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Plant Manager
Defiance, OH

We are hiring a Plant Manager to lead one of the company’s largest and most complex manufacturing operations, overseeing two manufacturing facilities, an offsite warehouse, and a customer service building in Defiance, Ohio. This complex is the sole producer of marbles, fiberglass pipe covers, and several critical OEM and performance material product lines, supplying multiple plants and external customers. The role leads a unionized workforce of 600+ hourly and 60+ salaried employees.

Schedule
Full time, on site, with periodic travel required (11 to 29 days per year).

Compensation
$220,000 to $240,000 per year, based on experience.

What You’ll Do

The Plant Manager is accountable for the overall operating performance of the complex, ensuring safe, reliable, high quality, and cost competitive production for both internal and external customers, while sustaining operational excellence and leading significant capital investments including furnace rebuilds, automation initiatives, and potential expansion projects.

This role drives year over year improvement in safety, health, and environmental performance, maintaining full regulatory compliance through proactive hazard identification and disciplined operating practices. It improves plant productivity, throughput, yield, and uptime through lean manufacturing and continuous improvement systems, and ensures the complex remains a reliable, high quality supplier to internal plants and external customers.

The Plant Manager builds and sustains an engaged, accountable, performance driven culture, developing leaders and succession pipelines while effectively leading within a union environment and maintaining productive labor relations. The role delivers annual operating results against budget and forecast, including cost, working capital, and inventory performance, and translates financial analysis into actionable operating decisions.

This position leads major capital programs, including furnace rebuilds, automation, and capacity expansions, delivering projects safely, on schedule, and within approved funding. It establishes and maintains operating metrics, management routines, and reporting systems, partners with senior leadership on strategic alignment, and serves as the primary representative for the complex with community stakeholders, regulatory agencies, customers, and corporate leadership.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, engineering or technical degree preferred

• 12+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience, including 5+ years as a Plant Manager or equivalent senior site leadership role

• Demonstrated success leading large, complex, multi line manufacturing operations with union and salaried workforces

• Union shop experience required

• Background in Glass, Ceramics, or Metal manufacturing

• Proven track record delivering measurable improvements in safety, productivity, quality, cost, and employee engagement

• Strong financial acumen with experience managing P&L performance and capital programs

• Experience with environmental permitting, regulatory agencies, and safety program leadership

• Strong technical and mechanical aptitude with the ability to challenge and improve manufacturing systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of continuous improvement disciplines (Lean, Six Sigma, Kepner Tregoe, or similar)

• Highly effective communicator and collaborator, capable of influencing at all levels of the organization

• Demonstrated ability to set clear direction, prioritize competing demands, and drive disciplined execution

Compensation and Benefits

• $220,000 to $240,000 per year

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance

• 401(k) plan

• Paid time off

To apply, please submit your resume for consideration.