Plant managers oversee the day to day operations at a company’s production facilities, ensuring that every order is processed and filled when it needs to be to keep customers happy. That means looking into both the supply logistics and the human resources issues that need to be handled to keep everything moving forward smoothly.
This is an open-ended job, and one that takes both experience and commitment, so emphasizing both of those qualities in any plant manager job description is an essential step to finding the right person. Strong organizational and interpersonal skills are also a must, as is the ability to make decisions quickly.
Make sure your plant manager job description also emphasizes the educational requirements you have for the position. The example below will show you how to include your requirements and needs while attracting dynamic talent to your organization.
Plant Manager Job Summary
Our organization has an opening for a plant manager in a midsize facility employing nearly 150 workers across two shifts. The company is growing and orders are expected to increase in the coming year, so as the right dynamic leader, you’ll have an opportunity to bring the vision needed to expand the plant to 250 employees across three shifts, while fulfilling all customer quality expectations. The nature of our intended expansion means this position is perfect for an experienced manager looking to move to a new challenge in an expanding facility. Your skills will be essential to set the policies to help our facility grow into a large regional operation.
Job Responsibilities
- Review all production orders and processing schedules and make critical decisions about workflow strategies to ensure all customers receive goods on time
- Develop, implement and track quality control systems, utilizing feedback to reduce scrap and waste through employee education and other efficiency improvements
- Coordinate both the processing of orders and the marketing of plant services to facilitate relationships with customers and supply chain partners in the local and regional communities
- Hire, train and discharge employees in accordance with our organizational bylaws and employee conduct guidebook
- Set and monitor product standards by implementing testing procedures to assure ongoing product quality, as well as initial product reviews and other evaluations needed to ensure a quality end result is shipped to the customer
- Develop or approve of budgets that balance all necessary expenses, including energy and other utilities, debt maintenance, supplies and human resources
- Coordinate with plant managers at other facilities within our organization to improve the quality of the workplace for all employees organization-wide through consistent policy implementation and continuous improvement
Job Skills & Qualifications
Reqiured:
- 5 years of experience as a plant manager or supervisor
- 5 years of experience in non-managerial industrial positions
- Bachelor’s degree in business, mechanical engineering or a field related to either
Preferred:
- Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, bachelor’s in business
- 5 years of experience in plastic injection molding production
Plant Manager Job Responsibilities
When writing a plant manager job description, it’s critical to clearly communicate the daily responsibilities that executives will expect a jobseeker to complete. The job responsibilities section of the document performs this function, which is why it’s the most in-depth section of the entire document. As such, make sure to use direct and succinct language to avoid any misunderstandings. You should write this section in a detailed way, but you don’t need to include everything. If it’s not something candidates will be doing on a daily basis, leave it out of the job responsibilities section.
If you’re wondering how to best format this section, focus on making it easy for a candidate to skim. Generally, bullet points streamline the job responsibilities section of your plant manager job description and simplify the large amount of information you’ll be communicating. It’s important to keep the number of bullets between four and eight to avoid creating an overwhelming laundry list of tasks. Additionally, starting each bullet with an expressive verb helps candidates visualize themselves in the position.
Here are some plant manager job responsibilities:
- Conduct training for new employees, hire recruits and assist in any conflict resolution that may be necessary
- Set and enforce production standards
- Coordinate equipment and facility maintenance schedules
- Direct production, processing and distribution of product while ensuring compliance with company standards
Plant Manager Job Specifications
Don’t underestimate the job qualifications and skills section of the plant manager job description. Even though it’s the smallest section, it’s extremely important to effectively communicate the minimum requirements to apply, such as education and relevant work experience. The result of a poorly written job qualifications and skills section can be frustrating. For example, you may find yourself weeding through an email inbox filled with countless unqualified resumes as you search for the few who meet the standards.
Fortunately, you can easily prevent this problem. An important part of the writing process is researching your company’s minimum requirements for the position, which should include a detailed conversation with members of your senior leadership. Once you’ve had that discussion, separate the non-negotiable specifications from the preferred skills on the plant manager job description to give jobseekers a firm grasp of their eligibility for the position.
You may refer to these plant manager job specifications in your writing process:
- Bachelor’s degree (master’s degree preferred)
- At least 5 years’ experience in production and plant management
- Exceptional interpersonal communications skills
- Firm understanding of basic clerical procedures, such as record keeping and document management
- Basic grasp of psychological principles, specifically as they pertain to employee behavior and performance