Plant Shop Jobs (NOW HIRING)

As the Pipe Spooling Production Lead at Aitken, you'll play a key role in developing front-line leadership, maintaining reliable shop operations, and ensuring that production goals align with project schedules, quality standards, and company objectives. You'll drive success by leading day-to-day pipe spooling operations on the shop floor, ensuring safe, efficient, and high-quality fabrication of piping systems. This role drives safety compliance, product quality, and workforce productivity by actively engaging our craft team members and coordinating with planning and QA/QC teams to support continuous improvement throughout the plant. 

Shop Floor Leadership:

• Direct, coordinate, and monitor daily pipe spooling and assembly activities to ensure schedule, safety, and quality compliance. 

• Lead craft foremen and crews in executing backlog priorities and work assignments. 

• Verify material availability (pipe, fittings, flanges, valves, etc.) and coordinate with production control for efficient workflow. 

• Oversee tool and equipment usage, reporting maintenance or calibration needs to the Plant Manager. 

• Ensure accurate reporting of labor hours, production progress, and work completion. 

• Implement production planning and processes that assure cost and delivery is met or exceeded on pipe spooling jobs. 

• Lead Continuous Improvement efforts to reduce labor hours and improve efficiency 

• Lead the implementation of all pipe spooling capex projects to achieve planned ROI. 

Safety & Quality:

• Promote and enforce company safety policies and procedures on the shop floor. 

• Conduct daily safety meetings and job hazard analyses with crews. 

• Partner with QA/QC to ensure all spools meet ASME B31.1 / B31.3 and project specifications. 

• Identify and correct potential hazards or quality issues before they impact production. 

Workforce Supervision & Engagement:

• Supervise and coach craft personnel (fitters, welders, helpers) to build engagement, teamwork, and accountability. 

• Support attendance tracking, manpower allocation, and schedule adherence. 

• Participate in performance feedback discussions and recommend training or corrective actions as needed. 

• Encourage craft participation in process improvement, lean practices, and safety initiatives. 

Production Planning & Coordination:

• Communicate daily goals and priorities from backlog and project schedules to crew leads. 

• Collaborate with Production Planning, Production Control, and Logistics to maintain workflow balance. 

• Support continuous improvement of spool fabrication, material handling, and staging efficiency. 

• Update production trackers, spool logs, and job completion records as directed. 

Administrative & Reporting:

• Complete and submit production reports, safety documentation, and time records accurately and on time. 

• Support equipment inspections, preventive maintenance, and calibration tracking. 

• Assist the Plant Manager with ad-hoc issue resolution and documentation. 

Education & Experience:

• High school diploma or equivalent required. 

• Minimum 5–7 years of pipe spooling or industrial piping experience, including at least 2 years in a lead or foreman capacity. 

• Demonstrated working knowledge of ASME, API, and ANSI piping codes and standards. 

• Experience in production scheduling, material coordination, and workforce supervision. 

• Training in safety leadership, lean manufacturing, or continuous improvement preferred. 

• Working knowledge of MS Excel, Outlook, and Bluebeam PDF software. 

• Familiarity with production control or ERP systems preferred. 

Work Environment & Physical Demands:

• Position requires flexibility in work hours, including evenings or weekends when needed to meet production goals. 

• Work is primarily in an industrial shop environment with exposure to noise, heat, dust, and heavy equipment. 

• Must be able to stand or walk for long periods, climb ladders, and lift up to 50 lbs. 

• Regular use of personal protective equipment (PPE) required: hard hat, safety glasses, gloves, steel-toe boots, long sleeves, hearing protection, and respirator as needed. #LI-KF1