Plant Manager - Plastic Extrusion

Job Description

Plant Manager - Plastic Extrusion

A well established manufacturer of custom plastic extrusion products is seeking a hands on Plant Manager to lead a manufacturing operation in Michigan. This company supports demanding OEM and supplier customers with engineered plastic profiles used in applications such as sealing systems, trim components, electrical channels, wire management, closures, construction related products, and other custom extruded plastic components.

This is a strong opportunity for a manufacturing leader who understands extrusion, people leadership, operational discipline, safety, quality, production efficiency, and customer expectations. The right person will bring a practical plant floor leadership style, strong follow through, and the ability to lead supervisors, operators, maintenance, quality, engineering, scheduling, and support teams in a fast moving manufacturing environment.

Position Overview

The Plant Manager will have full responsibility for daily plant operations, including safety, production, quality, maintenance, labor performance, cost control, employee development, customer support, and continuous improvement. This person will be expected to create structure, drive accountability, improve communication, and make sure the plant is performing to expectations in safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and profitability.

This is not a corporate desk role. The ideal candidate will be visible on the floor, engaged with the team, comfortable with technical manufacturing issues, and capable of balancing customer demands with operational realities. Experience in plastic extrusion, profile extrusion, coextrusion, thermoplastics, engineered plastic products, or a closely related manufacturing environment would be highly valuable.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead all day to day plant operations, including production, safety, quality, maintenance, materials, scheduling, shipping, receiving, and employee performance.
• Build a strong safety culture and ensure compliance with company standards, OSHA requirements, training expectations, and safe work practices.
• Drive operational performance through measurable improvement in throughput, scrap, downtime, labor efficiency, quality performance, on time delivery, and overall plant productivity.
• Lead, coach, and develop supervisors, leads, operators, technicians, maintenance personnel, and support staff.
• Create clear expectations for performance, accountability, communication, and problem solving across all departments.
• Partner with quality and engineering teams to resolve production issues, customer concerns, process problems, dimensional issues, material concerns, tooling challenges, and repeat defects.
• Support new product launches, process changes, tooling trials, material changes, customer requirements, and production readiness activities.
• Work closely with scheduling, materials, and customer service teams to make sure production plans are realistic, resources are aligned, and customer delivery commitments are met.
• Oversee plant financial performance, including labor cost, overtime, scrap, waste, maintenance spending, production efficiency, inventory control, and operating expenses.
• Lead continuous improvement activities focused on waste reduction, process stability, uptime, standard work, employee engagement, and stronger plant execution.
• Support maintenance planning, preventive maintenance, equipment reliability, tooling readiness, and equipment improvement efforts.
• Develop a strong leadership bench and create a culture where employees are trained, supported, held accountable, and treated with respect.
• Communicate effectively with senior leadership regarding plant performance, staffing, production challenges,…