Operations Director

Position Summary

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) / Operations Director is responsible for leading and managing the company’s overall operations with a strong focus on manufacturing performance, production flow, efficiency, quality, safety, and continuous improvement. This role provides hands-on leadership across the shop floor and operational departments, ensuring daily execution aligns with company goals, customer expectations, and profitability targets.

This position is highly visible and engaged in day-to-day operations, requiring a leader who is comfortable both on the production floor and in the data. The COO / Operations Director uses operational metrics, production data, labor efficiency, on-time delivery performance, quality trends, and capacity planning information to make informed decisions, solve problems quickly, and drive results across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

1. Operational Leadership

• Lead and oversee all day-to-day operations of the business, including production, scheduling, workflow, staffing coordination, and operational support functions.
• Ensure operations are aligned with company objectives for safety, quality, delivery, cost, and customer satisfaction.
• Serve as the primary operational leader responsible for translating company goals into measurable execution plans.
• Provide direct leadership, accountability, and support to production managers, supervisors, leads, and support departments.
• Maintain strong visibility across the plant and operational areas by being actively involved on the floor and engaged with employees, processes, and production issues in real time.

2. Production Management

• Oversee production planning and execution to ensure jobs are completed safely, efficiently, on time, and to quality standards.
• Monitor workflow, bottlenecks, labor utilization, and machine capacity to improve throughput and reduce downtime.
• Partner with production leadership to prioritize work, balance resources, and resolve constraints affecting output or delivery.
• Ensure coordination across departments including production, quality, purchasing, maintenance, shipping, and inventory control.
• Drive accountability for schedule adherence, work order completion, scrap reduction, and departmental performance.

3. Hands-On Floor Leadership

• Maintain a strong daily presence on the shop floor to observe operations firsthand, identify improvement opportunities, and support leaders and employees.
• Act quickly to address production issues, quality concerns, staffing challenges, material shortages, or process breakdowns.
• Build credibility with employees by being accessible, practical, and engaged in operational problem-solving.
• Reinforce expectations for safety, productivity, housekeeping, communication, and teamwork throughout the facility.
• Coach supervisors and managers to lead effectively, solve problems independently, and maintain accountability in their areas.

4. Data-Driven Operating Management

• Use production, labor, inventory, quality, and delivery data to evaluate performance and make sound operating decisions.
• Develop and monitor KPIs, dashboards, and scorecards related to throughput, labor efficiency, on-time delivery, scrap, downtime, inventory accuracy, and overall operational performance.
• Analyze trends, identify root causes, and implement corrective actions based on measurable facts rather than assumptions.
• Establish a disciplined operating rhythm using data reviews, production meetings, accountability check-ins, and action tracking.
• Support the development of reporting tools and processes that improve visibility into plant performance and business operations.

5. Continuous Improvement

• Lead initiatives to improve productivity, capacity, workflow, communication, and process consistency across the organization.
• Drive operational discipline through standard work, performance expectations, process ownership, and follow-through.
• Identify waste, inefficiency, and process gaps, then implement practical improvements that deliver measurable results.
• Partner with leadership on long-term operational strategy, equipment planning, plant layout, staffing models, and process improvements.
• Promote a culture of ownership, urgency, accountability, and continuous improvement at all levels.

6. Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with purchasing, quality, engineering, sales, accounting, and leadership to ensure the organization operates as one coordinated team.
• Align production priorities with customer commitments, material availability, labor capacity, and operational constraints.
• Improve communication between departments so that decisions are timely, informed, and execution-focused.
• Support organizational planning and help resolve issues that impact service, margin, scheduling, or customer performance.

7. Safety, Quality, and Compliance

• Champion a safe working environment and reinforce compliance with all company safety policies and required procedures.
• Ensure quality expectations are clearly communicated, measured, and maintained throughout operations.
• Promote proactive problem-solving and root-cause correction for quality or process issues.
• Support operational compliance, documentation discipline, and consistency in executing company standards.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Operations Management, Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, or related field preferred; equivalent experience may be considered.
• 7 years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing, operations, production management, or plant leadership.
• Strong hands-on leadership experience in a fast-paced manufacturing or industrial environment.
• Demonstrated success managing production teams, operational workflows, and cross-functional departments.
• Strong knowledge of manufacturing processes, production scheduling, labor planning, capacity management, and continuous improvement.
• Experience using ERP systems, production reporting, dashboards, and operating metrics to guide decisions.
• Proven ability to lead through data, accountability, and direct involvement in the operation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in metal fabrication, industrial manufacturing, job shop, or custom production environments.
• Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement training/certification.
• Experience scaling operations, improving throughput, and implementing measurable process improvements.
• Strong understanding of inventory flow, purchasing coordination, production planning, and shipping operations.

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Referral program
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s):

• For this position, you must be present in Winamac daily. Are you able to commit to this?

Work Location: In person