Plant Manager in Harrison, Arkansas

Plant Manager

The Plant Manager leads all administrative, commercial, financial, and support functions of the facility and holds full P&L accountability. This is a hands-on leadership role in a small, lean facility where the Plant Manager personally owns significant tactical work - scheduling, purchasing backup, payroll oversight, pricing, cost management, month-end close - in addition to leading a team of functional leaders.

• Lead the facility's safety program and safety culture in partnership with the Safety Coordinator; ensure compliance and proactively drive safe behaviors, rather than treating safety as a delegated checklist item.
• Own environmental compliance, including air permit reporting, stormwater permit management, and annual Tier II and Form R chemical reporting.
• Directly lead and develop the Operations Manager, Customer Service Manager, Inventory Controller, Buyer, and Safety Coordinator.
• Own hourly and salaried payroll administration, timekeeping issues, and pay-related escalations.
• Handle day-to-day HR matters: hiring for administrative roles, performance management, disciplinary actions, and coordination with corporate HR.
• Personally step in as working backup for the Inventory Controller and Buyer roles when the team is short-staffed.
• Own the full P&L for the facility.
• Set and manage pricing to distribution centers and other trade customers.
• Maintain standard costs as supplier and freight costs change, and translate those cost changes into pricing decisions.
• Analyze margin and cost drivers by product and customer, and act on the findings.
• Support the sales team with quotes and pricing questions as needed.
• Oversee the Buyer and act as a hands-on backup for import and domestic purchasing.
• Proactively plan material availability, including import container planning, so it aligns with distribution center and trade customer demand - an import miss can leave the business without stock for the full length of that item's lead time, so this planning discipline is critical.
• Manage steel and raw material sourcing and vendor quotes in partnership with the production team.
• Build supplier relationships and manage sourcing risk, including lead times and import logistics.
• Own facility-wide scheduling, including staffing schedules and shipping schedules, and support production scheduling.
• Build and schedule outbound trucks to meet customer and distribution center delivery needs.
• Manage fleet compliance: registration, insurance, DOT inspections, and driver credentials.
• Personally handle scheduling legwork during periods when administrative staff is stretched thin.
• Own the monthly financial close process: reconcile inventory, order, and cost reports; review P&L variances with corporate finance; oversee physical inventory and cycle count sign-off.
• Lead the annual budget process and manage capital expenditure (Cap Ex) requests.
• Own bill of materials (BOM) setup and maintenance in partnership with corporate engineering.
• Build and maintain a strong, respectful working relationship with the Operations Manager, who owns all daily production direction, equipment maintenance, and supervisory leadership of production and maintenance staff.
• Support production goals and facility priorities without inserting into daily production or maintenance decisions - that is the Operations Manager's domain.
• Lead in a way that earns trust

• Proven experience owning a P&L, ideally in a manufacturing, distribution, or industrial environment.
• Experience with sourcing/purchasing (import and domestic) strongly preferred.
• Strong Excel/spreadsheet and data fluency; ERP experience (Infor preferred) is a plus.
• Familiarity with standard costing, month-end financial close processes, and environmental/regulatory compliance is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to operate lean and personally execute tactical work, not only delegate
• Track record of highly organized, self-directed work habits (standard work, personal systems).
• Comfortable in, and genuinely suited to, a small-town, relationship-driven culture.
• HR/payroll exposure.
• Prior plant manager, operations manager, general manager, or senior operations leadership experience is preferred but not required - the right behavioral fit and skill set (organization, data fluency, planning discipline, steady relationship-building) matters more than title pedigree.

• No missed material availability issues disrupt the distribution business.
• Payroll, HR, and administrative functions run with no dropped balls.
• The Operations Manager relationship is strong, with no unwanted turnover risk introduced.
• Pricing, cost updates, and P&L are actively managed, not just reported after the fact.
• Month-end close, budget, and environmental compliance deadlines are consistently met.
• The Plant Manager is seen locally as a credible, trusted, "one of us" leader.