Plastic Extrusion Line Operator Jobs in Michigan

Job Title:
 Shipping Manager

Reports To: Plant Manager 
Department: Shipping, Receiving, and Packing 
Location: Aluminum Extrusion Facility

Job Summary:

The Shipping Manager is responsible for leading the daily shipping, receiving, staging, loading, and finished-goods movement within an aluminum extrusion facility. This position ensures customer orders are accurately prepared, packed, documented, loaded, and shipped on time while maintaining safety, quality, delivery, and cost across Extrusion, Paint Line, Packing, while assisting Scheduling. The Shipping Manager is expected to drive accountability, remove barriers, and ensure completed material does not sit unnecessarily in the facility.

Essential Responsibilities and Duties:

• Lead and manage the packing/shipping team to ensure safe, accurate, and timely movement of finished aluminum extrusion products.

• Review daily shipping priorities, open orders, past-due orders, customer requirements, truck schedules, and available finished goods to support on-time delivery.

• Coordinate closely with Packing, Extrusion, Paint Line, Scheduling, Sales, and Customer Service to understand order status, material location, customer commitments, and shipping readiness.

• Ensure material is properly packed, staged, labeled, protected, and loaded according to customer specifications and company quality standards.

• Maintain accurate shipping documentation, including bills of lading, packing slips, load sheets, customer paperwork, transfer documents, and carrier information.

• Verify that finished material, order quantities, part numbers, customer names, packaging requirements, and shipment details are accurate before release.

• Monitor finished-goods inventory, staging areas, trailers, racks, and dock activity to prevent delays, misplaced material, damage, or unnecessary handling.

• Communicate shipment risks, material shortages, order delays, carrier issues, and customer-impacting concerns to management in a timely and professional manner.

• Maintain strong dock discipline, including trailer organization, load planning, housekeeping, safe forklift operation, and efficient flow of material through the shipping area.

• Partner with supervisors and leads to assign work, balance manpower, monitor productivity, and ensure priorities are clearly understood on all shifts.

• Ensure compliance with company policies, safety rules, customer requirements, DOT-related shipping practices, and applicable handling requirements.

• Investigate shipping errors, missed shipments, damaged material, incorrect loads, and customer complaints, then implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.

• Support cycle counts, inventory audits, order verification, rack tracking, and system transactions to maintain accurate finished-goods records.

• Develop and maintain shipping procedures, daily checklists, training expectations, and standard work for shipping, receiving, staging, and loading activities.

• Hold employees accountable for attendance, performance, communication, safety expectations, quality of work, and completion of assigned duties.

Leadership Expectations:

• Set clear expectations each day for safety, customer priorities, order flow, productivity, housekeeping, and communication.

• Use delegation effectively by assigning leads and team members to gather order information, verify material status, and support daily shipping goals.

• Come prepared to production and management meetings with accurate information on when material will be ready, where it is located, and what is needed to ship it.

• Build strong working relationships across departments while maintaining accountability for shipping performance and customer commitments.

• Coach, train, and develop employees to improve ownership, accuracy, urgency, and problem-solving within the department.

• Address performance issues promptly and professionally, including repeated errors, lack of communication, unsafe behavior, or failure to follow procedures.

• Promote a culture of urgency and ownership so completed material is moved, packed, loaded, and shipped without unnecessary delay.

Continuous Improvement Expectations:

• Identify and remove bottlenecks that delay packing, staging, loading, and shipping of customer orders.

• Track shipping performance, missed shipments, late loads, rework, damage, inventory errors, and other key issues that affect customer delivery.

• Use root-cause problem solving to correct repeat shipping issues and implement sustainable countermeasures.

• Improve dock layout, staging methods, labeling, rack flow, trailer utilization, and communication processes to support faster and more accurate shipping.

• Support 5S, housekeeping, visual management, standard work, and daily management practices in the shipping and receiving areas.

• Work with operations leadership to improve schedule adherence, order visibility, system accuracy, and customer delivery performance.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Previous shipping, receiving, warehouse, logistics, or manufacturing leadership experience required; aluminum extrusion or metals manufacturing experience preferred.

• Strong understanding of finished-goods flow, order staging, load planning, inventory control, customer requirements, and shipping documentation.

• Ability to lead employees, assign priorities, hold teams accountable, and make sound decisions in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

• Strong communication skills with the ability to work effectively with production, sales, scheduling, customer service, transportation providers, and senior leadership.

• Strong attention to detail and ability to verify order information, part numbers, quantities, paperwork, and customer-specific requirements.

• Working knowledge of EPICS or related systems, Microsoft Excel, Outlook, and basic inventory tracking tools.

• Ability to analyze problems, follow up on action items, and drive corrective actions to completion.

• Forklift knowledge or certification preferred; ability to enforce safe forklift and dock practices required.

• High school diploma or equivalent required; additional training in logistics, supervision, business, or manufacturing preferred.

Physical / Work Environment Requirements:

• Work is performed in a manufacturing, warehouse, dock, and shipping environment with exposure to forklifts, trailers, racks, cranes, moving equipment, aluminum extrusion material, and changing temperatures.

• Must be able to walk, stand, bend, climb, and move throughout production, packing, dock, and yard areas as needed.

• Must be able to wear required PPE, including safety glasses, hearing protection, steel-toe footwear, gloves, and any other site-required protective equipment.

• Must be able to work around moving equipment and enforce safe practices in high-traffic areas.

• Must be able to work flexible hours as needed to support production schedules, customer shipments, staffing needs, audits, and operational issues.

Performance Measurements:

• On-time shipment performance and reduction of past-due customer orders.

• Accuracy of loads, paperwork, order quantities, labels, and customer documentation.

• Reduction of shipping errors, damaged material, missed shipments, and avoidable customer delays.

• Finished-goods flow, dock organization, staging accuracy, and material movement efficiency.

• Safety performance, housekeeping, employee accountability, and adherence to standard work.

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary and benefits package.

• 401(k) plan with company match.

• Paid time off and holidays.

• Opportunities for professional development and career advancement.