Position: Plant Manager
Reports to: President
About Richwood Industries: We have been a part of the Grand Rapids, MI community for 35 years supplying the office, contract, and educational furniture markets, as well as the composite panel industry. We supply niche raw materials, perform contract manufacturing, and produce our proprietary product - PolyBak. We were acquired by Private Equity in 2023, and are aggressively marketing PolyBak to an international audience with the intent to significantly increase sales by promoting its sustainability advantages.
Richwood generates annually around $25M in sales, with a 100,000 SF plant that currently has 22 team members.
Position Summary: Leads team members and manages processes for the warehouse and manufacturing plant of the company. Oversee the maintenance, repair, and procurement of all equipment and facilities. Participate in the leadership team along with the Controller, VP of Sales, and the President.
Responsibilities
- Manufacturing team leadership including employee selection and onboarding, training, feedback, and termination. Strong emphasis on the development of higher potential team members. Currently a single shift operation, we will require additional shift(s) as we grow.
- Safety, quality, schedule, and productivity performance of warehouse and manufacturing processes. Continuous improvement of same.
- Equipment maintenance, repair, and procurement.
- Facilities maintenance.
- Plant, office, and grounds housekeeping.
- Participate in Leadership Team activities such as financial statement reviews, monthly meetings/reports to Private Equity owners, processing the annual budget, and participating in key customer and supplier visits (at Richwood and their locations).
Skills and Abilities
People skills
- Approachable.
- Able to have conversations on tough subjects (performance feedback, amount of work available, skill potential) easily, with empathy, understanding, and perceived to be listening intently.
- Values diversity of opinion and perspective in team members.
- Believes in empowering people to make decisions closest to the work.
- Gives credit and takes blame.
- Able to lead a discussion with a group of team members, solving problems, making improvements, and seizing opportunities.
Technical skills
- Deep Understanding of safety protocols and OSHA regulations.
- Problem solving skills.
- Bias for process and procedure.
- Ability to take complex subjects and break them down into bite size topics/tasks.
- Knows how to schedule work and allows for variables.
- Understands machinery and associated maintenance.
- Understands how to apply technology to machines and plant processes.
- Experience with ERP systems.
Personal skills
- Ability to work with limited direction, and exercise independent judgement.
- Strong attention to details. Comfort with multiple data streams.
- Outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Collaborative, team-oriented work style, both internally and externally.
- Minimum 3-5 years' experience in plant leadership.
- Experience with ERP systems required.
- Operates in a manner consistent with Richwood's values.