Manufacturing Manager - Garlock Houston

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION:

The Manufacturing Manager is responsible for overseeing the safe, efficient, and reliable operation of manufacturing processes at the Houston facility. This role ensures optimal production performance while maintaining the highest standards of safety, environmental compliance, quality, and cost effectiveness. The Manufacturing Manager drives operational excellence through team leadership, performance management, and cross-functional collaboration with Customer Service, Engineering, EHS, and Supply Chain teams.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Cultivate a high-performance work culture through facility management activities, proactive communication and positive employee relations.
• Lead, manage, and coach the Operations teams to achieve Houston's business goals. Create and implement colleague development plans to continuously improve the team's capabilities. Develop and implement succession plans to minimize operational risks.
• Establish manufacturing methods that ensure quality and repeatability of processes, increasing the productivity of employees; ensuring production targets are met, and costs are aligned to the annual budget.
• Drive continuous improvement in safety and environmental performance. Lead and develop the Safety-First culture for the Operations teams. Hold direct reports accountable for demonstrating leadership in safety. Support the Houston plant's ISO 14001 efforts. Ensure operations excellence principles are embedded in daily processes.
• Develop and implement production plans in alignment with the Houston business operating plan and commercial strategy. Communicate plans and priorities to ensure alignment.
• Develops opportunities to reduce costs or improve performance through effective capital planning and workflow redesign.  Champion improvements in production, eliminate waste, reduce WIP, and improve bottlenecks in the manufacturing process.
• Manage capital improvement projects, process optimization initiatives, and maintenance programs to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and drive overall improvements within the business.
• Lead the Maintenance & Reliability function to develop and execute unit maintenance plans to ensure mechanical integrity of assets and improve unit reliability.
• Provides support as needed for a 24-hour, 7 day a week molding operation.
• Timely and effective communication with Plant Manager and leadership team on key production issues that impact, safety, quality, cost, or lead times.

LEADERSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead and manage a team of production operators, production leads, production planning, manufacturing engineering, maintenance and assembly teams (7 direct reports.  30+ indirect reports)

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Minimum bachelor's degree or higher in relevant fields such as mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, or general engineering.
• Minimum 5 years of production management experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Previous experience/broad understanding of safety systems and implementation of safety rules and policies
• Bilingual English/Spanish preferred

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Proven ability to lead cross-functional and diverse teams.
• Strong communication, project management, and long-range planning skills.
• Experience with continuous improvement tools and cost analysis.
• Strategic thinking with the ability to align daily operations with broader business goals.