Manufacturing Operations Manager

Manufacturing Operations Manager

Vantage Industries, a Kittrich Company | Atlanta, GA

About Us

Vantage Industries is a leader in PVC manufacturing, producing wide-width products for diverse industries including medical, marine, defense, and retail. Our Atlanta facility is a high-volume manufacturing and distribution operation serving customers across North America. Manufacturing drives the core of what we do — and this role is at the center of it.

The Opportunity

We're looking for someone who understands manufacturing from the inside out — the process, the equipment, and the performance drivers behind it. This is not a coordination role dressed up as a manufacturing job. We want someone who can take technical ownership of the production floor, drive continuous improvement, and grow into senior operations leadership.

We're investing in potential. The right candidate may come from a process engineering background, an industrial maintenance lead role, a technical supervisory position, or any environment where they've had to understand why a system performs the way it does — not just manage around it.

What You'll Own

• Technical understanding and oversight of thermal processing systems — ovens, zoning, temperature uniformity, airflow dynamics
• Equipment reliability: drives, bearings, alignment, mechanical failure modes, and preventive strategies
• OEE, scrap, yield, and downtime analysis — knowing the numbers and knowing what to do with them
• Data-driven root cause analysis using RCA, 5 Why, FMEA, and constraint-based throughput methodologies
• Production planning and scheduling in partnership with the Plant Manager
• Safety leadership — audits, daily meetings, OSHA and EPA compliance
• Cross-department coordination on quality, maintenance, and shipping
• Coverage of Plant Manager responsibilities during absences

Who Thrives Here

We want manufacturing thinkers who are ready to grow into management — not operations managers who are hoping to learn manufacturing along the way. The technical competencies of this role are harder to teach than reporting, scheduling, or cross-functional coordination. A bright, curious person can absorb those relatively quickly. Deep process intuition takes longer, and we want you to already have some of it.

You might be a strong fit if you are:

• A process or industrial engineer who wants to move into operational leadership
• A maintenance supervisor or reliability technician with ambitions beyond the wrench
• A production supervisor with strong analytical instincts and a genuine curiosity about why things work
• A mechanical or manufacturing engineer who has been closest to the floor, not the conference room
• Someone with experience in light manufacturing or assembly environments with transferable process instincts

Core Qualifications:

• 3+ years in a manufacturing or production environment in a technical or supervisory capacity
• Demonstrated ability to analyze equipment and process performance — not just report on it
• Comfort with data: spreadsheets, operational metrics, ERP systems
• Leadership experience — formal or informal — with hourly production teams
• Strong communication skills across all levels of an organization

Preferred (but not required):

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, industrial, or manufacturing engineering, or a related technical field
• Exposure to Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, TPM, or continuous improvement tools
• Experience with PLC-driven or automated production systems
• Familiarity with OSHA and EPA requirements in a manufacturing setting
• ERP system experience (JDE is a plus)

What We Offer

• Direct mentorship from an experienced Plant Manager with a track record in complex manufacturing
• A clear growth path toward senior operations leadership
• Health, dental, vision, and life insurance
• 401(k)
• Paid time off

Schedule & Location

• Full-time. Day shift, Monday to Friday
• Atlanta, GA — In person
• Reports to: Plant Manager

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $75,000.00 - $90,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person