Manufacturing Production Manager

HumCap; Kennedale (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

HumCap, Inc. seeks a hands-on Manufacturing Production Manager to lead daily operations across six departments—Small Parts, Tack-Up, Welding, Blasting, Painting, and Finishout—in Kennedale, TX.

You will drive production schedules, improve labor productivity, maintain safety, and ensure on-time, within-budget delivery of heavy-duty trailers and fabricated products. The role reports to the CEO and requires a decade of leadership in heavy fabrication.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of leadership experience in heavy fabrication, industrial manufacturing, or similar production environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead shop-floor operations across six departments: Small Parts, Tack-Up, Welding, Blasting, Painting, Finishout.
• Direct department supervisors and team leads on daily priorities, production targets, and deadlines.
• Establish daily operating rhythm with kickoff meetings, progress reviews, and handoffs.
• Monitor progress and address bottlenecks, material shortages, and equipment issues.
• Identify opportunities to improve labor productivity and reduce overtime and waste.
• Maintain a strong safety culture and ensure adherence to OSHA requirements.
• Provide regular production status updates to the CEO and stakeholders.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to increase output per labor hour.

Skills

Shop-floor leadership

Labor productivity

Problem solving

Production planning

Safety culture

Tools

Excel

Spreadsheets

Job description

Manufacturing Production Manager Location: Kennedale, TX Department: Manufacturing / Operations Reports To: CEO Employment Type: Full-Time Compensation: Competitive Base Salary + Performance-Based Bonus Team Size: Approximately 40–50 employees across multiple production departments

Position Summary

HumCap's client is seeking a highly driven, hands-on Manufacturing Production Manager to lead daily production operations in the manufacturing of heavy-duty trailers, skids, and fabricated products. This individual will be responsible for executing established production schedules, leading shop-floor personnel, improving labor productivity, maintaining a safe working environment, and consistently delivering high-quality products on time and within budget. The ideal candidate has at least 10 years of leadership experience in heavy fabrication, industrial manufacturing, or a similar production environment. This person must be a decisive problem solver who can think critically, identify inefficiencies, challenge the status quo, and implement practical solutions that improve production performance. This is a floor-focused leadership position, with approximately 80% of the role spent on the production floor actively directing supervisors and team leads, monitoring work progress, evaluating production performance, removing obstacles, and ensuring employees remain focused on daily production goals. The successful candidate will lead by example, establish clear expectations, hold the team accountable, and foster a culture of safety, quality, urgency, ownership, and continuous improvement. This person must possess a strong can-do attitude and the ability to find solutions rather than accept excuses. The Production Manager reports directly to the CEO and is entrusted with the leadership, personnel decisions, and operational accountability necessary to achieve client's production objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Shop-Floor Leadership & Daily ExecutionLead and coordinate production activities across six primary departments: Small Parts, Tack-Up, Welding, Blasting, Painting, and Finishout

Provide clear direction to department supervisors and team leads regarding daily priorities, job assignments, production targets, and deadlines

Establish a consistent daily operating rhythm, including production kickoff meetings, progress reviews, shift handoffs when applicable, and end-of-day accountability

Monitor work in progress and ensure employees and departments remain focused on the highest-priority production requirements

Identify bottlenecks, idle time, labor imbalances, material shortages, equipment issues, and other obstacles affecting production

Quickly deploy resources and coordinate with other departments to address constraints and keep work moving

Maintain visibility into every active job and understand what is required to complete each job on schedule

Create a sense of urgency and ensure supervisors and employees understand their responsibilities and impact on overall production

Develop recovery plans for late or at-risk jobs and communicate material schedule risks to the CEO and relevant stakeholders

Lead from the front by being accessible, engaged, decisive, and willing to get involved when problems arise

Labor Productivity, Time Tracking & Cost ControlEstablish and enforce consistent procedures for tracking employee labor hours and time spent at individual production stations

Monitor actual labor hours against budgeted or estimated hours for each job, department, and production stage

Identify labor overruns, excessive cycle times, unproductive activities, and opportunities to improve employee efficiency

Evaluate station-level productivity to determine where labor, equipment, processes, or training may be limiting output

Ensure supervisors accurately record production progress, labor time, downtime, and other required shop‑floor information using existing spreadsheets and tracking tools

Use production data to identify trends, measure performance, and make informed operational decisions

Reduce avoidable overtime, material waste, scrap, rework, and other controllable production costs

Implement practical improvements that increase output per labor hour and improve overall manufacturing efficiency

Safety & Risk ManagementEstablish safety as a non‑negotiable requirement across all production departments

Maintain a visible shop‑floor presence and actively identify unsafe conditions, behaviors, and work practices

Ensure employees follow company safety policies, applicable OSHA requirements, and relevant equipment‑specific procedures

Partner with designated safety personnel and company leadership on inspections, safety meetings, incident investigations, and corrective‑action reviews

Ensure employees receive required safety training and understand the safe operation of equipment, tools, cranes, lifting devices, welding equipment, blasting systems, and painting equipment applicable to their roles

Enforce appropriate use of personal protective equipment and required safeguards

Promptly address identified hazards and ensure corrective actions are completed

Investigate incidents and near misses, identify root causes, and implement measures to prevent recurrence

Reinforce accountability and develop a culture in which employees take responsibility for their own safety and the safety of their coworkers

Ensure schedule pressure or production targets never override required safety practices

Quality Control & Rework ReductionEnsure production work meets applicable engineering drawings, specifications, workmanship standards, and customer requirements

Establish accountability for quality at each production stage rather than relying exclusively on final inspection

Partner with engineering, quality personnel, and department supervisors to resolve manufacturing issues and prevent recurring defects

Monitor rework, scrap, defects, and customer‑reported quality concerns

Identify root causes of quality problems and implement corrective and preventive actions

Ensure nonconforming work is identified, appropriately controlled, and corrected before advancing when required

Promote employee ownership of workmanship and reinforce the expectation that work is performed correctly the first time

Balance production speed with consistent quality and long‑term product reliability

Production Reporting & CommunicationMaintain accurate, timely production tracking using company‑approved spreadsheets and shop‑floor reporting tools

Provide the CEO with regular updates on production status, schedule performance, labor efficiency, safety, quality, staffing, and major operational risks

Communicate anticipated delays, resource constraints, and corrective‑action plans before they materially affect customer commitments

Ensure production records reflect actual work completed, labor consumed, and outstanding requirements

Establish consistent communication between department supervisors, team leads, production planning, engineering, purchasing, and other relevant functions

Lead regular production reviews focused on performance against plan, current constraints, upcoming priorities, and required decisions

Escalate issues requiring leadership intervention while taking ownership of problems that can be resolved at the production level

Maintain a fact‑based, solutions‑oriented approach to reporting and decision‑making

What the client Is Looking For

Minimum 10 years of leadership experience in heavy fabrication, industrial manufacturing, trailer manufacturing, or a comparable production environment

Strong hands‑on understanding of shop‑floor manufacturing operations

Proven ability to identify bottlenecks, improve workflow, and increase labor productivity

Experience leading supervisors, team leads, and production employees

Strong problem‑solving skills with a practical, solutions‑oriented approach

Ability to establish accountability while earning the respect of an experienced production workforce

Comfortable using spreadsheets and production data to track performance and guide decisions

Strong commitment to safety, quality, cost control, and on‑time delivery

Ability to work effectively in a fast‑paced, growing manufacturing environment