Plant Manager

Description

Position Summary:

Location – Harrison, Arkansas

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.

The Plant Manager partners closely with the Operations Manager, who leads all daily production direction, equipment maintenance, and production/maintenance supervisors, and reports to the Plant Manager.

Because the administrative team is lean relative to workload, this role requires someone who builds strong personal systems (standard work) to manage many simultaneous responsibilities without dropping details, and who is genuinely energized – not resistant – to rolling up their sleeves on tactical work.

• 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

• Prov…