Production Manager

Job Summary

The Manufacturing Manager is a member of the Operations Leadership Team responsible for leading manufacturing operations and manufacturing support functions to achieve safety, quality, delivery, cost, and productivity objectives. The role provides leadership to Production, Process Engineering, Manufacturing Administration, Production Coordination and Tooling functions while fostering a culture of accountability, engagement, and continuous improvement.

The Manufacturing Manager is accountable for developing people, improving operational performance, optimizing manufacturing processes, and delivering business objectives in a high-mix, fast-paced, build-to-order manufacturing environment.

What We Offer:

• Flexible time off policy
• 401K Company match (up to 4% - dollar for dollar)
• Professional development, training, and tuition reimbursement programs
• Excellent medical, dental, vision, and life insurance policy options
• Opportunities for career advancement with an industry leading company!

Key Responsibilities

EHS Leadership

• Own a proactive and engaging EHS culture and hold supervisors and engineers accountable for their EHS responsibilities, training, and follow-up actions.
• Promote and maintain a proactive safety culture.
• Ensure compliance with all environmental, health, and safety requirements.
• Lead investigations of safety incidents and implement corrective actions.
• Drive closure of safety observations, corrective actions, and training requirements.
• Ensure ergonomics, machine guarding, and process safety are designed into new equipment, tooling, and plant layouts before they reach the floor.

Manufacturing Operations & Performance

• Lead daily manufacturing operations to achieve safety, quality, delivery, cost, and productivity targets, holding the team accountable through the daily management system.
• Manage labor, equipment, materials, and resources to meet customer demand.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, and Customer Service to support business objectives.
• Monitor and communicate operational performance through KPIs and visual management systems. Own escalation process, ensuring open actions and countermeasures are resolved and that chronic issues are elevated with a plan rather than repeated.
• Manage departmental budgets & expenses.
• Ensure work is planned and resourced across shifts through staffing models, cross-training, overtime management, and equipment availability so the production plan is met at the lowest sustainable cost. Partner with scheduling to define ramp up plans and quoted lead time to ensure commitments are achievable.
• Ensure new products, engineering changes, and transferred work reach production with validated processes, capable tooling, trained operators, and documented standard work.
• Ensure inventory accuracy, work-in-process control, and disciplined material flow in partnership with supply chain and warehousing.

Process Engineering & Continuous Improvement

• Provide leadership and direction for Process Engineering activities including process validation, tooling and fixture design, cycle time reduction, automation and plant layout.
• Drive process improvements that improve productivity, quality, capacity, and yield.
• Lead root cause investigations and corrective actions for operational and customer issues.
• Champion Lean Manufacturing, 5S, Kaizen, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Support new product introductions, process transfers, and manufacturing readiness activities.

People Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop manufacturing team including supervisors, process engineer and support personnel.
• Support recruiting, onboarding, training, and succession planning activities.
• Establish clear goals and accountability for performance and development.
• Foster employee engagement, teamwork, and a culture of continuous improvement.

Key Competencies

• Diligent in applying leadership and management skills to set direction and create accountability and meet safety, quality, production, and cost objectives.
• Technical depth sufficient to challenge process, tooling, and quality decisions, including the ability to interpret drawings, specifications, and engineering documents.
• Team player with well-developed interpersonal skills who is comfortable in a cross-functional, multi-cultural environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication, with the ability to engage effectively at all levels of the organization and with customers.
• Analytical and driven by data and facts, effective in a fast-paced, ambiguous, and rapidly changing build-to-order environment.
• Strong organization and time-management skills.
• Strategic and forward-looking, able to translate plans into capacity, staffing, capital, and improvement roadmaps.

Qualifications

• 8 + years of progressive manufacturing experience, including leadership responsibility with experience leading supervisors, engineers, or other professionals.
• Experience leading more than 1 function, such as production with process engineering or quality.
• Experience with fiber cable assembly such as knowledge of components, processes, equipment, standards, and terminology used in Network Infrastructure cable assembly production preferred.
• Demonstrated Lean Manufacturing and continuous Improvement application with quantifiable results.
• Excellent personal computing skills, particularly Microsoft Office.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
• Experience with ERP systems such as Oracle R12 or comparable; working knowledge of ISO 9001 quality management system.
• Able to support off-shift and/or weekend operations.

Working Conditions

• Combined sitting, standing, and walking throughout the day to accomplish tasks.
• Manual dexterity used occasionally with repetitive finger motion.
• Occasional reaching, stretching, pushing, pulling, crouching, or stooping.
• Occasional lifting up to 50 pounds.
• Hearing and speaking required regularly.
• Specific vision abilities include close and distance vision, the ability to identify colors, and ability to adjust focus.
• Occasional travel to other AFL sites may be required.
• Bilingual English-Spanish preferred, not required.