Plant Manager

Gateway Group Personnel; South Carolina; On-site; USD 160,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Gateway Group Personnel is recruiting a Plant Manager for a Lancaster, South Carolina manufacturing operation. The role oversees a 200+ employee steel fabrication facility, with broad responsibility for safety, quality, production, maintenance, and profitability.

The incumbent will manage capacity expansion, develop the team, and partner with cross-functional leaders to drive continuous improvement and plant performance in a high-volume welding environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree strongly preferred.
• Experience in steel fabrication or heavy industrial manufacturing is important.
• Ability to lead people and deliver results in a demanding environment.

Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership for a 200+ employee facility.
• Maintain a safe workplace and ensure regulatory compliance.
• Lead performance across production, quality, maintenance, safety, distribution, and cost.

Skills

Leadership

Lean Manufacturing

Budgeting

P&L Responsibility

Staff Development

Industrial Manufacturing

Safety & Quality

Cross-functional Collaboration

Facilities Management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Lancaster, South Carolina

Gateway Group Personnel has been retained by a leading manufacturer serving the electrical utility infrastructure industry to recruit a Plant Manager for its Lancaster, South Carolina manufacturing operation.

This is an opportunity to lead a successful, profitable steel fabrication facility with more than 200 employees, an experienced leadership team, and significant plans for future growth.

The incoming Plant Manager will inherit a stable operation—not a turnaround—and will be responsible for sustaining current performance, developing the team, increasing capacity, and helping guide a multimillion-dollar facility expansion.

The Opportunity

Our client is an established industry leader in the engineering and fabrication of steel structures used in electrical transmission, distribution, and infrastructure applications.

The Lancaster facility operates in a high-volume, welding-intensive manufacturing environment. Manufacturing processes include steel plate cutting, forming, fitting, welding, outfitting, and heavy material handling.

The Plant Manager will have overall responsibility for safety, quality, production, maintenance, distribution, staffing and retention, cost management, continuous improvement, and plant profitability.

The successful candidate will join an operation that is performing well and has a strong existing team. Initial success will come from learning the business, earning the team\'s trust, and protecting what is already working.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership for a 200+ employee manufacturing facility
• Maintain a safe workplace and ensure regulatory and company compliance
• Lead plant performance across production, quality, maintenance, safety, distribution, and cost
• Establish clear expectations and accountability for results
• Retain, develop, and strengthen the existing leadership and hourly teams
• Build a collaborative culture grounded in respect and empowerment
• Identify opportunities to improve throughput, capacity, workflow, and equipment utilization
• Lead Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement initiatives
• Develop and manage operating and capital budgets
• Partner with maintenance leadership to improve equipment reliability
• Coordinate with engineering, project management, purchasing, finance, and human resources
• Improve production planning, delivery performance, inventory management, and manufacturing flexibility
• Help plan and execute a significant future facility expansion and capacity investment
• Develop future leaders and potential successors

Candidate Profile

Our client is open to considering either an experienced Plant Manager who has successfully led a comparable industrial manufacturing operation or a high-potential Assistant Plant Manager/Operations Manager who is ready to assume full plant leadership.

Direct utility-industry experience is not required. The most important qualification is the ability to lead people and produce results in a demanding industrial manufacturing environment.

Preferred Experience

• Progressive leadership experience in manufacturing operations
• Responsibility for a facility or business unit of meaningful scale
• Leadership of safety, quality, production, maintenance, and cost performance
• Heavy industrial, steel, metal fabrication, or welding-intensive manufacturing experience
• Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement
• Plant budgeting or P&L responsibility
• Capital projects, equipment installations, or facility expansions
• Workforce retention and leadership development
• Skilled-trades or multi-shift manufacturing environments
• Engineered-to-order or complex manufacturing processes

Experience with steel plate processing, fitting, welding, press brakes, plasma tables, CNC equipment, cranes, or related fabrication machinery is beneficial but not required.

A bachelor\'s degree is strongly preferred.

Leadership Qualities

The ideal candidate will be a credible, visible plant-floor leader who combines strong operational and financial discipline with an approachable leadership style.

We are particularly interested in leaders who are comfortable inheriting a successful team rather than rebuilding one, developing strong direct reports, driving accountability, and balancing daily execution with longer-term growth.

Candidates should also possess the potential and desire to advance into broader, multi-site operational leadership over time.

Why Consider This Opportunity?

• Lead a profitable and stable manufacturing operation
• Inherit an experienced team with strong current performance
• Influence a major future capital investment and facility expansion
• Join a growing business serving critical infrastructure markets
• Meaningful autonomy to improve capacity and plant performance
• Exposure to senior operational leadership
• Career path toward broader multi-site/Director-level operations leadership

Location

The position is based on-site in Lancaster, South Carolina.

The location provides access to several attractive surrounding communities, including Rock Hill, Fort Mill, the southern Charlotte area, and the greater Columbia region.

Relocation assistance is available.

Compensation

The company offers a highly competitive compensation and benefits package, including:

• Base salary: $160,000-$190,000, commensurate with experience
• 20% target annual incentive
• Comprehensive benefits
• Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match on the first 6% contributed
• Relocation assistance

Confidential Consideration

Qualified manufacturing leaders are encouraged to submit a resume through Gateway Group Personnel for confidential consideration.

Gateway Group Personnel is an Equal Opportunity Employer.