What are the responsibilities and job description for the Fabrication Foreman position at Allied Electric Sign and Awning Company?
Fabrication Lead Job Description
About Us
Allied Electric Sign & Awning Co. exists to Bring Brands to Life. With over 30 years of experience in sign and awning design, fabrication, installation, and service, we are recognized as one of the safest and most reputable employers in the industry. We are growing and looking for high-quality, motivated individuals to join our team.
Position Overview
The Fabrication Foreman is responsible for the day-to-day leadership, scheduling, quality, productivity, and development of the Fabrication and CNC Router departments.
This position serves as the primary floor leader for these departments and is responsible for ensuring work is completed safely, correctly, efficiently, and according to production priorities.
The Fabrication Foreman is expected to be a strong technical resource while also developing the team, identifying production problems, improving processes, and maintaining accountability.
Primary Responsibilities
Production Leadership
Coordinate daily work for Fabrication and CNC Router employees.
Review production priorities and determine the order work should be completed.
Assign work based on employee skill level, workload, and production needs.
Monitor jobs throughout the day and adjust assignments when priorities change.
Identify jobs that are at risk of missing production deadlines.
Communicate production delays, material shortages, drawing issues, or other roadblocks promptly.
Maintain productive workflow between CNC Routing, Fabrication, Assembly, Paint, and other production departments.
Help balance labor between departments when necessary.
Ensure completed work moves to the next production stage without unnecessary delay.
Fabrication Oversight
Provide technical leadership for fabrication of sign structures and components.
Ensure employees understand drawings, specifications, dimensions, and fabrication requirements before beginning work.
Verify proper fabrication techniques are being followed.
Oversee welding, cutting, forming, assembly, structural fabrication, and related processes.
Ensure fabricated components meet drawings and specifications before leaving the department.
Help troubleshoot difficult or unusual fabrication projects.
Reduce rework, scrap, and preventable production errors.
Quality Control
The Fabrication Foreman owns first-line quality control for Fabrication and CNC Routing. The Foreman should ensure:
Employees are working from the correct drawings and specifications.
Dimensions are verified before fabrication or routing.
Materials match job requirements.
Welds and fabricated assemblies meet company quality expectations.
Routed components meet dimensional and finish requirements.
Components are checked before moving to the next department.
Recurring quality problems are identified and corrected.
Rework is documented and used as a training opportunity.
Employees understand that quality is checked throughout production—not only at the end.
CNC Router Oversight
Coordinate CNC Router workload with fabrication priorities.
Ensure router jobs are completed in the correct production sequence.
Verify materials, files, dimensions, quantities, and job requirements before routing.
Ensure proper machine setup and safe operation.
Monitor material utilization and minimize unnecessary scrap.
Ensure routed components are labeled, organized, and delivered to the appropriate next production stage.
Coordinate maintenance or equipment concerns that could affect production.
Team Leadership
The Fabrication Foreman is responsible for developing a capable and accountable team. Expectations include:
Conduct daily communication with Fabrication and CNC Router employees.
Clearly communicate expectations and priorities.
Train employees on equipment, processes, drawings, and quality standards.
Cross-train employees to reduce dependence on individual team members.
Identify employees ready for additional responsibility or advancement.
Coach employees when performance or quality expectations are not being met.
Recognize strong performance and improvement.
Address attendance, behavior, safety, and performance concerns promptly.
Escalate formal disciplinary matters to management/HR when appropriate.
Participate in employee performance reviews and skill assessments.
Help administer Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Lead skill development.
Safety & Equipment
The Foreman is expected to actively enforce safe work practices rather than relying solely on employees to manage their own safety.
Enforce required PPE.
Ensure employees are trained before operating equipment.
Monitor safe welding, cutting, grinding, lifting, material handling, and machine operation.
Correct unsafe conditions immediately.
Report injuries, near misses, equipment damage, and safety concerns.
Maintain clean and organized work areas.
Ensure aisles, exits, electrical panels, and safety equipment remain accessible.
Coordinate preventive maintenance and equipment repairs.
Ensure damaged or unsafe equipment is removed from service when necessary.
Participate in company safety training and initiatives.
Planning & Coordination
The Fabrication Foreman works closely with Production leadership and other departments to prevent production problems.
The Foreman should communicate with:
Project Management
Clarification of drawings, specifications, scope, or job requirements.
Purchasing
Missing materials, incorrect materials, or upcoming material needs.
Production Management
Priorities, scheduling, labor requirements, bottlenecks, and capacity.
Graphics / Assembly / Paint
Production handoffs and sequencing.
Field Services / Installation
Fabrication concerns that could affect installation.
HR / Management
Training, attendance, performance, safety, or employee concerns.
Performance Expectations
Performance should be measured by more than simply how much work the department produces.
Production
Jobs completed according to production priorities.
Reduced production bottlenecks.
Effective labor utilization.
Appropriate coordination between CNC and Fabrication.
Production problems identified before they become emergencies.
Quality
Reduced fabrication errors.
Reduced CNC/router errors.
Reduced rework.
Reduced preventable material waste.
Improved first-pass quality.
Leadership
Employees understand daily expectations.
Employees receive appropriate training.
Cross-training increases.
Performance issues are addressed promptly.
Team members demonstrate increasing independence.
Safety
PPE compliance.
Safe equipment operation.
Clean and organized departments.
Safety concerns corrected promptly.
Required training completed.
Leadership Standards
A Fabrication Foreman should demonstrate:
Customer Focus
Understand that production quality ultimately affects the customer's experience.
Heart
Treat employees with respect while maintaining expectations.
Dedication
Take ownership of department results and follow problems through to resolution.
Improvement
Look for better ways to fabricate, route, organize, schedule, and train.
Stewardship
Protect company equipment, materials, labor, and resources.
Accountability
Own mistakes, correct problems, and hold the team to established standards.
Leadership Principles
The Fabrication Foreman is expected to:
Leave things better than they found them.
Be reliable.
Be safe.
Live the company's core values.
Assume positive intent.
Solve problems.
Have hard conversations when necessary.
Make sure everyone has a voice.
Think about the customer.
Required Technical Competencies
A qualified Fabrication Foreman should demonstrate competency in:
Reading fabrication drawings and shop drawings
Measurements and dimensional verification
Structural sign fabrication
MIG welding
Aluminum & Steel fabrication
Cutting and material preparation
Grinding and finishing
Fabrication equipment
Material identification
Quality inspection
Basic CNC Router workflow
Production sequencing
Troubleshooting fabrication problems
Safe equipment operation
The Foreman does not necessarily need to be the strongest CNC programmer, but must understand the CNC workflow well enough to manage priorities, quality, safety, and production output.
What Success Looks Like
A successful Fabrication Foreman creates departments that do not depend entirely on the Foreman to function.
The strongest indicator of success is a Fabrication and CNC team that knows what needs to be done, understands the quality standard, works safely, communicates problems early, and consistently moves work through production.
The Foreman's job is not just to build signs.
The Foreman's job is to build a team capable of building signs correctly, safely, and efficiently.
Salary : $55,000 - $75,000