Production Manager

WestRock Company; City of North Tonawanda (NY); On-site; USD 80,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the pulp and paper industry is seeking an Operations Manager in North Tonawanda, NY. The role involves managing day-to-day operations, ensuring safety and quality, and providing leadership to achieve production goals. Ideal candidates will have extensive supervisory experience and a commitment to operational excellence.

Qualifications

• 5-7 years of supervisory experience in pulp and paper manufacturing required.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred, with a focus in paper engineering or chemical engineering valued.

Responsibilities

• Direct manufacturing operations and ensure production goals are met.
• Provide leadership and coaching to supervisory staff.
• Foster continuous improvement and maintain quality standards.

Skills

Leadership

Problem-Solving

Decision-Making

Strategic Thinking

Communication

Growth and Results Oriented

Process-Oriented

Education

High school diploma or G.E.D equivalent

Bachelor’s degree in a related field

Tools

Microsoft Office

Data historian software (i.e., Process Book)

Job description

Operations Manager - North Tonawanda, NY

The opportunity:

The Operations Manager is responsible for establishing the safety, quality, cost, and operating output of the facility. This position provides overall operational leadership support to align to the mill's strategic plan. This role is responsible for day-to-day management of the department’s supervisory staff. An Operations Manager is responsible for achieving production goals, managing the performance of direct reports, making sound operational decisions, and troubleshooting customer issues.

How you will impact Smurfit Westrock:

Major Job Responsibilities:

Business Excellence
* Direct manufacturing operations to ensure manufacturing standards are met and exceed all industry and customer requirements
* Formulate solutions to minimize lead time and maximize product quality, productivity, and profit margin
* Forecast financial requirements to inform annual budget development, schedule expenditures, analyze variances, and capital projects
* Provide technical expertise when necessary to resolve operational issues
* Ensure the timely production of quality products that meet or exceed customer expectations • Ensure staffing is appropriate to meet workload requirements and productivity standards
* Champion of maintaining or enhancing a culture of continuous improvement
* Stay abreast of continuous improvement best practices and apply to WestRock
* Direct engineering initiatives to address shop floor issues and manufacturing concerns to ensure continuous product and process improvements
* Provide opportunities for maintenance staff to build functions that support the needs of production
* Achieve safety, environment, quality standards to meet and exceed performance and production metrics
* Proactively manage departmental metrics that impact cost (e.g., downtime, make-readies, run speed and waste)
* People and Culture
* Develop coaching plans to ensure timely and consistent feedback to employees and conduct annual performance reviews
* Analyze root causes and solve employee or customer issues effectively and in a timely manner
* Foster a team atmosphere, provide vision, and demonstrate support of the company’s core values Job
* Work cross-functionally with department heads to create a long-term strategic plan to forecast mill/plant performance
* Provide a safe work environment for employees and ensure compliance with environmental policies and procedures

Critical Skills / Capabilities:
* Leadership: Leads and motivates a team of people to achieve performance excellence; ability to read people and situations and adjust approach; accordingly, proactively leads and enforces initiatives that drive organizational effectiveness; teaches others how to build trust-based relationships
* Problem-Solving: Applies knowledge to frame, simplify and solve complex issues; focuses on identifying root causes to create solutions in a timely and decisive manner; reconciles conflicting and/or incomplete information to develop solutions
* Decision-Making: Uses strong problem-solving skills and supporting information to arrive at optimal decisions in an appropriate timeframe; knows when to decide and/or when to seek additional input, and drive for consensus
* Strategic Thinking: Develops short and long-term courses of action that support the organization's overall vision and mission; balances business, technical, and operational issues when determining a strategy; identifies problems with current strategies and suggests ways to resolve them; incorporates knowledge of WestRock’s goals/strategy as well as competitive, customer, supplier, industry, or marketplace trends into strategic plans; capitalizes on opportunities and manages risks
* Communication: Creates and delivers engaging presentations to internal and external audiences; develops new communication strategies and approaches to communicate data, insights, and critical messages resulting in clear understanding
* Growth and Results Oriented: Delivers personal or organizational results by successfully influencing others (i.e. co-workers, other teams, external partners, etc.) within a matrixed organization; delivers high quality work within the stipulated time period to achieve maximum results
* Process-Oriented: Plans, designs, and manages processes while focusing on refining and improving to increase efficiency and effectiveness; understands process inputs, activities, outputs, roles and sequencing

Technical Skills:
* Microsoft Office- Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint
* Process Management
* Data historian software (i.e., Process Book)
* Other Qualifications:
* To perform the duties of the job, this role requires:
* Occasionally ascending/descending stairs • Occasionally reaching by extending fingers on one hand
* Occasionally reaching by extending one arm • Occasionally using fingers to grasp with one hand Job
* Occasionally using fingers to type with one hand
* The spoken exchange of ideas to be performed loudly less than 25% of the time
* The spoken exchange of ideas to be performed quickly 25-50% of the time
* Ensure the safe and accurate determination of accuracy and neatness of work or making general observations of facilities or structures

Work Environment:
* Frequently works indoors, in an environment that is climate controlled
* Occasionally works outdoors in natural environmental conditions (both hot and cold)
* Occasionally works indoors in an environment that is not climate controlled and has high temperatures
* Occasionally works indoors in an environment that is not climate controlled and has low temperatures
* The role is frequently sedentary, which entails sitting or being stationary
* Occasionally stands or walks for 3-6 hours at a time
* Occasionally stands or walks for more than 6 hours at a time
* Noisy work environment; maintain strict adherence to safety rules and regulations
* Fast-paced work J.I.T (just-in-time) environment

Experience:
* Required: 5 to 7 years of supervisory experience in pulp and paper manufacturing
* Preferred: Paper engineering, chemical engineering, or integrated paper mill experience

Education:
* Required: High school diploma or G.E.D equivalent
* Preferred: Bachelor’s degree in a related field