Franklin Craft

Plant Director – Foundry Operations

Location: Mid-Michigan | Onsite

Company: Confidential Industrial Manufacturer

Position Summary

A growing industrial manufacturing organization is seeking a Plant Director – Foundry Operations to lead and strengthen the performance of a critical manufacturing operation.

This is a hands-on plant leadership role with responsibility for driving safety, quality, delivery, productivity, cost performance, and workforce development. The Plant Director will lead frontline operations while partnering closely with engineering, quality, maintenance, supply chain, and senior leadership to improve overall plant performance.

The ideal candidate combines meaningful foundry or metals manufacturing experience with strong people leadership, operational discipline, and a track record of measurable continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and direction across foundry operations, including production, quality, maintenance, and safety.
• Drive measurable improvement in safety, productivity, scrap, quality, cost, and on-time delivery.
• Lead, develop, and mentor supervisors and production teams across multiple shifts.
• Establish clear operating expectations, accountability, and performance management routines.
• Drive workforce planning, scheduling, labor utilization, and employee development.
• Partner with engineering, quality, maintenance, and supply chain to resolve operational constraints and improve manufacturing performance.
• Develop and manage operating budgets and identify opportunities to improve cost and efficiency.
• Strengthen standard work, operating procedures, and manufacturing best practices.
• Champion Lean, continuous improvement, and data-driven problem solving.
• Ensure compliance with applicable safety, environmental, and regulatory requirements.
• Analyze plant performance and provide recommendations to senior leadership regarding operational priorities and improvement opportunities.

Qualifications

Required

• 5+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience, with meaningful exposure to foundry, casting, metals manufacturing, or closely related heavy industrial operations.
• Demonstrated success leading frontline manufacturing teams and developing supervisors.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing KPIs and data-driven performance management.
• Track record of improving safety, quality, productivity, scrap, cost, and/or delivery performance.
• Experience with labor planning, workforce management, budgeting, and cost control.
• Working knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or comparable continuous-improvement methodologies.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and team-development capabilities.

Preferred

• Direct experience in foundry or casting operations, including sand casting, investment casting, die casting, or related processes.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Metallurgy, Manufacturing, Operations Management, or a related discipline.
• Experience with broad plant or operational ownership and financial accountability.
• Familiarity with ERP, MES, and manufacturing analytics systems.

Leadership Profile

We are particularly interested in candidates who are comfortable being visible on the plant floor, developing people, challenging established processes, and translating operating data into action.

This opportunity is well suited for either an established foundry leader or a high-potential manufacturing leader ready to step into broader plant-level responsibility.

This is a fully onsite leadership position in Mid-Michigan. Relocation assistance is available.