Production Lead
Job Type: Permanent, Full-Time
Reports To: Production Manager
Job Summary
Edgestone Staffing is seeking an experienced Production Lead to oversee the daily execution of manufacturing operations and help drive a culture of accountability, consistency, safety, quality, and continuous improvement.
The Production Lead will serve as a hands-on operational leader on the manufacturing floor, ensuring production schedules are met, standardized processes are followed, equipment and tooling are properly maintained, and products consistently meet customer and regulatory requirements.
This position is highly floor-focused. The successful candidate will spend the majority of the workday coaching employees, troubleshooting production issues, removing barriers, improving processes, and developing the technical capabilities of the production team.
This is an opportunity for a hands-on manufacturing leader who wants to improve operations—not simply maintain them.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Team Development
- Lead by example with professionalism, urgency, accountability, and a strong commitment to safety and quality.
- Maintain a visible and active presence on the production floor.
- Coach production employees and provide ongoing feedback and development.
- Hold employees accountable for following documented procedures and workmanship standards.
- Promote teamwork, ownership, accountability, and pride in workmanship.
- Identify and develop high-potential employees for future Lead Operator and leadership roles.
- Build technical capability across the production team and reduce reliance on individual veteran operators.
Production & Schedule Execution
- Drive daily production schedule adherence and operational performance.
- Coordinate labor and resources based on production priorities.
- Ensure materials, tooling, documentation, and equipment are available before production begins.
- Minimize unnecessary machine changeovers and production interruptions.
- Monitor downtime, setup performance, scrap, and recurring production losses.
- Identify potential scheduling conflicts and escalate issues before they affect production.
- Use production data and KPIs to identify opportunities for improvement.
Process Standardization
- Ensure employees consistently follow approved standardized work instructions.
- Eliminate undocumented process changes and reliance on tribal knowledge.
- Verify approved process parameters are followed consistently.
- Partner with Engineering and other cross-functional teams to improve manufacturing documentation.
- Promote consistency across shifts and production teams.
Training & Technical Development
- Cross-train operators and technicians across products, equipment, and processes.
- Conduct routine employee skill assessments.
- Identify training gaps and implement structured development plans.
- Develop employees beyond their current product or process assignments.
- Support onboarding and qualification of new production employees.
- Establish sustainable training practices that reduce dependence on individual subject-matter experts.
Quality & Regulatory Compliance
- Ensure production activities comply with applicable quality and regulatory requirements, including ISO 13485, GMP/cGMP, FDA requirements, and customer specifications.
- Enforce workmanship and inspection standards consistently.
- Support NCRs, CAPAs, root-cause investigations, and corrective actions.
- Monitor production processes to identify and prevent quality issues.
- Drive reductions in scrap, rework, and defects through proactive process monitoring.
- Support internal, customer, and regulatory audits as required.
Equipment & Tooling
- Verify equipment and tooling are production-ready before use.
- Ensure tooling is properly inspected, cleaned, maintained, and stored.
- Prevent damaged, defective, or unsuitable tooling from entering production.
- Support preventive maintenance activities and equipment reliability initiatives.
- Identify recurring equipment issues and work with appropriate teams to resolve them.
Workplace Organization & 5S
- Maintain clean, organized, and efficient production areas.
- Apply 5S principles to improve workplace organization and efficiency.
- Reduce wasted motion, including unnecessary searching, walking, waiting, and material movement.
- Improve workstation organization, visual management, and production flow.
- Promote a culture of workplace ownership and operational discipline.
Continuous Improvement
- Lead and participate in daily continuous improvement activities.
- Identify opportunities to reduce scrap, downtime, setup time, waste, and inefficiencies.
- Support Lean Manufacturing and Kaizen initiatives.
- Utilize problem-solving and root-cause analysis methodologies to address recurring issues.
- Recommend process, equipment, and capital improvements.
- Help establish a culture where employees actively identify and solve problems.
Key Performance Indicators
Success in this role will be measured through operational and team performance, including:
- Safety performance
- Schedule adherence
- Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
- First Pass Yield
- Scrap rate
- On-time delivery
- Labor efficiency
- Downtime reduction
- Training completion
- Employee engagement
- 5S audit scores
- Quality metrics
- Continuous improvement results
What Success Looks Like
The successful Production Lead will:
- Develop people—not just supervise them.
- Standardize processes and eliminate tribal knowledge.
- Improve consistency between shifts.
- Drive operational discipline through coaching and accountability.
- Build a culture focused on safety, quality, productivity, and continuous improvement.
- Use data and measurable results to improve manufacturing performance.
- Become a trusted technical and operational leader on the production floor.
Qualifications
Education
- High School Diploma or GED required.
- Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, or a related field preferred.
Experience
- 5+ years of progressive experience in manufacturing, packaging, labeling, or production operations.
- Experience within a regulated industry such as pharmaceutical, medical device, biotechnology, dietary supplements, or a related sector strongly preferred.
- 3+ years of demonstrated leadership experience managing teams, operational performance, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Demonstrated experience with GMP/cGMP compliance, quality systems, process optimization, and operational excellence.
- Experience leading cross-functional projects and implementing process improvements.
- Experience supporting regulatory and customer audits.
- Strong background in batch record review, labeling systems, documentation controls, inspection processes, and manufacturing compliance programs.
Skills & Knowledge
- Advanced knowledge of GMP/cGMP, GDP, FDA regulations, quality systems, and manufacturing best practices.
- Strong leadership and employee-development skills.
- Demonstrated experience with change management, employee engagement, and performance management.
- Working knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Value Stream Mapping, Root Cause Analysis, CAPA, and continuous improvement methodologies.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to use operational metrics and data to drive decisions.
- Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Strong stakeholder-management abilities.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and manufacturing-related systems.
- Ability to balance strategic priorities with hands-on operational execution in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
Physical Requirements
- Ability to work in manufacturing, cleanroom, and controlled environments as required.
- Ability to stand and walk for extended periods during the workday.
- Ability to occasionally lift and carry approximately 30–50 lbs.
- Ability to perform regular production-floor walkthroughs, audits, inspections, and workstation assessments.
- Ability to work safely while following applicable PPE and environmental requirements.
Employment Details
Company: Edgestone Staffing
Position: Production Lead
Employment Type: Permanent, Full-Time
Reports To: Production Manager
How to Apply
If you are an experienced manufacturing leader who enjoys developing people, solving production problems, improving processes, and driving operational excellence, we encourage you to apply.
Edgestone Staffing is an equal opportunity employer.