COLD END AREA MANAGER

NSG Group; Laurinburg (NC); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

Paid Holidays

Paid Vacations

Education Assistance

Job summary

NSG Group/Pilkington in Laurinburg, NC is seeking a seasoned Operations Leader to oversee the Cold End section of a two-float line facility. You will drive safety, quality, and cost performance while leading multi-shift teams and coordinating with maintenance, engineering, and quality departments.

The role requires 5+ years in manufacturing/plant operations with 2–3 years in supervision, plus strong MS Office skills and excellent communication.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Engineering or equivalent Industry Experience.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in manufacturing/plant operations, specifically glass production or related areas.
• 2–3 years in a direct supervisory or managerial role overseeing multi-shift production teams and technical staff.
• Proficient with MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint and written reports.

Responsibilities

• Oversee and lead the Cold End operation to ensure safe, efficient, budget-compliant production with world-class quality.
• Lead safety audits, risk assessments, and safety meetings; enforce rules and procedures.
• Drive Lean initiatives, continuous improvement, and data analysis to reduce waste and downtime.
• Coordinate shift scheduling, performance reviews, and employee development; manage union relationships.
• Collaborate with Maintenance, Engineering, and Quality to meet KPIs and customer expectations.

Skills

Leadership

MS Excel

MS Word

MS PowerPoint

Planning & Coordination

Written Communication

Safety Audits

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Engineering or equivalent Industry Experience

Tools

MS Office

SPC software

Lean manufacturing tools

Job description

Purpose:

To oversee and lead the Cold End operation of a two-float line facility to ensure that the process is operated safely, efficiently and exceeding budget whilst maintaining world class quality standards.

Essential Functions:

Safety:

• Complete required audits at the prescribed frequency. These may include Key Safe Behavior audits, Safety Walk and Talk, or similar.
• Facilitate safety meetings and prepare comprehensive risk management reviews.
• Perform visual oversight by walking the production line and documenting hazard identifications
• Adhere to and enforce the Laurinburg plant Working and Safety Rules
• Complete required compliance training
• Be an active participant in accident and injury prevention using audits, dialogue with operators, and system design and facilitating root cause analysis as needed
• Identify engineering solutions to potential safety issues, utilizing the safety and sustainability improvement plan to track initiatives.
• Embrace and abide by the 10 Key Safety Leadership Behaviors.

Environmental:

• Track area incidents and develop corrective actions as needed.
• Identify, monitor, and control waste and implement recycling initiatives.
• Participate in identifying, reviewing, and minimizing environmental aspects and impacts.
• Complete environmental training as required.
• Maintain & Implement systems to remain compliant with ISO 14001

Quality:

• Maintain & Implement systems to remain compliant with ISO 9001
• Facilitate layered process auditing to ensure “we do what we say and say what we do”.
• Work harmoniously with all other site functions to ensure a world class product is delivered to the customer
• Work with quality to perform root cause analysis and implement countermeasures for customer issues as required.

Team Leadership & Development:

• Lead routine communications via shift start, morning, and weekly meetings.
• Conduct 1:1 check-ins and routine performance reviews with direct reports.
• Resolve personnel issues by partnering with HR and executing conflict management protocols.
• Maintain positive union relationships alongside direct employee relations to proactively remove operational barriers and friction
• Drive employee engagement through team-building activities
• Adherence to NSG/Pilkington Standards of Business Conduct and its Values and Principles
• Manage shift scheduling and coordinate floor coverage during direct report absences.

Operations & Strategic Planning

• Develop processes and strategies to achieve and exceed budgeted performance for area KPIs
• Manage floor scheduling via weekly production and plant maintenance meetings.
• Direct wareroom throughput across glass cutting, handling, packing, and stacking lines alongside Cold End PI’s, Technical Supervisor and Shift Supervisors.
• Optimize production scheduling by collaborating with the Materials Manager to maximize cutting lists, maintain schedule integrity, and hit customer satisfaction targets
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives utilizing Lean methodologies and production databases to analyze loss trends and eliminate operational waste
• Minimize equipment downtime by partnering with Maintenance and Engineering teams to build proactive prevention strategies
• Prioritize engineering projects and maintenance activities during planned downtime
• Justify capital expenditures and asset installations by working across departments to build technical project business cases.
• Compile monthly reports regarding output, operational oversight, and key plant objectives.
• Publish corporate communications throughout the area.

Talent Acquisition & Training

• Interview job applicants as needed
• Oversee employee training spanning standard corporate, technical, and regulatory compliance courses.
• Direct personal development by tracking individual career plans for self and subordinates.

Top 3 Competencies Needed for Success in the Role:

Results: Safety & Quality Focus

- The ability to establish, model, and drive a culture of absolute safety, zero-defect quality, and ethical integrity, while proactively fixing systemic process breakdowns to protect both personnel and customer satisfaction

People: Empowers & Develops

- Foster a continuous learning culture by coaching individuals, identifying talent potential, and empowering teams to take full ownership of business objectives through strategic delegation.

Vision: Customer Focused -

Drive to place the customer's perspective at the center of all business decisions, ensuring plant practices are designed to maximize satisfaction, resolve problems, and capture new commercial opportunities.

Qualifications Required:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Engineering or equivalent Industry Experience: Minimum of 5 years of experience in a manufacturing or plant operations environment, specifically within glass production, fabrication, or Wareroom/Cold End operations (handling, cutting, stacking, packaging).
• Leadership Experience: Minimum of 2–3 years in a direct supervisory or managerial role overseeing multi-shift production teams, Shift Supervisors, and technical personnel

• Working knowledge of computers and computer software (MSOffice, specifically MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
• Excellent writing skills for reports, presentations, policies, procedures, and specifications
• Excellent planning/coordination skills

Qualifications Desired:

• Continuous Improvement: Formal certification in Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma (Green or Black Belt), or 5S methodologies.
• Labor Relations: Proven experience working successfully within a unionized manufacturing environment, with a track record of maintaining positive union-management relationships
• Project & Financial Management: Experience managing operational budgets, evaluating weekly/monthly variances, and drafting justifications for capital expenditure (CapEx) engineering projects
• Experience with SPC and data analysis software preferred.

Other Requirements:

• Necessary travel
• Support 24/7 operation
• Physically able to do hands‑on tasks on the floor for an extended period.
• Ability to work in hot working environments

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We offer an excellent compensation and benefits package, which includes 401k, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, company paid holidays, paid vacations, and education assistance

The Salary Range posted represents Pilkington North America’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the possible compensation at the time of the posting. Individual pay will vary based on demonstrated job related skills, knowledge, experience, education, etc.

NSG Group/Pilkington is an equal opportunity employer; M/F/D/V encouraged to apply. Qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. Applicants have the option to confidentially self-identify or not self-identify when applying.