Production Manager

When Alfred Fain founded a small Rhode Island tire store in 1924, at the time no one could have predicted how Teknor Apex would become an international custom compo under sought out by companies around the world. After a nearly hundred‑year journey that’s carried us through acquisitions and expansion, we now have nine U.S. locations, as well as operations in Belgium, Singapore, Germany, and China.

Throughout this global expansion Teknor has remained a privately held company, and today Fain’s grandson sits at the helm, maintaining the family’s tradition of fostering deep employee and customer relationships. These relationships are what allow us—together—to deliver customized compound solutions and help our customers create better products.

“Manufacturing is a team sport, and we work together to achieve our goals.” – Jon Fain

The Production Manager is responsible for overseeing the planning, coordination, and execution of manufacturing operations, including staff, equipment, materials, and processes involved in production, curing, and final product output. This role ensures the effective allocation and management of resources to achieve safety, quality, and production targets.

• Promote safety awareness and monitor safety programs and trends, ensuring that safety meetings are conducted, investigating and countermeasuring all safety problems, reporting results, developing plans for improvements, and maintaining compliance with all environmental regulations.
• Ensure fair and consistent practices, recommend promotions, salary increases, demotions, and transfers.
• Manage Production Department staff, select and develop personnel, identify training needs, counsel and motivate the team, and maintain a clean, safe working environment.
• Review, analyze, and monitor daily and monthly production results and trends according to man, machine, material methods measured against plant goals, developing resolutions through troubleshooting for corrective prevention.
• Direct and lead all departmental activities consistent with plant goals—safety, production, waste, scrap, and employee relations—countering adverse trends, obtaining and deploying resources as necessary, and maintaining lowest costs for production.
• Educate and train the team in standard practices, process capability, and downgrade defect analysis, promoting a high level of good housekeeping.
• Audit SOP compliance, establish plans, and control points for achieving production requirements, communicate objectives to the team, and coordinate activities with support department, maintenance, technical support, and customer service.
• Submit monthly reports documenting results versus monthly budget expectations.
• Hold budget responsibilities of $5,000,000 to $20,000,000 and no sales revenue responsibilities.
• Apply a variety of procedures, policies, and precedents used in combination.
• Model positive leadership behaviors that align with our Core Values and build relationships and collaboration across the shift, other shifts and cross‑functionally.
• Actively audit safe conditions and safe behaviors every shift while on the floor, upholding safety rules and policies and proactively addressing safety hazards and unsafe behaviors.
• Model high safety standards (LOTO, proper PPE, no earbuds or phones on production floor, long sleeve shirts, dust masks, etc.).
• Coach and drive 6S principles and improvements across the department and plant.
• Drive safety, quality, yield, and productivity continuous improvement and lead projects.
• Coach, mentor, and develop team to successfully operate assigned production lines.
• Ensure needed training is completed on time and strong cross training to standard/work procedures is actively ongoing.
• Be accessible to employees to create an open door and team‑oriented culture.
• Participate in meetings as needed and be responsive to e‑mail and phone communications.
• Be active in your own personal leadership development and attend scheduled leadership and management trainings.
• Passionately drive continuous improvement culture.
• Administer established policies for performance management, staffing, training, employee relations,…