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience, including 5+ years as a Plant Manager or equivalent senior site leadership role.
• Demonstrated success leading large, complex, multiline manufacturing operations with union and salaried work forces.
• Proven ability to deliver measurable improvements in safety, productivity, quality, cost, and employee engagement.
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing P&L performance and capital programs.
• Deep knowledge of continuous improvement disciplines (Lean, Six Sigma, Kepner Tregoe, or similar).
• Experience with environmental permitting, regulatory agencies, and safety program leadership.
• Strong technical…