Plant Manager - Chicago - 51st St

Reporting to the SCC East Area Plant Director, this position leads all aspects of plant operations with overall responsibilities for ensuring financial and operational goals (safety, quality, service, cost productivity, and working capital) are achieved.

While professional experience and qualifications are key for this role, make sure to check you have the preferable soft skills before applying if required.

Develop and communicate the overall vision for the factory and provide strategic leadership to ensure short and long term objectives are achieved.

Lead business improvement efforts through the rigorous application of the GCP Daily Management system, lean principles & tools, and promotion of a strong continuous culture.

Develop an organization capable of achieving the business objectives on a sustainable basis.

Responsible for developing and managing to the overall Plant budget.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership to ensure that the financial and operational goals (Safety, Quality, Service, Cost Productivity, Working Capital) of the plant are met.
• Proactively identify barriers and challenges that could negatively impact the operations and implement effective solutions to minimize impact.
• Communicate plant priorities, initiatives, and performance to all plant employees including daily, weekly, and quarterly scheduled meetings.
• Effectively deploy the GCP Management System tool set. Utilize the GCP Daily Management system as the basis for running the factory on a daily basis, ensuring targets are met, identifying and correcting items that are not at standard , and quickly identifying / resolving any potential barriers to achieving goals.
• Eliminate waste throughout the manufacturing operations through deployment of the Lean tools & processes, driving a continuous improvement culture, and promoting employee engagement at all levels of the plant.
• Utilize VSM, transformation roadmap planning, and A3 Thinking to develop and deploy specifically targeted kaizens, projects, and Just Do It projects to drive a higher level of Operational Excellence.
• Act as the primary point of contact for significant concerns or communications related to the facility. Interface with various Executives, VP Operations, Purchasing, Finance, Human Resource, Engineering, customers, union officials, tenant leadership, and suppliers, to promote a high level of communication and collaboration.
• Support the Organization Performance Management System including establishing goals, reviewing performance, and salary administration.
• Develop an organization, and the people, capable of achieving the plants short term and long term goals.
• Identify, propose, and obtain approval for large, impactful projects (capital & other) to drive step change improvements in the facilities performance (productivity, service, quality, etc).
• Ensure a safe work environment for all employees through implementation and maintenance of company directed safety programs, compliance with OSHA and other regulatory requirements, and promotion of a strong preventative safety culture.
• Ensure proper collection and reporting of data necessary to track performance of the manufacturing operation against plan, identify root causes of issues, and support problem solving efforts.
• Provide leadership to the organization to achieve highest levels of customer service in support of company goals and objectives.

Promote the development of a customer focused culture that engages all associates through communication, priority setting and example.

Play a leading role in communicating customer needs to the organization.

Perform other similar and related duties as required.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in a Business, Engineering, Science, or other Technical discipline.
• Experience in a strong lean environment.
• Experience supervising a Unionized Workforce.
• 10+ years in progressive roles in an industrial manufacturing / processing environment.
• 5+ years of direct supervision (hourly and salaried employees) in a Plant Manager, Supervisor, Value Stream Manager, or equivalent role.
• Must have demonstrated experience in applying Lean tools (VSM, Kaizen, TPM, 5S, standard work, visual management, etc) and practices and driving a strong Lean / Continuous improvement culture.
• Proven track record of delivering results against stretch objectives.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, hands-on evolving environment.
• Must be able to communicate effectively across all levels of the organization, and have excellent verbal and written communications skills.
• A basic understanding of financial concepts is required; This includes : P&L Statements, Working Capital, Cash Flow, and manufacturing variances.
• Must have strong leadership skills, with demonstrated ability to supervise and manage others. Able to foster open communication and support an environment of innovation and creative change.

Preferred Requirements

• Master's Degree in a Business, Engineering, Science, or other Technical discipline.
• Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt Certification.
• Experience in a capital intensive, continuous processing industry.

Legal Statement

Saint-Gobain provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws.

Saint-Gobain is an equal opportunity employer of individuals with disabilities and supports the hiring of veterans.

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