Kurtzon Lighting
Production Manager
Chicago, Ilinois
The Production Manager is responsible for executing daily and weekly production activities across multiple assembly lines. This role owns current-week execution, manual task sequencing, labor allocation, and early identification of at-risk orders to ensure customer orders ship on time, safely, and in accordance with quality standards. The Production Manager does not commit customer ship dates, but works within an established production plan to deliver orders as promised.
This is a highly hands-on leadership role. During the first several months, the Production Manager is expected to spend a significant amount of time on the production floor learning products, workflows, and constraints while actively supporting order completion and resolving issues in real time. Over time, the role will evolve toward increased front-end scheduling, coordination, and development of improved process structure, while continuing to provide direct leadership to production personnel and drive improvements in productivity, quality, and throughput.
PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
At-Risk Order Identification & Communication
- Proactively identify orders at risk of missing the committed ship date within the current production week.
- Communicate potential risks as early as possible to Sales and Customer Service to understand order context, customer expectations, and available options.
- Collaborate cross-functionally to evaluate mitigation strategies such as partial shipments, overtime, resequencing work, or expediting missing components.
- Maintain transparency on production constraints, bottlenecks, and recovery plans to support informed decision-making.
Production Planning & Scheduling
- Develop, maintain, and execute daily and weekly manual production schedules across multiple assembly lines.
- Allocate labor and resources based on order priority, capacity, run rates, and material availability.
- Adjust schedules in real time to address changing priorities, labor constraints, quality issues, or material shortages.
- Ensure weekly production schedules are completed, and monthly shipment targets are met.
Assembly & Operations Management
- Oversee day-to-day assembly operations across three production lines to ensure work is performed safely, efficiently, and in accordance with quality standards.
- Spend significant time on the production floor providing hands-on leadership, troubleshooting issues, and supporting employees in meeting daily production goals.
- Identify production bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and quality concerns; implement corrective actions and escalate systemic issues as needed.
- Obtain, maintain, and analyze run rates for baseline reporting and continuous improvement.
- Minimize downtime, indirect labor hours, and rework.
- Oversee day-to-day assembly operations to ensure work is performed safely, efficiently, and in accordance with quality standards.
- Identify production bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and quality concerns; implement corrective actions.
- Obtain, maintain, and analyze run rates for baseline reporting and continuous improvement.
- Minimize downtime, indirect labor hours, and rework.
Leadership & Personnel Management
- Directly supervise fewer than 20 production and assembly employees.
- Foster employee growth through hands-on coaching, informal feedback, and formal performance reviews.
- Leverage veteran employees as informal leaders and contributors to decision-making, with an eye toward developing future production or line lead roles.
- Organize and distribute work instructions and workflows to production staff.
- Review employee performance, productivity, and efficiency; identify training and development needs.
- Maintain awareness of employee skill sets and cross-training levels to support effective labor allocation.
- Issue corrective actions when necessary and uphold accountability standards.
- Approve production personnel PTO requests and coordinate coverage to maintain production commitments.
- Supervise, motivate, and support production and assembly personnel.
- Organize and distribute work instructions and workflows to production staff.
- Review employee performance, productivity, and efficiency; identify training and development needs.
- Provide hands-on guidance and problem-solving support on the production floor as needed.
Cross-Functional Coordination
- Liaise with Engineering, Purchasing, Inventory, and Quality to ensure materials, documentation, and resources are available to support the production schedule.
- Communicate production status, risks, and constraints to upper management.
- Support implementation of lean manufacturing concepts and continuous improvement initiatives.
Quality, Safety & Compliance
- Ensure all products are produced in compliance with Kurtzon quality standards.
- Promote and enforce a safe, clean, and organized work environment.
- Support quality investigations and corrective actions related to production issues.
Additional Responsibilities
- Perform other related duties as assigned by management.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Two to five years of experience in a production, manufacturing, or assembly leadership role.
- Demonstrated experience with manual production scheduling and labor planning.
- Working knowledge of manufacturing processes, assembly operations, and production workflows.
- Strong organizational and problem-solving skills.
- Proficiency with MRP/ERP systems and Microsoft Office Suite.
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision while managing shifting priorities.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
COMPETENCIES
- Quality: Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; monitors work to ensure quality standards are met; actively seeks improvements.
- Productivity: Meets production targets; effectively balances speed and accuracy; continuously seeks efficiency gains.
- Dependability: Follows through on commitments; adapts to changing production demands; supports extended hours when required.
- Leadership: Provides clear direction; supports team development; maintains a positive and accountable work environment.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT
- Frequently required to stand and walk on the production floor.
- Frequently required to supervise overtime or off-shift work.
- Continual use of visual acuity to read technical information, production schedules, and computer screens.
- Occasionally required to lift, push, or carry items up to 50 pounds.
- Occasional exposure to moving mechanical parts and varying environmental conditions.
Apply today by sending your resume to [email protected]