Position Title:
Production Manager
Function:
The Production Supervisor is responsible for planning, scheduling, execution, and overall performance of manufacturing operations across the Fill & Pack and Compounding areas. This role has full ownership and final decision-making authority over production planning and scheduling, ensuring that production priorities, sequencing, and recovery plans align with customer demand, operational capacity, and business objectives. The Production Manager leads Production and Compounding teams to achieve safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost targets while ensuring compliance with Company policies, GMP requirements, and regulatory standards. This role collaborates closely with Warehouse, Process Engineering, Quality, and Maintenance leadership to drive stable and efficient operations. The Production Manager reports directly to the Plant Manager.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
- This position supervises Production Supervisor – Fill & Pack, Production Planning Supervisor, and Compounding Supervisor.
- This position provides indirect leadership to Production Leads, Operators, and Compounding personnel through the supervisory structure.
Essential Duties and Key Responsibilities:
- Production Leadership & Execution
- Lead and manage daily production operations across fill & pack and compounding to ensure safety, quality, delivery, cost, and productivity objectives are met.
- Establish daily priorities and provide clear direction to Production and Compounding Supervisors aligned with the approved production schedule.
- Ensure effective shift communication, escalation, and issue resolution to maintain operational continuity.
- Support supervisors in removing barriers and sustaining stable, predictable operations.
- Production Planning & Scheduling
- Own the production plan and production schedules for Fill & Pack and Compounding, including sequencing, capacity alignment, and prioritization.
- Coordinate with the Plant Manager regarding final decision on all scheduling changes, and recovery plans in response to labor, material, quality, or equipment constraints.
- Direct the Production Planning Supervisor in developing schedules, scenarios, and capacity analyses; review, approve, and release final schedules.
- Lead daily and weekly scheduled review meetings and communicate schedule decisions and changes to Production, Maintenance, Warehouse, Quality, and Process Engineering.
- Balance customer service requirements, labor utilization, operational efficiency, and cost when making scheduling decisions.
- Compounding Operations
- Provide overall leadership, direction, and accountability for compounding operations as part of the total production organization.
- Assign operational ownership of day‑to‑day compounding execution to the Compounding Supervisor, including personnel management, batch execution, adherence to procedures, and compliance with safety, quality, and GMP requirements.
- Direct the Compounding Supervisor on priorities, output requirements, and sequencing to ensure alignment with the Production Manager–approved production schedule.
- Ensure compounding activities support downstream Fill & Pack demand through proper planning, communication, and coordination.
- Review compounding performance, capacity, and constraints; make final decisions on prioritization, escalation, or trade‑offs that impact the overall production plan.
- Partner with R&D, Quality, and Process Engineering to support batch scale‑ups, trials, process improvements, and issue resolution, with execution led by the Compounding Supervisor.
- Ensure compounding documentation, batch card records, and systematic consumption tracking are completed accurately and reviewed in accordance with company and regulatory requirements.
- Safety, Quality, & GMP Compliance
- Promote and enforce all safety policies, procedures, and safe work practices across production and compounding operations.
- Ensure compliance with GMP, quality systems, and documentation requirements.
- Partner with the Quality Manager on non-conformance investigations, root cause analysis, and corrective and preventative actions.
- Ensure production controls, such as line clearances, batch card record reviews, validations, and systematic tracking and releases are executed correctly and documented.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work together with the Warehouse Manager to ensure that components/materials are available and properly staged according to the approved production schedule.
- Partner with the Process Engineering Manager to improve equipment performance, process capability, and operational efficiency.
- Coordinate with Maintenance to plan downtime, prioritize repairs, and minimize production disruptions.
- Work closely with the Quality Manager to integrate quality requirements and constraints into production planning and execution.
- Performance Management & Continuous Improvement
- Monitor and review performance metrics including schedule adherence, labor efficiency, OEE, downtime, scrap, yield, and throughput.
- Identify improvement opportunities and lead execution plans focused on Safety, Quality, Delivery, Productivity, and Cost.
- Promote standard work, structured problem-solving, and continuous improvement within the production organization.
- People Leadership & Development
- Lead, coach, and develop Production and Compounding Supervisors to strengthen front-line leadership and accountability.
- Support hiring, onboarding, training, performance management, and disciplinary actions in coordination with Human Resources.
- Foster a culture of ownership, teamwork, accountability, and continuous development.
Decision-Making Authority:
The Production Manager is the single point of accountability for:
- Daily and weekly production schedules
- Production sequencing and priorities
- Schedule changes and recovery plans
- Capacity and labor deployment decisions related to production execution
Requirements:
- Strong Analytical Skills
- Proven organizational and leadership abilities.
- Collaborative teamwork
- Intermediate user of Microsoft Excel
Education/Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Business Administration, or related field preferred; equivalent experience may be considered.
- Progressive leadership experience in a manufacturing environment with responsibility for production teams and production scheduling.
- Experience working in a regulated manufacturing environment (GMP, ISO, or similar) preferred.
- Proficiency with ERP systems and Microsoft 365 tools.
Certificates:
- Lean Manufacturing and relevant industry training certification(s) a plus
- Effective Management and communication certifications a plus
Language Skills:
- Effective communication skills with the ability to communicate at all levels of employees and strong initiative and leadership capabilities
Mathematical Skills:
- Advanced mathematical skills to research operational analysts and to investigate complex issues, identify and resolve problems and make better operational decisions
Reasoning Ability:
- Technical Capacity
- Problem Solving/Analysis
- Customer/Client Focus
- Decision Making
- Project Management
- Communication Proficiency
- Teamwork Orientation
- Flexibility
Physical Demands:
This job often involves talking, listening, and standing for long hours. Employees regularly walk around, use their hands to handle or feel objects, and reach with their arms. Sometimes, they may need to sit, climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. Lifting up to 50 pounds is a frequent requirement, and occasionally, employees may have to move weights as heavy as 75 pounds. It is required to use a respirator for this position, and employees need to fulfill the fit test and pulmonary test prior to hiring. The role also demands various vision skills, such as seeing things up close or at a distance, distinguishing colors, using peripheral vision, judging depth, and adjusting focus.
Work Environment:
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently exposed to fumes or airborne particles, moving mechanical parts, and vibrations. The noise level in the production environment can be loud and varying temperatures depending on the time of year.