Multi-Site Plant Manager - Automotive Plastics

Seeking a Plant Manager for a plastic profile extrusion manufacturing operation in the Thumb of Michigan. The site is a well established, sizeable automotive and industrial plastics operation with roughly 150 to 200 employees and a strong technical manufacturing footprint.

The plant specializes in complex, highly functional plastic profiles for demanding automotive OEM and supplier applications. Core technologies include plastic profile extrusion, coextrusion, secondary operations, in house tooling support, rapid prototyping, testing, automation, and design for manufacturing support.

90% Automotive, 10% agriculture, and industrial markets

• Custom extruded seals, structural profiles, seating components, electrical applications, safety related profiles, and other engineered plastic profile products.
• Thermoplastic material exposure may include TPV, TPR, TPO, TPE, TPU, PVC, and engineered resins.
• Equipment exposure may include extrusion lines, coextrusion lines, extrusion dies, coextrusion dies, profilers, cutters, grinders, fabrication tooling, trim tooling, assembly fixtures, quality gauges, CMM, dimensional equipment, tensile testing, hardness testing, cold impact testing, and production reporting systems.

The Plant Manager will lead the full operation and will be expected to strengthen execution, improve efficiency, develop the team, and ensure the plant consistently meets customer and business expectations. This is a hands on leadership role for someone who understands plastics manufacturing, plant floor execution, safety, quality, productivity, customer delivery, and financial performance.

• Manage all phases of plastic profile extrusion and coextrusion manufacturing while incorporating lean manufacturing principles.
• Lead the full plant operation, including production, quality, maintenance, materials, scheduling, shipping, and support functions.
• Build a hands on, accountable, safety focused culture across salaried and hourly teams.
• Own plant performance across safety, quality, delivery, cost, labor efficiency, scrap, uptime, customer satisfaction, and financial results.
• Drive disciplined execution around production planning, staffing, training, process control, corrective action, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with engineering, quality, tooling, maintenance, materials, and customer facing teams to resolve product and process issues quickly.
• Lead new product launches, process changes, tooling changes, material changes, and production readiness activities.
• Use structured problem solving methods such as root cause analysis, 8D, 5 Why, DOE, regression analysis, and corrective action.
• Maximize line utilization, throughput, uptime, labor efficiency, production output, and overall plant productivity.

• 10 or more years in plastics manufacturing, automotive supplier manufacturing, or a closely related technical manufacturing environment.
• 5 or more years of manufacturing leadership experience with responsibility for people, production, quality, delivery, and cost.
• Strong understanding of plant financials, budgeting, labor management, KPI management, operating metrics, and cost control.
• Experience building accountability through supervisors, department managers, technical resources, and hourly teams.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to work effectively with plant employees, senior leadership, customers, and cross functional teams.
• Bachelor degree preferred. Equivalent plastics manufacturing or automotive manufacturing leadership experience will be considered.
• Lean manufacturing certification, Six Sigma Green Belt, Shainin Red X, or similar formal problem solving training is a plus.
• Direct plastic extrusion, profile extrusion, coextrusion, or custom profile manufacturing experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience with automotive customers, Tier supplier expectations, launch discipline, quality systems, documentation, and customer specific requirements is highly preferred.

• Hands on, visible, practical, and direct.
• Comfortable leading from the floor while still managing financials, reporting, strategy, and business performance.
• Calm under pressure and capable of making timely decisions without creating unnecessary noise.
• Fair and accountable, with the ability to raise expectations while earning trust from the team.
• Focused on safety, quality, on time delivery, profitability, employee development, and continuous improvement.

Plastic extrusion | Profile extrusion | Coextrusion | Thermoplastic processing | Engineered plastic profiles | Automotive supplier manufacturing | Plant leadership | Lean manufacturing | Six Sigma | KPI management | P&L and budget management | Cost control | Customer satisfaction | New product launch | Continuous improvement | Safety and quality leadership