OPERATIONS MANAGER - MANUFACTURING FACILITY

Eastern Surfaces is seeking an experienced, hands-on Operations Manager to lead the day-to-day operations of our countertop manufacturing facility in Allentown, PA.

This is a highly visible leadership role responsible for coordinating the complete production workflow—from scheduling and fabrication through finishing, quality control, shipping, and installation. You will work closely with multiple departments, machine groups, supervisors, and production teams to ensure work is completed safely, accurately, efficiently, cost-effectively, and on schedule.

The ideal candidate is a floor-focused manufacturing leader who enjoys solving problems, developing people, improving processes, and taking ownership of results. You will be expected to identify bottlenecks, eliminate waste, establish accountability, and use data to continuously improve operational performance.

What You'll Do

Production & Workflow

• Direct daily manufacturing operations and coordinate workflow across departments.
• Balance manpower, machine capacity, workload, materials, and customer delivery requirements.
• Identify production bottlenecks and implement corrective actions to maintain workflow.
• Coordinate closely with Sales, Scheduling, Installation, Purchasing, Warehouse, and other departments.
• Establish clear daily and weekly priorities and ensure teams understand expectations.

Process Improvement

• Develop and maintain process maps and standardized work procedures.
• Identify and eliminate waste, including unnecessary movement, waiting time, duplication, quality issues, and inefficient handoffs.
• Evaluate machine, labor, and production capacity to improve overall throughput.
• Lead continuous-improvement initiatives using root-cause analysis, process mapping, standard work, 5S, and other Lean principles.

Quality & Rework Reduction

• Take ownership of reducing remakes, rework, scrap, production errors, and installation-related issues.
• Track problems by department, process, equipment, job type, and root cause.
• Establish measurable improvement goals and implement permanent corrective actions.
• Build processes that prevent errors rather than simply identifying them after production.

Budget & Cost Management

• Assist with the manufacturing operating budget.
• Monitor labor, overtime, material usage, productivity, and operating expenses.
• Identify unfavorable cost variances and implement corrective actions.
• Improve productivity and labor utilization while maintaining quality and customer service.

Leadership & Employee Development

• Lead, coach, and develop supervisors, team leaders, operators, fabricators, and production employees.
• Establish clear expectations for productivity, quality, safety, attendance, teamwork, and accountability.
• Support hiring, onboarding, performance management, training, and cross-training.
• Address employee and operational issues promptly and professionally.

Safety, Quality & Performance

• Promote a strong safety culture and immediately address unsafe conditions.

• Ensure finished countertops meet established company quality standards.

• Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), including:

  • Throughput
  • Labor productivity
  • Machine utilization
  • Schedule adherence
  • Downtime
  • Overtime
  • Scrap
  • Quality
  • Remake and rework rates

• Regularly review performance with department leaders and company management.

• 5+ years of experience in manufacturing, fabrication, construction-related manufacturing, or a similar environment.

• 5+ years of supervisory or management experience preferred.

• Strong leadership, communication, organizational, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

• Experience with production scheduling, ERP/MRP systems, budgets, and operational KPIs.

• Experience with CNC, stone, quartz, granite, solid surface, woodworking, or custom manufacturing is a plus.

• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, 5S, or other process-improvement methodologies is a plus.

• Bachelor's degree in Operations, Manufacturing, Engineering, Business, or a related field preferred; equivalent hands-on experience will be considered.

The Ideal Candidate

• You are a hands-on manufacturing leader who wants to be on the production floor—not sitting behind a desk all day.
• You naturally look for ways to make operations safer, faster, more consistent, and more efficient.
• You are comfortable challenging inefficient processes, using facts and data to make decisions, holding teams accountable, and developing employees.
• You understand that operational excellence isn't just about producing more. It's about balancing efficiency, quality, employee development, safety, and customer satisfaction.

Why This Role Matters

This is an opportunity to have a direct impact on the performance and future growth of the operation. You will have the opportunity to build stronger processes, develop the next generation of production leaders, improve efficiency, reduce waste, and create a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

If you are an experienced manufacturing leader who enjoys solving real problems, developing people, and making things work better, we want to hear from you.