plant manager

Plant Management Jobs:

The Specific Responsibilities

of Plant Managers

A plant manager job is for people who have direct responsibility in the overall operations of the plant.  Among his responsibilities include managing the plant finances, the employees, and the manufacturing processes of the plant.

Plant manager jobs differ by scope of duties and responsibilities, from simply managing the plant employees to receiving ordered materials and supplies to shipping finished products to customers.  He usually performs in the capacity of a supervisor:  supervising the manufacturing process or supervising a team of production employees.

Plant Manager Responsibilities

Financial

The financial responsibilities involved in plant management jobs include preparation and maintaining the plant financial budget.  The plant manager usually works with various departments of the company such as Procurement and  Sales, as well as the higher financial executives to discuss the present and future financial status of the organization, and resolve issues, if any.

Employee Management

The plant manager is responsible for overseeing, training, hiring, and reviewing the performances of employees working under him.  The need of employees to get trained are determined, then coaching and mentoring are made so that workers can meet their performance targets.  He may also determine the salaries of all plant workers, and make decisions about eliminating current positions, or creating new ones if necessary.

Production

The plant manager has the responsibility to ensure that the plant meets all production goals by seeing to it that capital and staff resources are maintained.  This responsibility encompasses equipment purchase, maintenance and repair and quality assurance practices. Also included in the production responsibilities is price negotiation and delivery of parts and materials that are required for production.  The manager also creates and implements policies and procedures to ensure the smooth operations and the safety of all workers of the plant.

Inventory management is under the production responsibilities of a plant manager.  He knows that a system must be in place to monitor the inventory, so that before it becomes completely depleted, an order can be issued for replenishment.  He also knows that when a shipment is delayed, it may affect the entire plant operation. 

When the ordered materials and supplies arrive at the factory, the plant manager may supervise the logging of inventory, or he may do it himself.  He will coordinate the truck delivery, order the unloading of trailers, and ask a subordinate to sign receipts.  Shipping out a product to a customer requires more tasks because it may require putting the products into wooden crates or special cartons, labeling, and loading the items into a delivery van.  If the goods are for delivery abroad, the plant manager needs to contact and hire the services of an international forwarder.

On all the above responsibilities, the plant manager is expected to make a report to the upper management as required. He may also be assigned other tasks that are relative to his current position.

Qualification Requirements

Although the skills and knowledge required may vary from one organization to another, most employers prefer that the applicant has a bachelor’s degree in management, business, or a CET (Certified Engineering Technology).  Candidates for a plant management job who have been certified by the Association for Operations Management have a higher chance of getting employed.

A plant manager job is for people who have direct responsibility in the overall operations of the plant.  The financial responsibilities involved in plant management jobs include preparation and maintaining the plant financial budget.