Operations Manager Molding Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

1. Company Overview

American Bath Group is a leading manufacturer of residential and commercial bathing products. The South Boston operation supports a high-volume manufacturing environment in which tooling quality, availability, and turnaround directly affect production performance.

The Operations Manager – Tools will lead the upper and lower mold shops that support the South Boston manufacturing operation.

2. The Opportunity

This role has been redesigned from a narrowly defined mold-management position into a broader manufacturing operations leadership assignment.

The technical capability already exists within the mold-shop teams. The primary opportunity is to strengthen leadership, standardize execution, develop team leads, and create greater consistency across two shops currently operating at different performance levels.

The upper mold shop is stable and performing effectively. The lower mold shop requires stronger operational discipline, accountability, and process consistency. The incoming leader will be responsible for improving the lower shop while protecting the performance and stability of the upper shop.

Previous mold-shop or mold-management experience is not required. The strongest candidate will bring proven experience leading technical or industrial teams, implementing standard work, and improving operational performance.

3. Success in Year One

Success will mean that the upper and lower mold shops operate as one coordinated, consistently led function.

During the first year, the Operations Manager – Tools will be expected to:

• Establish one operating cadence across both shops.
• Create clear accountability for shop performance and team-lead ownership.
• Validate and strengthen Visual Standard Work Instructions.
• Establish a recurring process-audit and corrective-action discipline.
• Define and track performance measures for mold quality, repair turnaround, mold availability, backlog, and production impact.
• Improve the performance of the lower shop without allowing the upper shop to regress.
• Strengthen coordination among the mold shops, Operations, Quality, and Production.
• Develop team leads and reduce dependence on any one individual for technical or operating decisions.
• Demonstrate measurable improvement against agreed operational KPIs.

Specific numerical targets will be established after current performance baselines are confirmed.

4. The Mandate

Lead and integrate the upper and lower South Boston mold shops by deploying and auditing standard work, developing the existing technical team, improving mold quality and turnaround discipline, and partnering with Operations and Quality to build a stable, scalable, continuously improving operation.

The mandate is not to replace the technical knowledge already present within the shops. It is to build an operating structure that enables that expertise to be used consistently and effectively.

The Operations Manager – Tools will establish:

• A common leadership structure
• Consistent daily and weekly operating routines
• Standardized process verification
• Clear ownership and escalation paths
• Reliable mold-quality and production-readiness decisions
• Improved repair and turnaround discipline
• Stronger coordination with Operations and Quality
• Reduced dependence on informal knowledge and individual practices

5. Year One Critical Outcomes

Integrate Two Mold Shops

Create one coordinated operating model across the upper and lower shops, including common expectations, management routines, performance measures, and escalation processes.

Strengthen Standard Work

Review existing Visual Standard Work Instructions, identify gaps, establish routine audits, and ensure corrective actions are completed when processes are not followed.

Improve Turnaround and Readiness

Establish clear expectations for repair output, turnaround time, production priority, backlog management, and mold availability.

Improve Mold Quality

Ensure repaired molds meet defined quality standards before returning to production. Track first-pass acceptance, repeat repairs, rework, and quality-related production impact.

Improve Lower-Shop Performance

Diagnose the causes of the performance gap between the two shops and execute a focused improvement plan while maintaining the upper shop’s current performance.

Protect Production

Reduce production delays and schedule disruption caused by mold condition, mold availability, repair delays, or incorrect prioritization.

Develop Leadership Capability

Strengthen team-lead ownership, clarify decision rights, and build sustainable operating coverage across both shops.

6. Why This Role Is Hard

The successful leader must improve one operating area without destabilizing another.

The two shops have different performance needs. The upper shop requires continued support and optimization, while the lower shop requires more direct operational improvement. The leader must diagnose those differences rather than impose the same solution on both teams.

The role also requires the ability to:

• Lead experienced technical employees without attempting to become the primary technical expert.
• Introduce greater accountability while maintaining trust and engagement.
• Convert written standards into daily operating behavior.
• Balance mold quality, repair priorities, production schedules, and available resources.
• Resolve disagreements among technical teams, Operations, and Quality.
• Make timely decisions without waiting for complete information.
• Establish sustainable systems rather than relying on personal intervention.

This is a hands-on leadership role in the sense of being present in the operation, observing work, coaching employees, and reinforcing standards. It is not a hands-on mold-repair position.

8. Experience Requirements

Required

• Direct leadership experience in a manufacturing, industrial, maintenance, tooling, technical-services, or production-support environment.
• Experience leading frontline employees, technicians, skilled trades, or comparable technical teams.
• Demonstrated responsibility for team performance, work prioritization, coaching, and accountability.
• Personal ownership of standard-work or continuous-improvement implementation.
• Experience working across plant functions such as Operations, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, or Production.
• Ability to learn technical processes and apply operating standards, data, observation, and subject-matter expertise to decision-making.
• Demonstrated ability to address performance issues and sustain process improvements.

Preferred

• Experience leading a tooling, tool-room, machine-shop, maintenance, fixture, die, repair, or technical-services function.
• Experience in plastics, composites, thermoforming, molding, metal fabrication, or another process-manufacturing environment.
• Experience managing multiple departments, shops, shifts, or operating areas.
• Experience developing frontline supervisors or team leads.
• Familiarity with layered process audits, visual management, Lean manufacturing, 5S, root-cause analysis, and daily management systems.
• Experience supporting production scheduling, equipment or tooling availability, and backlog management.
• Engineering, industrial technology, manufacturing, or related technical education.

Previous mold-shop experience may support a faster ramp-up, but it is not required. Leadership capability, standard-work ownership, and operational improvement experience are more important than narrow industry specialization.

9. Why the Right Candidate Will Be Excited

This opportunity provides the ability to shape how two important technical operations work together.

The incoming leader will inherit a technically capable team and an upper shop with established strengths. Rather than starting from zero, the leader will have an opportunity to preserve what works, improve what does not, and build a more consistent operating model across both shops.

The role offers meaningful ownership over:

• Shop-floor leadership
• Standard work
• Continuous improvement
• Team-lead development
• Quality and turnaround performance
• Production support
• Cross-functional operating alignment

It is an opportunity for a manufacturing leader to make a visible impact without being limited by the requirement to come from a highly specialized mold-shop background.

10. Why This Role Matters

Mold condition, repair quality, availability, and turnaround directly affect production continuity.

When the tooling organization operates effectively:

• Production has the molds it needs when required.
• Repaired molds return to production at the correct quality standard.
• Repeat repairs and rework are reduced.
• Production schedules are less vulnerable to mold availability.
• Operations and Quality make faster, better-aligned decisions.
• Team leads take greater ownership.
• Technical knowledge is supported by repeatable systems and standards.