Manufacturing Manager

Description

Position Summary

Are you a hands-on manufacturing leader who enjoys building strong teams, improving processes, and keeping production moving? Equipto is looking for a Manufacturing Manager to lead day-to-day plant operations, develop production teams, and drive improvements in safety, quality, efficiency, and on-time delivery.

In this role, you’ll oversee production across fabrication, forming, welding, finishing, and assembly, working closely with supervisors and cross-functional teams to keep operations running smoothly. You’ll have the opportunity to identify bottlenecks, improve workflows, strengthen accountability, and create a culture of safety, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

We’re looking for a leader who is comfortable on the shop floor, makes data-driven decisions, and knows how to turn production goals into results.

What you'll do

• Lead daily plant operations: Oversee production activities and work with supervisors and hourly teams to meet production goals, improve efficiency, and deliver customer orders on time.
• Make safety a priority: Maintain a safe working environment through regular floor walks, safety audits, employee engagement, and consistent enforcement of safety standards.
• Keep production on track: Lead daily production meetings to review schedules, staffing, equipment availability, quality concerns, and shipment priorities.
• Optimize manufacturing flow: Coordinate work across fabrication, forming, welding, finishing, and assembly to reduce bottlenecks and improve throughput.
• Build a strong production team: Manage and develop supervisors and hourly employees, support cross-training, and align staffing with changing production needs.
• Improve quality and reduce waste: Address quality issues, scrap, rework, and welding defects by identifying root causes and implementing lasting solutions.
• Partner across departments: Work with Supply Chain, Planning, Engineering, and Maintenance to ensure materials, equipment, and production plans are ready to support customer demand.
• Drive continuous improvement: Apply Lean manufacturing principles, 5S, standard work, and visual management to improve productivity and eliminate waste.
• Measure what matters: Monitor key performance indicators, including safety, labor efficiency, schedule attainment, equipment effectiveness, scrap, rework, and on-time delivery.
• Support reliable equipment performance: Partner with Maintenance to prioritize downtime, preventive maintenance, and timely equipment recovery.

Requirements

 What We're Looking For

• Experience leading manufacturing or production operations, ideally in metal fabrication or sheet metal manufacturing.
• Proven ability to lead supervisors and hourly production teams in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• A strong commitment to workplace safety, quality, and operational accountability.
• Experience improving production processes, balancing workloads, and resolving manufacturing bottlenecks.
• Familiarity with Lean manufacturing practices, including 5S, standard work, visual management, and root cause analysis.
• Ability to use production metrics to identify problems, measure progress, and drive results.
• Strong communication and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work effectively with employees at all levels.

The Ideal Candidate 

You’re a visible, hands-on leader who understands that successful manufacturing depends on more than meeting production numbers. You know how to engage employees, coach supervisors, solve problems on the floor, and build processes that support consistent results. You balance the immediate demands of daily production with a focus on long-term operational improvement.

Equipto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants and prohibit discrimination based on any status protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs. We provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law.