Assistant Plant Manager

Assistant Plant Manager - Manufacturing Operations

Location: Duncan, South Carolina

Position: Full-Time | On-Site

We are partnering with a growing manufacturing organization to identify an experienced Assistant Plant Manager to support day-to-day operations within a complex, high-volume production environment.

This leadership role serves as the Plant Manager's right hand, helping oversee plant performance, coordinate departmental activities, drive accountability, and ensure operational goals are achieved safely, efficiently, and profitably. The ideal candidate will bring strong manufacturing leadership experience, a hands-on management style, and the ability to influence results across multiple functional areas.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist in the overall management of plant operations, supporting production, maintenance, quality, safety, materials, logistics, scheduling, and continuous improvement activities.
• Partner with department leaders to ensure production targets, delivery commitments, staffing requirements, and quality standards are consistently achieved.
• Monitor plant performance and proactively address operational challenges, including downtime, labor issues, production constraints, material shortages, and quality concerns.
• Support daily production planning and execution to ensure customer requirements are met.
• Drive accountability across departments by ensuring priorities, corrective actions, and improvement initiatives are completed effectively.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and development support to supervisors and managers.
• Promote collaboration and communication across functional teams to improve plant performance.
• Support safety initiatives and help maintain a strong culture focused on workplace safety and compliance.
• Work closely with maintenance teams to improve equipment reliability, preventive maintenance execution, and overall operational efficiency.
• Assist in identifying and implementing continuous improvement opportunities related to productivity, throughput, labor utilization, quality, and waste reduction.
• Participate in root-cause analysis, problem-solving, and process-improvement efforts to drive sustainable performance gains.
• Serve as a key operational leader and provide facility oversight in the Plant Manager's absence.

Preferred Qualifications

• Significant leadership experience within a manufacturing environment.
• Prior experience in an Assistant Plant Manager, Operations Manager, Manufacturing Manager, Production Manager, Value Stream Manager, or similar leadership role.
• Experience managing multiple departments or manufacturing processes simultaneously.
• Strong background in high-volume production operations.
• Experience with assembly, fabrication, finishing, coating, packaging, logistics, maintenance, or related manufacturing processes.
• Knowledge of production scheduling, materials management, quality systems, and equipment reliability programs.
• Proven success leading teams, improving operational performance, and driving accountability.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, 5S, waste reduction, and root-cause problem-solving methodologies.
• Strong communication and leadership skills with the ability to work effectively at all levels of the organization.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Business, or a related field preferred; equivalent manufacturing leadership experience will be considered.

Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate will be a highly visible manufacturing leader who thrives on the plant floor, takes ownership of operational challenges, and executes with urgency. This individual should be comfortable balancing multiple priorities, making sound decisions in a fast-paced environment, and leading cross-functional teams to achieve operational excellence.

This opportunity offers significant leadership responsibility and the ability to make a measurable impact on overall plant performance while partnering closely with senior operations leadership.

Our client is not able to support Visas at this time or in the future. Candidates must be U.S. Citizens or valid permanent residents (Green Card holders).