Plant Manager - Lean, High-Volume Ops Leader

Strategic Systems Inc; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 130,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Strategic Systems, Inc. in the Chicago area is seeking an experienced Plant Manager to lead a high‑volume processing facility. You will oversee safety, quality, production, maintenance, distribution, workforce leadership, and continuous improvement to drive top‑line performance.

You will manage an established team and coordinate across plant functions to optimize throughput, reduce downtime, and advance Lean and standard work in a growing organization.

Qualifications

• Five or more years of progressive operations leadership experience in manufacturing or a high-volume environment.
• Experience leading managers, supervisors, and hourly employees.
• Strong knowledge of production planning, maintenance coordination, safety, quality, and operational performance.
• Proven success improving throughput, efficiency, cost, quality, or equipment reliability.
• Experience with Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, standard work, or structured problem-solving practices.

Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership for the facility, management team, and hourly and salaried workforce.
• Lead and develop the Operations Manager, Distribution Manager, Chief Engineer/Maintenance Manager, and HR/Safety Manager.
• Establish clear priorities, performance expectations, and accountability across all plant functions.
• Direct daily operations to achieve safety, quality, production, cost, and customer-service objectives.
• Coordinate production, maintenance, staffing, and distribution to maintain workflow and meet customer commitments.
• Manage capacity, labor, production schedules, and equipment availability in a high-urgency operating environment.
• Monitor plant KPIs, including safety, quality, throughput, labor utilization, equipment uptime, order fulfillment, and cost.
• Identify and resolve bottlenecks affecting productivity, workflow, and customer service.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives using Lean, CI, root-cause analysis, standard work, and other structured problem-solving methods.
• Improve plant processes, workflow, material movement, staffing models, and production planning.
• Develop supervisors and frontline leaders while maintaining a visible presence on the production floor.
• Use operational and financial data to identify performance gaps, implement corrective actions, and communicate results to senior leadership.
• Support companywide process standardization and ISO certification efforts.

Skills

Operations leadership

Leadership development

Lean manufacturing

Production planning

Data-driven decision making

Quality & safety focus

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering / operations / business

Job description

Strategic Systems, Inc. in the Chicago area is seeking an experienced Plant Manager to lead a high‑volume processing facility. You will oversee safety, quality, production, maintenance, distribution, workforce leadership, and continuous improvement to drive top‑line performance.

You will manage an established team and coordinate across plant functions to optimize throughput, reduce downtime, and advance Lean and standard work in a growing organization.