General Manager

Mako Recruiting LLC•Johnstown, PA

15d•$80,000 - $95,000

About The Position

The General Manager is responsible for the overall leadership, management, and performance of a metal fabrication company. The role oversees daily operations across production, engineering, scheduling, quality, maintenance, purchasing, inventory, shipping, and personnel management. The General Manager ensures departments work together efficiently to produce high-quality fabricated metal components while meeting customer expectations, delivery schedules, safety standards, and financial goals. This is a hands-on, results-driven leadership position requiring manufacturing experience, an understanding of metal fabrication processes, and the ability to develop employees, improve production efficiency, control costs, and support profitable growth. The General Manager is expected to be visible on the production floor while also managing the broader business, taking ownership of results and building a culture focused on safety, quality, productivity, customer service, and profitability. Success includes improving on-time delivery, production scheduling, labor and equipment productivity, cost control, communication, accountability, employee development, profitability, and customer satisfaction. The position objective is to lead an organized, efficient, safe, and profitable metal fabrication operation while building a strong team and positioning the business for long-term growth.

Requirements

Five or more years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing, metal fabrication, or a related industrial environment; greater experience is preferred.
Demonstrated success managing production teams, supervisors, and multiple manufacturing departments.
Strong understanding of metal fabrication processes, including laser cutting, tube cutting, press brake forming, rod bending, and welding.
Experience with production scheduling, capacity planning, labor management, and workflow optimization.
Ability to understand manufacturing drawings, tolerances, material specifications, and fabrication requirements.
Strong financial and business skills, including budgeting, cost control, job costing, and profitability analysis.
Experience with ERP or manufacturing management systems and production reporting.
Proven ability to develop employees, improve processes, and hold teams accountable.
Strong problem-solving, communication, organizational, and decision-making skills.
Working knowledge of workplace safety requirements and manufacturing quality systems.
Ability and willingness to be a visible, engaged leader who spends time on the production floor and manages the broader business.
Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Engineering, Business Management, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

Greater than five years of progressive manufacturing or metal fabrication leadership experience.
Experience in a custom, contract, or job-shop metal fabrication environment.
Experience with lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, and process optimization.
Familiarity with CAD/CAM software, CNC programming workflows, and manufacturing ERP systems.
Experience managing capital expenditures, equipment investments, and facility improvements.
Experience working directly with company owners and contributing to strategic business decisions.

Responsibilities

Oversee daily manufacturing and business operations across production, engineering, scheduling, quality, maintenance, purchasing, inventory, shipping, and personnel management.
Coordinate fabrication activities involving plate lasers, tube lasers, press brakes, rod bending equipment, welding, and related processes.
Establish production priorities and ensure schedules align with customer demand, available capacity, materials, and resources.
Monitor workflow from order entry and material purchasing through fabrication, inspection, and shipment; identify bottlenecks and improve throughput and lead times.
Set expectations, accountability, and performance standards for department managers and employees.
Oversee production planning, job scheduling, labor allocation, machine utilization, work-in-process, and readiness of jobs for production.
Coordinate manufacturing operations and adjust labor, shifts, equipment, and schedules to address capacity constraints and delivery requirements.
Work with sales and customer service to establish realistic delivery dates and communicate schedule changes.
Reduce setup times, material handling, rework, downtime, and production delays.
Manage operating performance and profitability, develop and monitor budgets, review job costs and financial results, and take corrective action when results fall short of goals.
Work with estimating and sales to support appropriate job pricing and margin expectations; identify cost reductions without compromising safety, quality, or customer service.
Support capital investment decisions involving machinery, tooling, software, and facility improvements.
Lead, coach, and develop supervisors, department managers, and production employees; establish goals and performance expectations.
Ensure adequate staffing, training, cross-training, performance reviews, and timely professional handling of performance issues.
Support recruiting, hiring, onboarding, retention, succession planning, and development of future leaders.
Promote accountability, teamwork, continuous improvement, employee engagement, and communication between management, office staff, and shop-floor employees.
Ensure products meet customer specifications, engineering drawings, and applicable quality requirements; establish and maintain quality control and inspection procedures.
Monitor scrap, rework, customer complaints, and returns; lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions to prevent recurring quality issues.
Coordinate with engineering and production to resolve drawing, programming, dimensional, and fabrication problems and promote shared responsibility for quality.
Ensure machinery and supporting equipment are maintained; establish preventive maintenance schedules and monitor downtime, utilization, reliability, and operating costs.
Coordinate machine repairs, service calls, tooling needs, and equipment upgrades; improve machine performance and evaluate technology, automation, and process improvements.
Ensure operators are trained in equipment operation and routine maintenance.
Oversee purchasing, raw material availability, inventory management, and supplier performance; maintain availability of production materials and supplies.
Manage inventory levels, supplier relationships, pricing, delivery schedules, material traceability, inventory accuracy, scrap, and material-shortage and expedite costs.
Maintain a safe working environment and ensure compliance with applicable OSHA requirements and company safety policies.
Promote safe practices, safety training, use of required personal protective equipment, incident and near-miss investigation, corrective actions, housekeeping, and accountability for safe work practices.
Ensure the company meets customer expectations for quality, delivery, responsiveness, and value; work with sales, estimating, engineering, and customer service to support customer requirements.
Resolve escalated customer concerns and delivery issues, identify growth and capability opportunities, and evaluate the operational impact of new business.
Establish and track manufacturing and business KPIs; implement lean manufacturing, standard work, 5S, and other continuous improvement practices as appropriate.
Evaluate processes to reduce waste, improve throughput, and increase labor productivity; lead regular management and production meetings and develop operational improvement plans.
Work with the owner or president on company goals, capital plans, staffing requirements, and growth strategies.