Manufacturing Manager

Manufacturing Manager – Kadant South America

Location:

Delta, British Columbia, Canada.

Are you ready to dive into the exciting and innovative world of Engineered Wood? Kadant Carmanah Design is recognized as a global leader of innovation in the design and manufacture of equipment in the Engineered Wood products industry and is the largest supplier of stranders used in the production of Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and other wood‑based composites.

We have an exciting opportunity to join the Operations Team as a Manufacturing Manager. We offer a competitive salary, bonus, and benefits with a great work/life balance.

You will report to the VP Operations and lead the Manufacturing Department which consists of Production, Quality, and Safety. You will have direct responsibility for 35+ unionized shop employees and will provide leadership to achieve cost, efficiency, safety, and quality targets across Machining, Fabrication, Assembly, and Specialist departments.

In addition, you will work closely with Industrial Engineering and Purchasing to source, estimate, and quote industrial work to supplement shop capacity when required. The main objective is to monitor and control resources to achieve predetermined objectives of scope, time, cost, and quality for all major orders while maintaining industry‑leading safety standards.

• Oversee and manage production and manufacturing areas (Machining, Fabrication, Assembly, Specialist, and Production Departments).
• Act as Project Manager for critical jobs based on cost concerns or complexity.
• Use technical and troubleshooting skills to answer questions and provide guidance on fabrication, machining, and assembly.
• Control and monitor resources to meet scope, labour cost, material cost, and quality objectives for all selected orders.
• Develop fiscal budgets for manufacturing, capital expenditures, and major repairs; track and report on budget and shop hour targets to maintain accurate absorption costing.
• Work with Industrial Engineering to develop accurate production standards for each part and track estimated vs actual hours to continually improve cost reduction.
• Notify management of major problems and propose recovery actions promptly.
• Stay current on technologies and developments through seminars, etc.
• Ensure full use of human resources through employee development and motivation.
• Administer the union contract for hourly staff.
• Oversee the labour estimating process in support of industrial engineering.

• College/University diploma or degree in engineering or manufacturing (preferably mechanical).
• Strong understanding of fabrication, welding, machining, and assembly processes.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience managing large production‑focused teams.
• Good attitude and excellent engagement.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to handle multiple ongoing projects.
• Strong planning and scheduling skills in a workshop capacity.
• Effective communication across media (Microsoft Teams, Email, Jira, etc.).
• Excellent interpersonal and soft skills.
• Experience implementing and maintaining Safety, 5S, and preventative maintenance systems.
• Experience with an ERP system (ideally Epicor).

• Understanding of Quality Assurance tools and processes.
• Familiarity with CNC machines and programming.
• Experience developing and reporting on KPIs.
• Excel proficiency (Formulas, VBA/Macros, etc.).
• Project Management experience.