Production Supervisor

LettrLabs•Los Angeles, CA

3d•$80,000 - $100,000•Onsite

About The Position

LettrLabs is seeking a hands-on Production Supervisor in Los Angeles to own a production shift at its direct-mail manufacturing operation. The supervisor is accountable for the people on the shift, execution of the production schedule, machine uptime, quality, safety, and communication with company leadership and engineering. This is a floor-based role involving active work at the machines, coaching operators, removing production constraints, and troubleshooting equipment. The supervisor reports daily shift performance and risks to the Head of Production in Chicago and works closely with the Los Angeles engineering team on equipment faults, modifications, and improvements. The role leads Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), including autonomous and planned maintenance, breakdown response, downtime tracking, root-cause problem solving, OEE and reliability tracking, spare-parts management, and 5S. It also oversees staffing, training, schedule attainment, quality and yield, inventory and supplies, facility upkeep, continuous improvement, and clear shift handovers and written escalations. The position is based at LettrLabs’ Marina Del Rey location. The stated base salary range is $80,000–$100,000, plus equity. Compensation depends on experience, skills, and work location.

Requirements

At least 3 years supervising production in a manufacturing, print, packaging, or fulfillment operation, with accountability for output, quality, and cost.
Ability to interpret a production plan, understand takt and capacity, and respond when production falls behind plan.
Proven experience leading an hourly production team, including hiring, onboarding, training, coaching, and performance management.
Ability to handle difficult conversations constructively, develop cross-trained employees, and lead a team through peak periods.
Demonstrated hands-on ownership of TPM in a production environment, including autonomous maintenance and CIL routines, planned-maintenance adherence, downtime capture and analysis, OEE, and structured root-cause problem solving.
Mechanical and electro-mechanical aptitude to troubleshoot alongside technicians, read manuals, follow fault trees, and confidently use hand tools.
Formal TPM training or at least 5 years of experience working in a TPM facility.
Clear written and verbal communication with leadership in another location and with engineering, including actionable handovers, escalations, and corrective actions.
Comfort working across time zones with the Head of Production in Chicago and building a trusted relationship with engineers.
Data literacy and comfort using Excel, ERP, MES, or CMMS systems, and production dashboards to make decisions.
Working knowledge of OSHA requirements, lockout/tagout, and machine guarding.
Ability to work on the production floor for a full shift, including standing and walking throughout; occasional lifting up to 50 pounds; and exposure to machine noise, paper dust, and ink.
Ability to work the primary shift and provide weekend and peak-season coverage.

Nice To Haves

Experience in direct mail, commercial print, bindery, packaging, or high-mix fulfillment.
Experience introducing autonomous maintenance to a team that has not previously used it.
CMMS implementation or administration experience.
Experience working directly with in-house engineering on custom-built or modified equipment.
Bilingual English/Spanish.

Responsibilities

Lead shift staffing and balance operators across print, plotting, inserting, and finishing according to workload and production needs.
Create and maintain shift schedules, monitor attendance, and identify staffing or coverage gaps early.
Run shift-start huddles and routine floor check-ins covering results, the daily plan, past-due work, machine status, and bottlenecks.
Build and maintain a cross-training matrix; coordinate training on SOPs, safety, and job responsibilities, and close training gaps.
Set performance standards, provide timely feedback, conduct performance conversations, and address attendance and conduct issues fairly.
Own shift safety through hazard walks, near-miss reporting, lockout/tagout discipline, and empowering employees to stop unsafe machines.
Provide a written handover to the next shift covering completed work, issues, and next steps.
Translate the production schedule into a station-by-station plan and resequence work when priorities or machine availability change.
Protect on-time delivery by prioritizing past-due and at-risk jobs, managing the priority lane, and escalating risks early.
Assess machine and staffing capacity and flag when committed volume exceeds available resources.
Maintain production flow between steps and coordinate plans, workload, staffing needs, and risks with Assistant Operations Managers and leadership.
Lead autonomous maintenance, ensuring operators perform daily cleaning, inspection, and setup to posted standards.
Ensure planned maintenance is completed on schedule, track adherence, protect maintenance windows, and arrange service appointments and vendors as needed.
Respond to breakdowns by following escalation protocols, troubleshooting hands-on, and involving technicians, engineering, or external providers when appropriate.
Log stoppages, causes, and duration; analyze downtime and lead structured root-cause problem solving and countermeasures for repeat failures.
Track availability, performance, quality, and OEE by machine type; use reliability data to inform decisions about spares, rebuilds, or replacements.
Maintain critical spares, consumables, and maintenance records in the CMMS; organize stations using 5S and visual standards.
Provide the Head of Production with regular, clear updates on shift performance, past-due volume, downtime, quality, safety, and risks.
Carry priorities, KPIs, and standards from the Head of Production to the floor and collaborate with engineering on faults, modifications, and improvements.
Provide engineering with detailed, reproducible fault information; ensure equipment changes are reflected in standard work and operator training.
Write clear escalations, handovers, and corrective actions that other teams can act on.
Own shift scrap and identify and address the production steps and causes that generate it.
Conduct first-piece approval and in-process checks, and uphold standards for handwriting, print registration, insertion accuracy, and address legibility.
Investigate customer-reaching defects and close corrective actions.
Conduct daily inventory counts, maintain accurate records, and flag potential shortages before they affect production.
Oversee receiving and delivery verification, and keep supplies, sample packs, and trade-show materials organized and available.
Maintain required counts, logs, and tracking documents, including Pitney Bowes mail slips.
Oversee day-to-day floor upkeep, conduct walkthroughs, and coordinate facility repairs and recurring services with the maintenance technician.
Run operator-led kaizen, write and maintain standard work, and build visual-management boards showing plan versus actual, machine status, and quality holds.
Use Claude and other AI tools to support shift data analysis, downtime pattern review, SOP updates, and reporting.