Production Manager

Nolato is a global leader in precision injection molding and contract manufacturing for the world’s most successful healthcare, automotive, and industrial OEMs.

Join an organization that is respected throughout the industry for our advanced technology, quality, and innovation – all while enjoying the benefits of stable ownership, a collaborative culture, professional development, continuing education, global opportunities, and an exceptional benefits package.

Job title: 

Production Manager

Department:

Production

Reports to: 

Managing Director

Description:

The Production Manager is responsible for leading the day-to-day manufacturing operations within a plastic injection molding facility. This role ensure the safe, efficient, and cost-effective production of molded parts that meet customer quality requirements and delivery schedules.  The Production Manager oversees personnel, equipment utilization, production planning execution, process discipline, continuous improvement, scrap reduction, and overall operational performance across molding, secondary operations, and related support functions.

Essential duties and responsibilities:

• Lead daily production activities for plastic injetion molding operations to achieve safety, quality, delivery and cost targets.
• Supervise and develop production supervisors, team leads, process technicians, operators and maintenance personnel.
• Ensure production schedules are executed efficiently, and customer demand is met on time and in full.
• Monitor machine utilization, cycle times, downtime, scrap, labor efficiency, and overall equipment effectiveness.
• Drive improvements in molding productivity, process stability, and output performance.
• Coordinate with tooling, quality, engineering, materials, and planning teams to resolve production issues quickly.
• Ensure molds, machines, automation, and auxiliary equipment are available and operating effectively.
• Support setup reduction, changeover improvement, and process standardization efforts.
• Maintain compliance with all safety, environmental, and company operating procedures.
• Promote a culture of accountability, teamwork, continuous improvement, and disciplined execution on the production floor where needed.
• Lead root cause problem-solving for downtime, quality defects, scrap, missed schedules, and labor inefficiencies.
• Ensure proper staffing levels, training and performance management across shifts.
• Support new production launches, mold trails, process validations, and capability planning activities.
• Partner with quality to ensure adherence to customer specifications, control plans, work instructions, and regulatory requirements.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, or related field preferred; equivalent manufacturing leadership experience may be considered.
• 5+ years of production leadership experience in a manufacturing environment.
• 3+ years of experience in plastic injection molding required.
• Strong understanding of injection molding processes, tooling, resins, machine operations, process controls, and secondary operations.
• Experience leading teams in a fast-paced, high-volume production environment.
• Proven ability to manage KPIs related to safety, quality, delivery, scrap, efficiency, and labor performance
• Perform production line changeovers using Quick Mold Change (QMC) techniques or Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) to minimize downtime and improve efficiency.
• Strong problem-solving, organizational an ddecision-making skills.
• Experience with lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, 5S, and root cause analysis tools.
• Working knowledge of ERP/MRP systems and production reporting.
• Strong communication and leadership skills with the ability to lead across multiple shifts and functions.