Plant Manager

TH Daniels; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

TH Daniels is seeking a Plant Manager for a key manufacturing site in the Greater Chicago Area. This high-impact leadership role oversees overall operational performance, profitability, safety, quality, and continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate has proven senior manufacturing leadership experience and a track record of improving throughput, reducing costs, and driving lean initiatives in packaging environments.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in senior manufacturing leadership (Plant Manager / Site Manager / Operations Manager).
• Experience in flexible packaging, paperboard packaging, folding cartons, or related environments.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing operations, planning, quality, maintenance, and packaging processes.
• Track record of delivering improvements, cost reductions, waste reductions, and productivity gains.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen with budget and site performance management.
• Excellent Health & Safety and regulatory compliance knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of daily plant performance and strategic direction.
• Lead and develop a multi-functional site team with a continuous improvement culture.
• Own site performance across safety, quality, service, productivity, cost, and profitability.
• Drive lean initiatives to improve efficiency and reduce waste.
• Collaborate with Production, Engineering, Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams to meet customer requirements.
• Develop and execute strategies to improve throughput, quality, and customer satisfaction.
• Ensure production plans meet demand with highest quality, service, and safety standards.
• Ensure compliance with Health & Safety, environmental, quality, and regulatory requirements.
• Support growth through capacity planning and investment in people and processes.

Skills

Senior leadership

Plant operations

Lean manufacturing

Budgeting & finance

Safety & compliance

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

TH Daniels Global Executive Search & Selection have partnered with a leading flexible packaging and paperboard packaging manufacturer to recruit a Plant Manager for their manufacturing operation in the Greater Chicago Area.

This is a high-impact site leadership role, with overall responsibility for the operational performance, profitability, safety, quality, and continuous improvement of the plant. The successful candidate will bring strong manufacturing leadership experience, ideally within flexible packaging, paperboard packaging, folding cartons, labels, paper converting, or a similarly process-driven packaging environment, combined with a proven track record of leading teams, improving operational performance, and driving profitable growth.

To be considered for the role you must meet the following requirements:

• Proven experience in a Plant Manager, Site Manager, Operations Manager, or similar senior manufacturing leadership position.
• Experience within flexible packaging, paperboard packaging, folding cartons, labels, paper converting, or a comparable manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing operations, production planning, quality, maintenance, supply chain, and packaging production processes.
• Demonstrated track record of delivering operational improvements, cost reductions, waste reduction, and productivity gains.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, with experience managing budgets, costs, and site performance.
• Excellent understanding of Health & Safety and regulatory compliance within a manufacturing environment.
• Experience leading continuous improvement, lean manufacturing, and operational excellence initiatives.

Key Responsibilities of the role include, but are not limited to:

• Take overall responsibility for the day-to-day performance and strategic direction of the manufacturing plant.
• Lead and develop a multi-functional site team, creating a high-performing, accountable, and continuous improvement-focused culture.
• Own site performance across safety, quality, service, productivity, cost, and profitability.
• Drive continuous improvement and lean manufacturing initiatives to improve operational efficiency, reduce waste, and optimize plant performance.
• Work closely with Production, Engineering, Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams to ensure customer requirements are consistently achieved.
• Develop and execute strategies to improve plant throughput, efficiencies, quality performance, and overall customer satisfaction.
• Ensure production plans and customer demand are met whilst maintaining the highest standards of quality, service, and safety.
• Ensure compliance with all relevant Health & Safety, environmental, quality, and regulatory requirements.
• Support business growth initiatives through operational readiness, capacity planning, and continuous investment in people and processes.

This is a pivotal leadership position within a growing organization, offering the successful candidate the opportunity to take full ownership of a key manufacturing site, lead a multi-functional team, and make a significant impact on operational performance, profitability, and long-term business growth.

• Due to the high volume of applications, we are unable to respond to each applicant individually. If you do not hear back within 2 weeks, please assume your application was unsuccessful.