Production Manager

Translucent Solar; Summerville (SC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Translucent Solar seeks an experienced Plant Manager to lead its solar module manufacturing facility, overseeing Production, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, and Supply Chain to ensure safe, efficient, high-quality operations.

The role demands 10+ years in manufacturing with 5+ years in leadership, plus strong expertise in Lean, KPI performance, and cross-functional collaboration across departments to deliver cost-effective results.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing or industrial operations experience.
• 5+ years of manufacturing management experience.
• Experience in solar, semiconductor, electronics, automotive, aerospace or highly automated environments preferred.
• Lean Manufacturing, continuous improvement, 5S/6S, root-cause analysis, KPI-based management.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day plant manufacturing operations to meet production objectives safely and efficiently.
• Establish production priorities, staffing plans, operating procedures, and performance expectations.
• Ensure compliance with safety policies, OSHA, environmental requirements and applicable regulations.
• Promote a strong safety culture and address hazards, incidents, and corrective actions promptly.
• Monitor plant performance using KPIs including OEE, throughput, yield, scrap, downtime, labor productivity, cycle time, quality, and schedule attainment.
• Drive improvements in equipment availability, production efficiency, product quality, and manufacturing cost.
• Partner with Maintenance and Engineering to establish preventive and predictive maintenance programs.

Skills

Leadership

Lean manufacturing

KPI management

Root-cause analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Manufacturing/Operations Management/Business

Job description

*Must Have Solar Manufacturing Experience*

Translucent Solar is a growing company in the renewable energy sector, focused on developing and producing innovative solar solutions. The organization is committed to advancing clean energy technologies that are both efficient and sustainable. Team members collaborate across engineering, production, and operations to deliver high-quality products to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company values safety, continuous improvement, and a culture of respect, inclusion, and professional growth.

Role Description

The Plant Manager is responsible for the overall leadership, performance, and day-to-day operations of Translucent Solar’s solar module manufacturing facility. This position provides leadership across Production, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, Warehouse, Supply Chain, and Health, Safety & Environmental functions to ensure safe, efficient, high-quality, and cost-effective manufacturing operations.

The Plant Manager is accountable for achieving production, safety, quality, delivery, cost, workforce, equipment reliability, and continuous improvement objectives while developing a high-performing manufacturing organization.

Responsibilities:

• Lead all day-to-day plant manufacturing operations and ensure production objectives are achieved safely, efficiently, and consistently.
• Establish production priorities, staffing plans, operating procedures, and performance expectations.
• Ensure compliance with company safety policies, OSHA requirements, environmental requirements, and applicable federal, state, and local regulations.
• Promote a strong safety culture and ensure hazards, incidents, and corrective actions are addressed promptly.
• Monitor plant performance using KPIs including OEE, throughput, yield, scrap, downtime, labor productivity, cycle time, quality, and schedule attainment.
• Drive improvements in equipment availability, production efficiency, product quality, and manufacturing cost.
• Partner with Maintenance and Engineering to establish preventive and predictive maintenance programs and minimize equipment downtime.
• Ensure manufacturing equipment, utilities, automation systems, and facility resources support production requirements.
• Work with Quality to maintain product standards, address nonconformances, conduct root-cause analysis, and implement corrective and preventive actions.
• Coordinate with Supply Chain, Procurement, and Warehouse teams to ensure raw materials, components, and inventory are available to meet production schedules.
• Develop and manage plant operating budgets, labor requirements, overtime, expenses, and cost-reduction initiatives.
• Lead continuous improvement activities utilizing Lean Manufacturing, 5S/6S, root-cause analysis, mprovement methodologies.
• Develop plant procedures, SOPs, work instructions, reporting systems, and management processes.
• Recruit, develop, coach, and manage supervisors, managers, engineers, technicians, and production employees.
• Establish accountability through performance goals, coaching, training, employee development, and performance management.
• Ensure effective communication and coordination between shifts and departments.
• Support equipment installation, commissioning, production ramp-up, capacity expansion, and capital improvement projects.
• Identify operational risks and develop contingency plans to maintain business continuity.
• Provide plant performance reports, operational updates, risks, and improvement recommendations to executive leadership.
• Build a workplace culture focused on safety, teamwork, accountability, quality, continuous improvement, and employee development.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Business, or a related field required.
• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing or industrial operations experience, including significant leadership responsibility.
• 5+ years of manufacturing management experience leading supervisors, technical employees, and production teams.
• Experience in solar, semiconductor, electronics, automotive, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, or other highly automated manufacturing environments strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing production performance, equipment reliability, quality, safety, staffing, and operating costs.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, continuous improvement, 5S/6S, root-cause analysis, and KPI-based management.
• Strong understanding of OEE, production scheduling, yield, scrap, downtime, labor efficiency, and manufacturing cost.
• Experience managing and developing manufacturing supervisors and technical teams.
• Experience supporting new equipment installation, commissioning, plant startup, or production ramp-up preferred.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, organizational, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to work effectively across Production, Engineering, Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, Warehouse, HSE, HR, and Finance.