Logistics Supervisor – Machining Operations

Logistics Supervisor – Machining Operations

Location: Redford, MI

Pay: $34–$36/hr

Duration: 1 year

Schedule: Monday–Friday, 2:30 PM–11:00 PM

Overtime: Approximately 14–20 hours/week, including weekends and some weekdays; may require 6-day workweeks

No C2C Partnerships or Staffing Support

Summary

The Logistics Supervisor leads the safe, accurate, and efficient flow of materials throughout the machining operation. This role ensures the right material is available at the right place, time, and quantity while maintaining inventory accuracy, controlling costs, supporting production, and promoting Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and Morale.

The position works closely with Production, Operations, Material Planning, Quality, Maintenance, Engineering, Purchasing, Labor Relations, and UAW-represented employees to eliminate production barriers and continuously improve material flow.

Core Responsibilities

Safety

• Provide visible leadership for logistics and material-handling activities.
• Ensure employees follow safety policies, procedures, work instructions, and material-handling requirements.
• Identify and eliminate unsafe conditions involving material movement, storage, trailers, racks, forklifts, pedestrian traffic, and work areas.
• Ensure employees are properly trained and qualified for material-handling activities.
• Address safety concerns immediately, complete corrective actions, and participate in safety investigations.
• Promote a culture where employees are empowered to stop and address unsafe work.
• Never compromise employee safety for production.

Quality & Inventory Accuracy

• Maintain accuracy and integrity of production inventory and logistics processes.
• Ensure material transactions are completed accurately and on time.
• Maintain disciplined receiving, issuing, moving, staging, returning, and scrapping processes.
• Establish effective cycle-counting and inventory-control procedures.
• Investigate inventory discrepancies and identify root causes.
• Partner with Production and Operations to eliminate process gaps that cause inventory inaccuracies.
• Ensure material is properly identified, located, protected, and traceable.
• Support quality containment and establish standard work for consistent processes.

Delivery & Material Flow

• Ensure machining departments receive materials required to meet production schedules.
• Prioritize material movement based on production requirements and customer needs.
• Monitor shortages, hot parts, past-due material, trailers, staging areas, and other production constraints.
• Proactively identify shortages before they affect production.
• Coordinate recovery efforts with Production and Planning when priorities or material availability change.
• Maintain effective trailer, dock, supermarket, staging, and point-of-use material flow.
• Minimize production downtime caused by logistics issues.
• Develop contingency plans for material disruptions, equipment issues, staffing constraints, and supplier shortages.
• Maintain clear communication between shifts.

Cost & Productivity

• Manage logistics resources and labor effectively.
• Identify opportunities to reduce material handling, transportation, overtime, premium freight, inventory, damage, and other logistics costs.
• Optimize employee assignments and material-handling routes.
• Reduce unnecessary movement, double handling, excess inventory, and non-value-added activities.
• Monitor and improve logistics productivity.
• Support Lean continuous improvement using standard work, visual management, 5S, PDCA, and structured problem-solving.
• Use data to identify trends and prioritize improvements.
• Ensure overtime and additional resources are based on legitimate business needs.

Leadership & Employee Engagement

• Create a respectful, accountable, and team-oriented work environment.
• Lead by example with honesty, fairness, consistency, and professionalism.
• Build strong relationships with UAW-represented employees, union leadership, and management.
• Address employee concerns and conflicts promptly and respectfully.
• Apply the collective bargaining agreement, company policies, and work rules consistently.
• Maintain accurate timecards and administer overtime fairly and in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement.
• Coach, train, provide feedback, recognize performance, and develop employees.
• Establish clear expectations and hold employees accountable.
• Promote teamwork across Logistics, Production, Maintenance, Quality, Planning, and other support functions.

UAW & Labor Relations

• Maintain professional relationships with UAW employees and union leadership.
• Understand and consistently administer applicable collective bargaining agreement provisions.
• Work with Labor Relations and UAW leadership to resolve workplace concerns.
• Maintain accurate documentation regarding attendance, performance, training, and employee matters.
• Apply work rules consistently without favoritism.
• Distinguish between employee, process, and contractual issues and involve the appropriate resources.
• Partner with the UAW to improve safety, quality, productivity, and working conditions.

Daily Management

• Lead start-of-shift communication and establish priorities.
• Review production requirements, material constraints, inventory accuracy, and shortages.
• Plan labor and manpower.
• Set material movement and staging priorities.
• Monitor safety, quality, and inventory issues.
• Escalate production risks and follow up on corrective actions.
• Maintain effective shift-to-shift communication.
• Establish a management system where problems are visible, understood, owned, and resolved.

Problem Solving & Continuous Improvement

• Identify recurring logistics issues and lead structured root-cause analysis.
• Focus on eliminating causes rather than repeatedly addressing symptoms.
• Establish corrective actions with clear ownership and completion dates.
• Use data to verify improvement effectiveness.
• Standardize and sustain successful improvements.
• Engage employees in identifying and implementing process improvements.
• Challenge unnecessary complexity, manual work, and error-prone processes.

Key Performance Measures

• Safety
• Quality
• Delivery
• Cost
• Morale / People

Required Leadership Behaviors

• Lead the process, not just the people.
• Be present where the work happens.
• Address problems instead of working around them.
• Use facts and data to make decisions.
• Hold themselves and others accountable.
• Communicate clearly and consistently.
• Treat employees with dignity and respect.
• Work collaboratively with the UAW.
• Develop people rather than simply directing them.
• Follow through on commitments.
• Escalate problems early.
• Create simple, repeatable processes.
• Never compromise safety for production.

Qualifications

• Leadership or supervisory experience in manufacturing, machining, logistics, or material control.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing material flow and inventory control.
• Experience in a unionized manufacturing environment preferred.
• Working knowledge of inventory management and production planning systems.
• Strong problem-solving and root-cause-analysis skills.
• Ability to interpret production, inventory, and performance data.
• Strong communication and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to prioritize competing production and material requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to lead hourly employees and build an accountable team culture.
• Ability to work effectively with Production, Quality, Maintenance, Engineering, Planning, Purchasing, and Labor Relations.

Overall Accountability

The Logistics Supervisor is responsible for ensuring logistics supports production rather than becoming a constraint. Success means employees are safe, material is accurate, production has what it needs, costs are controlled, problems are solved at the root cause, employees are treated with respect, the UAW and management work collaboratively, and the operation continuously improves.