PLANT MANAGER

Location:
Rockingham, North Carolina, USA

IN DEMAND Recruitment & Consulting Inc. is currently recruiting for an experienced PLANT MANAGER on behalf of our client, a well-established tissue and paper manufacturing operation located in the Rockingham, North Carolina area
.

This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for a proven manufacturing executive with deep paper manufacturing and paper machine operations experience
. Our client is seeking a hands‑on, results‑driven leader who can take full ownership of plant performance, strengthen operational discipline, and lead the facility to improved results across safety, quality, production, reliability, cost and people development
.

The successful candidate will be responsible for all aspects of plant operations and will play a key role in driving performance improvements, stabilizing underperforming areas, and building a strong culture of accountability, teamwork and continuous improvement.

This role is ideal for a seasoned Plant Manager or senior operations leader who understands the complexity of paper manufacturing and has a track record of improving plant performance through strong leadership, technical knowledge, disciplined execution and data‑driven decision‑making
.

The Plant Manager will oversee the day‑to‑day and strategic leadership of the facility, ensuring the plant operates safely, efficiently and profitably while developing both leadership and frontline teams.

• Lead all plant operations to achieve established safety, quality, production, reliability and financial objectives
  .
• Build and reinforce a strong safety culture through visible leadership, clear expectations, coaching and accountability at all levels of the organization.
• Oversee plant performance and ensure operations are aligned with productivity, quality and cost targets.
• Optimize paper machine performance
  , equipment uptime, production output and finished‑product quality.
• Improve equipment reliability through strong maintenance systems, including preventive and predictive maintenance, planning and scheduling, and root cause analysis
  .
• Manage and improve plant financial performance, including cost‑per‑ton, labour, maintenance, fibre, chemical and energy costs.
• Lead continuous improvement efforts using structured, data‑driven problem‑solving methodologies to improve operational and financial results.
• Develop and execute recovery or turnaround plans for underperforming operations, establishing clear priorities, ownership, milestones and measurable outcomes.
• Build, coach and strengthen plant leadership, technical and hourly teams through employee development, performance management, succession planning and accountability.
• Partner with maintenance, production, quality and leadership teams to ensure cross‑functional alignment and effective execution of plant priorities.
• Establish a culture focused on performance, engagement, ownership and continuous improvement
  .

We are looking for a strong plant leader with deep technical and operational knowledge of paper manufacturing
, particularly paper machine operations
, who can lead a large team and drive measurable business results.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing or a related field is preferred.
• 10–15+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience
  .
• Must have direct paper manufacturing experience
  , including demonstrated technical knowledge of paper machine operations
  .
• Proven experience leading paper machine operations and delivering sustainable improvements in performance, reliability and quality.
• Demonstrated success improving underperforming facilities or leading plant turnaround/recovery initiatives.
• Strong understanding of paperma…