Plant Manager
Listed on 2026-08-10
-
Manufacturing / Production
Operations Management, Lean Manufacturing / Six Sigma
Plant Manager
Position Title:
Plant Manager
Reports to:
U.S. Operations Manager
Location:
Richton Park, IL (Division Manufacturing Sites)
Team Led:
Production Managers, plus site functional leaders in Quality, Materials, Maintenance, Engineering, and Customer Service
The Opportunity
Our client is a division of a Fortune 500 diversified industrial manufacturer with roughly $14B in global revenue, operations in 57 countries, and a portfolio of more than 16,000 active patents. Within that global enterprise, this division is a focused automotive business serving major OEMs across North America, engineering and manufacturing housing units, vehicle doors, capless fuel systems, and electric vehicle (EV) charge ports.
The division operates multiple manufacturing locations across the U.S. and Mexico. This role has full accountability for one of the division's U.S. manufacturing sites, integrating Production, Quality, Materials, Maintenance, Engineering, and Customer Service into a single plant P&L. As the business modernizes its operations and pursues renewed growth, it needs a Plant Manager who can own site performance today while building the capability, culture, and bench strength for what's next.
Own the site. Own the P&L. Build the culture.
This is not a caretaker role — it's full accountability for a manufacturing site's safety, quality, delivery, cost, and culture, with the authority to integrate every plant function around one set of priorities. You'll set the pace, remove the barriers other leaders can't, and build a site that performs today and is stronger a year from now. If you want ownership of the whole plant, not just a piece of it, keep reading.
Why This Role Is Different
- Full-site ownership — full P&L accountability for the plant, not a single function or shift
- Backed by Fortune 500 scale — the resources, tooling, and career runway of a global industrial leader, with the autonomy of running your own site
- Real integration authority — set plant operating priorities, hold every functional leader accountable, and remove cross-functional and systemic barriers directly
- A proven leadership pipeline — plant leadership roles within this organization are a recognized path into multi-site and division-level operations leadership
- A business, not a shift — you'll own real outcomes across safety, quality, delivery, cost, capacity, and culture, with Production Managers and functional leaders reporting through you
What You'll Own
Plant Performance & Cross-Functional Leadership
- Own full-plant performance and ensure the site achieves safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, and customer commitments
- Integrate priorities and decision-making across plant functions — Production, Quality, Materials, Maintenance, Engineering, and Customer Service — and remove cross-functional or systemic barriers
- Set plant operating priorities, review results, and hold functional leaders accountable for corrective action and sustained improvement
- Represent the plant to customers, auditors, and corporate leadership as required
Financial & Capital Ownership
- Own the plant P&L and operating budget, including conversion cost, labor, scrap, premium freight, inventory-related costs, external sorting, maintenance, and capital effectiveness
- Balance short-term execution with capacity planning, workforce capability, equipment strategy, facility layout, inventory management, and process improvement
- Sponsor 80/20, continuous improvement, and capital initiatives that improve site economics and operating performance
People Leadership & Culture
- Lead and develop functional leaders, front-line leaders, and supervisors, including Production Managers; strengthen accountability and succession
- Create and sustain a plant culture grounded in safety, accountability, inclusion, teamwork, urgency, and continuous improvement
- Build bench strength across the site as long-tenured talent transitions and a new generation of leaders develops
Compliance & Growth Partnership
- Ensure compliance with company policies, quality systems, customer requirements, and environmental and safety regulations
- Partner across Sales, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, and Human Resources to support…
(If this job is in fact in your jurisdiction, then you may be using a Proxy or VPN to access this site, and to progress further, you should change your connectivity to another mobile device or PC).