McWane Ductile Ohio - Operations Trainee
About The Position
The Operations Trainee is an entry-level position intended to develop future leaders in manufacturing operations. The role provides hands-on experience in production processes, quality control, safety, maintenance coordination, and continuous improvement. Through rotations across key departments, trainees gain an understanding of plant operations and develop decision-making, team coordination, oversight, and accountability for production performance, preparing them for potential supervisory roles. The trainee provides indirect supervision to production employees by helping guide workflow and task priorities, reinforcing safety, quality, and production standards, and supporting team communication. The role also serves as backup or relief for frontline leadership, such as a shift supervisor or team lead, and may assist with shift coverage during absences, vacations, or high-demand periods. The trainee is exposed to onboarding and training new employees, team performance discussions, and problem-solving, while developing leadership skills through hands-on interaction and accountability. The position includes cross-functional rotations, structured leadership development, and increasing responsibility with progressive supervisory exposure. Potential career paths include manufacturing department leadership, operations management, manufacturing or process engineering, and continuous improvement leadership.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Operations Management, or a related field.
- Ability to perform the essential duties satisfactorily, with reasonable accommodation where applicable.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in a manufacturing maintenance environment.
Responsibilities
- Assist with daily production activities to meet efficiency, quality, and safety targets.
- Monitor operations and escalate issues or deviations.
- Support production scheduling and workflow coordination.
- Learn and enforce standard operating procedures.
- Participate in Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Identify inefficiencies and recommend solutions.
- Assist with tracking KPIs, including OEE, downtime, scrap, and throughput.
- Coordinate with maintenance regarding equipment issues.
- Assist with basic troubleshooting and preventive maintenance activities.
- Support equipment installations and process changes.
- Follow and enforce quality standards.
- Assist with root cause analysis and corrective actions.
- Ensure compliance with regulatory and company requirements.
- Promote and model safe behaviors on the shop floor.
- Participate in EHS audits and hazard identification.
- Ensure team adherence to EHS policies and requirements.
- Work cross-functionally with engineering, maintenance, quality, and operations.
- Participate in meetings, training, and project teams.
- Communicate effectively across all levels of the organization.
- Guide production workflow and task prioritization, reinforce safety, quality, and production standards, and support team communication and coordination.
- Provide backup or relief for frontline leadership roles, including assisting with shift coverage during absences, vacations, or high-demand periods.
- Gain exposure to onboarding and training new employees, team performance discussions, and problem-solving efforts.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
