Assembly Manager

Crest Industries • Alexandria, LA

3d • Onsite

About The Position

The Assembly Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for full-scale Factory Built Substation (FBS) assembly operations, overseeing multiple levels of team leadership and driving execution across all phases of production. This role is responsible for leading Assembly Team Leads and Assembly Technicians while ensuring manufacturing operations are executed safely, efficiently, on schedule, and to the highest quality standards. The Assembly Manager serves as a strong manufacturing leader with a visible shop floor presence, combining strategic thinking with hands-on operational execution to drive production performance and accountability. This position plays a critical role in aligning people, processes, and production priorities to support business objectives, operational readiness, and customer commitments. Success in this role requires exceptional leadership, professional communication, sound decision-making, and the ability to lead through fast-paced operational challenges while maintaining a culture of safety, quality, continuous improvement, and execution excellence. The Assembly Manager is responsible for optimizing production efficiency, labor utilization, workflow coordination, quality compliance, safety performance, and on-time delivery of all FBS units.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in manufacturing, assembly operations, production leadership, or industrial operations within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of production schedules, manufacturing workflows, and production execution.
• Demonstrated leadership experience coordinating teams, driving accountability, and supporting operational performance in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Strong strategic thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills with the ability to react quickly to operational challenges.
• Ability to lead through fast-paced production demands while maintaining a strong focus on safety, quality, execution, and operational efficiency.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across Production, Engineering and Design, Quality, Supply Chain, Logistics, and Project Management teams.
• Experience identifying and resolving operational challenges, workflow disruptions, production constraints, and process inefficiencies.
• Strong organizational and workforce coordination skills with the ability to manage changing priorities and production demands.
• Ability to maintain a visible and professional leadership presence on the production floor while driving accountability and team performance.
• Experience supporting employee development, coaching, mentoring, and team leadership initiatives.
• Knowledge of working in ERP systems and Microsoft Office applications.
• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in Operations Management, Manufacturing, Industrial Technology, Business, Supply Chain, or related field preferred; equivalent manufacturing leadership experience considered.
• Knowledge of assembly operations, steel fabrication, knowledge of welding.
• General knowledge of electrical systems, high-voltage equipment, substations, or power distribution.
• Experience supporting continuous improvement initiatives, lean manufacturing principles, or operational efficiency programs.
• Experience working within complex, multi-department manufacturing operations with high production demands and customer-driven schedules.

Responsibilities

• Provide direction, mentorship, coaching, and performance management for Assembly Team Leads and Assembly Technicians while establishing clear expectations and accountability across all assembly teams.
• Foster a culture of safety, teamwork, discipline, professionalism, and operational excellence.
• Conduct regularly scheduled meetings with Assembly Team Leads to identify operational challenges, strengthen team communication, support employee growth, and improve overall team effectiveness.
• Partner with Talent Team, HR, and PSS Leadership to support Assembly department hiring efforts, candidate interviews, training initiatives, and departmental organizational planning while evaluating Assembly team staffing levels, team structure, and workforce capabilities to optimize operational performance, production readiness, and employee growth and development.
• Maintain a strong and visible presence on the shop floor to actively lead assembly operations, support teams, and drive production execution.
• Oversee daily assembly activities to ensure production schedules, quality standards, labor efficiency, and operational targets are consistently achieved.
• Collaborate closely with assembly teams to monitor workflow, proactively address operational challenges, and maintain production momentum.
• Partner with the Production Manager to align short- and long-term production priorities, scheduling needs, and operational objectives.
• Ensure materials, tools, equipment, and work instructions are prepared and available ahead of production activities to minimize delays and downtime.
• Adjust labor and operational resources as needed to maintain productivity and support changing production demands.
• Take immediate action to identify, resolve, and communicate production issues to appropriate stakeholders as they arise.
• Anticipate operational challenges, take decisive action, and implement solutions that support production efficiency and workflow continuity.
• Identify operational challenges, workflow disruptions, and process inefficiencies affecting assembly performance.
• Enforce compliance with Quality Management System (QMS) requirements, production standards, and company safety procedures.
• Partner with Quality and Safety teams to address audit findings, lead root-cause analysis efforts, and resolve non-conformance issues.
• Ensure team members are properly trained on equipment, tools, procedures, and safety protocols.
• Promote safe work practices and maintain accountability for safety performance across all assembly operations.
• Track and analyze production build times across assembly activities to improve operational planning, scheduling expectations, and future project estimating.
• Track, collect, and analyze labor hour data for individual FBS structures to support production planning, workforce performance analysis, operational efficiency, and overall manufacturing performance.
• Serve as the primary point of communication for Assembly-related production issues by coordinating with other Production Teams, Logistics Teams, Engineering and Design, Project Management, and Supply Chain to support production execution and drive timely resolution.
• Identify design concerns, material issues, workflow disruptions, and production challenges that may impact assembly operations and proactively communicate risks to the appropriate teams.
• Lead coordination efforts across all DTPS departments (professional and manufacturing) to ensure Assembly-related production issues are addressed quickly and do not create constraints to production flow.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level