Cornerstone Management Solutions

Plant Manager - Plastic Extrusion

A well established manufacturer of custom plastic extrusion products is seeking a hands on Plant Manager to lead a manufacturing operation in Michigan. This company supports demanding OEM and supplier customers with engineered plastic profiles used in applications such as sealing systems, trim components, electrical channels, wire management, closures, construction related products, and other custom extruded plastic components.

This is a strong opportunity for a manufacturing leader who understands extrusion, people leadership, operational discipline, safety, quality, production efficiency, and customer expectations. The right person will bring a practical plant floor leadership style, strong follow through, and the ability to lead supervisors, operators, maintenance, quality, engineering, scheduling, and support teams in a fast moving manufacturing environment.

Position Overview

The Plant Manager will have full responsibility for daily plant operations, including safety, production, quality, maintenance, labor performance, cost control, employee development, customer support, and continuous improvement. This person will be expected to create structure, drive accountability, improve communication, and make sure the plant is performing to expectations in safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and profitability.

This is not a corporate desk role. The ideal candidate will be visible on the floor, engaged with the team, comfortable with technical manufacturing issues, and capable of balancing customer demands with operational realities. Experience in plastic extrusion, profile extrusion, coextrusion, thermoplastics, engineered plastic products, or a closely related manufacturing environment would be highly valuable.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead all day to day plant operations, including production, safety, quality, maintenance, materials, scheduling, shipping, receiving, and employee performance.
• Build a strong safety culture and ensure compliance with company standards, OSHA requirements, training expectations, and safe work practices.
• Drive operational performance through measurable improvement in throughput, scrap, downtime, labor efficiency, quality performance, on time delivery, and overall plant productivity.
• Lead, coach, and develop supervisors, leads, operators, technicians, maintenance personnel, and support staff.
• Create clear expectations for performance, accountability, communication, and problem solving across all departments.
• Partner with quality and engineering teams to resolve production issues, customer concerns, process problems, dimensional issues, material concerns, tooling challenges, and repeat defects.
• Support new product launches, process changes, tooling trials, material changes, customer requirements, and production readiness activities.
• Work closely with scheduling, materials, and customer service teams to make sure production plans are realistic, resources are aligned, and customer delivery commitments are met.
• Oversee plant financial performance, including labor cost, overtime, scrap, waste, maintenance spending, production efficiency, inventory control, and operating expenses.
• Lead continuous improvement activities focused on waste reduction, process stability, uptime, standard work, employee engagement, and stronger plant execution.
• Support maintenance planning, preventive maintenance, equipment reliability, tooling readiness, and equipment improvement efforts.
• Develop a strong leadership bench and create a culture where employees are trained, supported, held accountable, and treated with respect.
• Communicate effectively with senior leadership regarding plant performance, staffing, production challenges, customer needs, capital needs, and improvement priorities.
• Maintain a clean, organized, disciplined, and professional manufacturing environment.

Ideal Background

• Plant Manager, Operations Manager, Production Manager, Value Stream Manager, or senior manufacturing leadership experience in a plastics, extrusion, automotive supplier, engineered products, or industrial manufacturing environment.
• Strong preference for experience with plastic extrusion, profile extrusion, coextrusion, thermoplastic processing, custom plastic products, or similar continuous manufacturing processes.
• Experience leading a manufacturing plant or a significant manufacturing department with responsibility for safety, quality, delivery, cost, people, and production performance.
• Strong understanding of plant metrics, production planning, labor management, scrap reduction, downtime reduction, quality systems, and continuous improvement.
• Ability to lead both people and process. This person must be comfortable coaching employees, managing conflict, making decisions, and driving accountability.
• Experience working with OEM customers, Tier suppliers, or high expectation industrial customers is preferred.
• Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing, root cause analysis, corrective action, 5S, standard work, KPI management, and structured problem solving is helpful.
• Ability to work in a smaller community manufacturing environment where relationships, credibility, communication, and leadership presence matter.

Leadership Style Needed

• Hands on, visible, practical, and direct.
• Strong communicator who can work with hourly employees, supervisors, technical staff, customers, and senior leadership.
• Calm under pressure and capable of making decisions without creating unnecessary noise.
• Accountable and fair, with the ability to raise expectations while still earning trust from the team.
• Comfortable stepping into a plant that needs leadership, structure, consistency, and steady operational execution.

Why This Role Matters

This plant supports custom engineered plastic profile products for demanding customers where quality, consistency, delivery, and responsiveness are critical. The Plant Manager will play a key role in strengthening the operation, developing the team, improving performance, and making sure the plant continues to meet customer and business expectations.

Keywords

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A well established manufacturer of custom plastic extrusion products is seeking a hands on Plant Manager to lead a manufacturing operation in Michigan.