Sr Manufacturing Manager - Plastics

Job Summary

This role sets the strategic vision and drives systemic improvements in efficiency, quality, safety, cost, and employee engagement for a highly technical plastics manufacturing operation. The Sr. Manufacturing Manager leads a multi-process, multi-shift operation including injection molding, medical tubing extrusion, and manual/benchtop assembly operations. The leader ensures operational excellence through performance management, deep technical engagement with process engineering, and ownership of key manufacturing financial drivers.

The role requires a strong balance of technical plastics expertise, financial acumen, and people leadership to deliver consistent, high-quality output in a 24/5 manufacturing environment.

• Lead a highly technical, multi‑shift team:
  • Lead, coach, and develop a large multi‑shift organization consisting of supervisors, leads, and operators across multiple manufacturing processes
  • Build leadership capability within frontline supervision through mentoring, accountability systems, and talent development
  • Ensure consistent execution across all shifts through structured communication, standard work, and escalation processes
  • Align labor resources with the supply plan and customer demand daily and monthly
  • Lead daily, weekly, and monthly performance review meetings driven by KPI data
  • Foster strong cross‑functional relationships with Engineering, Quality, Finance, Supply Chain, and CI teams
  • Proactively communicate operational performance, risks, and improvement plans to plant leadership
• Drive operational and quality excellence:
  • Lead performance across injection molding, extrusion, and assembly operations, ensuring alignment to production, quality, and cost targets
  • Own and improve key operational metrics, including:
    • OEE (availability, performance, quality)
    • Labor efficiency / productivity
    • Scrap and yield performance
  • Develop and execute strategies to reduce downtime, improve throughput, and optimize labor utilization
  • Champion Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement initiatives across the operation
  • Utilize data analysis to identify trends, losses, and improvement opportunities
  • Partner with CI teams to implement sustainable process improvements and track results
• Financial ownership & cost performance:
  • Develop annual production budgets and manage performance against key financial metrics
  • Improve labor efficiency and absorption, scrap and material cost, headcount and variable spend
  • Partner directly with Finance to analyze variances, validate routing structures, translate operational performance into financial outcomes, and align production teams to plant financial goals with clear accountability
• Process improvement & engineering partnership:
  • Work closely with Process Engineering to identify and prioritize improvement opportunities, validate process changes, and support new product introductions and line startups
  • Lead structured problem‑solving efforts using root cause analysis, DMAIC, and statistical methods
  • Utilize SPC and process capability data to improve process control and drive project pipelines
• Deliver high quality supply:
  • Ensure compliance with GMP, GDP, and applicable regulatory standards
  • Maintain and improve quality performance by monitoring key metrics and driving corrective actions
  • Partner with Quality on non‑conformance investigations and CAPA execution
  • Drive implementation and sustainment of 6S and visual management systems
  • Act as a subject matter expert for plastics manufacturing processes
  • Act as the Voice of the Customer and SME for processes within the business
• Foster a culture of safety, accountability, and engagement:
  • Lead safety performance by setting expectations, monitoring metrics, and driving continuous improvement
  • Ensure all incidents are reported, investigated, and addressed appropriately
  • Build a culture of accountability and engagement across all levels of the organization
  • Drive adherence to training requirements, policies, and standard operating procedures
  • Coach and develop supervisors and front‑line leaders to improve quality, production and safety
  • Proactively seek input and feedback on manufacturing processes and procedures
  • Ensure production team adherence to…