Manufacturing Operations Manager

About The Role

Great Southern Wood – LA, Inc., the makers of Yella Wood® pressure-treated lumber, is seeking an experienced Manufacturing Operations Manager to lead the manufacturing division at one of our production facilities. This role owns the full operational rhythm of the plant — from safety and staffing to scheduling and output — and reports directly to the General Manager.

Great Southern Wood – LA, Inc., the makers of Yella Wood® pressure-treated lumber, is seeking an experienced Manufacturing Operations Manager to lead the manufacturing division at one of our production facilities. This role owns the full operational rhythm of the plant — from safety and staffing to scheduling and output — and reports directly to the General Manager.

• Direct day-to-day manufacturing operations across all shifts, ensuring alignment with corporate production and quality standards
• Serve as the primary point of accountability for plant performance, coordinating across departments (sales, production, maintenance, quality, and shipping)

• Own plant safety programs, ensuring compliance with OSHA and company safety standards
• Lead safety training, audits, and incident investigations; drive a culture of proactive hazard identification and continuous safety improvement

• Design and oversee onboarding and ongoing training programs for production staff
• Build cross-training plans to increase workforce flexibility and reduce single points of failure
• Evaluate performance and support employee development and retention

• Monitor key operational metrics (throughput, downtime, waste, labor efficiency) and drive continuous improvement initiatives
• Identify bottlenecks and implement process changes to improve line efficiency and reduce cost per unit

• Own both reactive and proactive scheduling functions:
  • Reactive scheduling:
    Adjust daily/weekly production plans in response to equipment downtime, material shortages, labor availability, or urgent order changes
  • Proactive scheduling:
    Build forward-looking production schedules based on sales forecasts, seasonal demand trends, and inventory targets to minimize disruption and maximize plant utilization
• Coordinate with sales, procurement, and logistics teams to align production output with customer demand and raw material (lumber) availability

• Maintain accurate real-time inventory counts of raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods
• Implement and enforce cycle counting procedures to identify and correct discrepancies between system and physical inventory
• Partner with warehouse and logistics teams to ensure accurate receiving, put-away, and shipping transactions are reflected in inventory systems
• Use inventory data integrity as a direct input into production scheduling decisions — ensuring forecasts and schedules are built on reliable stock levels rather than assumptions
• Investigate and resolve root causes of inventory variances (shrinkage, miscounts, system errors) to prevent recurring issues
• Support month-end/quarter-end inventory reconciliation and audits

• 5+ years of manufacturing operations/plant management experience; wood products, lumber, or industrial manufacturing background preferred
• Demonstrated experience with production scheduling and forecasting tools
• Experience with inventory management systems (ERP/WMS) and cycle counting processes
• Strong knowledge of OSHA safety regulations and manufacturing compliance
• Proven leadership managing multi-shift hourly work forces
• Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to balance long‑term planning with real‑time operational decision‑making