Shop Floor Manager - Custom

Job Description

The Shop Floor Manager is responsible for managing shop labor and execution capacity to meet customer demand safely, efficiently, and predictably. This role owns people leadership, staffing, workflow, and daily execution across the shop floor. Custom Shop Floor Management is about managing constraints under uncertainty.

The Shop Floor Manager does not own job scope, material strategy, or purchasing decisions. Instead, this role partners closely with the Production Control Manager, who owns job execution planning, and with Customer Service, who owns the sales order lifecycle.

• Constraint management and flexibility
• Skill-based labor assignment
• Rapid response to changing information
• Assign technicians based on skill and job complexity
• Re-sequence work as scope or readiness changes
• Protect critical-path jobs from disruption
• Manage interruptions without destabilizing the entire schedule
• Absorb execution volatility while maintaining momentum

• Directly lead and manage Team Leads and Technicians
• Set expectations for safety, quality, productivity, and teamwork
• Evaluate performance and provide coaching, feedback, and development
• Make staffing adjustments based on demand, skill requirements, and capacity needs

• Prioritize and sequence work to meet delivery commitments
• Assign labor based on skill, complexity, and job requirements
• Adjust daily and short-term schedules in response to changing conditions
• Ensure production work is released and executed according to defined priorities

• Evaluate available labor capacity and constraints
• Communicate accurate capacity data to Production Control and leadership
• Identify risks related to staffing levels, skill gaps, or execution constraints
• Participate in planning discussions by providing execution reality

• Enforce adherence to drawings, work instructions, and QMS requirements
• Promote a strong safety culture and ensure compliance with OSHA and internal standards
• Monitor quality performance and drive corrective actions
• Reinforce standard work and consistency across teams

• Execute work within defined material constraints
• Escalate material shortages, BOM concerns, or execution blockers to Production Control
• Collaborate with Materials and Production Control to minimize schedule disruption

• Identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and execution challenges
• Drive improvements in labor utilization, workflow, and shop organization
• Support lean initiatives and standardization efforts

• Bottlenecks resolved quickly
• Jobs progress despite scope uncertainty
• Limited disruption from change events
• Customers insulated from internal variability
• On-Time Delivery Performance
• Production Schedule Adherence
• Safety Performance
• Labor Variance to Budget
• Employee Retention and Development

• Bachelor’s degree in Operations, Engineering, Business, or equivalent experience preferred
• 5+ years experience in manufacturing leadership
• Experience in industrial fabrication or control panel manufacturing preferred

• Strong people leadership and coaching ability
• Clear, direct, and consistent communicator
• Decisive and calm under pressure
• Highly organized with strong prioritization skills
• Aligns with company culture and continuous improvement mindset

• ERP and production scheduling systems (Epicor preferred)
• Labor planning and capacity management
• Microsoft Office Suite (Excel required)
• Lean manufacturing principles a plus
• OSHA and UL 508A familiarity preferred

Cates Control Systems was founded over 40 years ago and is an award-winning systems integration company that partners with manufacturing firms to develop and implement automation solutions to increase production, improve quality and reduce costs. Our customers are extremely diverse and spread all over North America (and a few internationally). Our customers make roofing shingles, fry potato chips, roast coffee, process poultry and beef, distill water, bottle apple juice, and ship all over the world.

Cates is committed to…