Company Description:
Founded in Cleveland in 1944, WLS specializes in short and medium run metal stamping, fabrication and laser cutting to service a wide variety of industries.
Position Summary:
The Controller – Operations & Systems is responsible for driving measurable improvements in labor productivity, costing accuracy, inventory control, and data integrity across manufacturing operations. This is not a traditional accounting role. This position owns the connection between shop floor performance, financial results, and system data.
Core Mandate
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Own the truth: reconcile ERP data to actual shop floor performance
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Eliminate inefficiencies: drive earned vs paid labor accountability
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Fix costing: align quoted, standard, and actual performance
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Build systems: automate reporting and eliminate manual processes
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Drive action: lead and drive corrective action across departments
Key Responsibilities
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Labor & Throughput Control
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Own weekly earned vs paid labor reporting
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Identify and eliminate top labor losses
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Challenge run rates vs standards
Costing Discipline
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Maintain and continuously correct standard costing
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Build feedback loop from actual performance to quoting
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Quantify and reduce margin erosion
Systems & Automation
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Lead implementation of modern finance and reporting systems
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Automate recurring reporting and analytics
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Build dashboards linking operational and financial performance
Data & AI Utilization
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Use AI daily to accelerate analysis and identify anomalies
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Automate data reconciliation and reporting workflows
Inventory & Data Integrity
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Own inventory accuracy and cycle count processes
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Reconcile ERP data to shop floor reality
Qualifications
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7–15+ years in manufacturing finance
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Strong standard costing expertise
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Tech-savvy with modern systems (ERP, analytics, automation)
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Proven ability to drive operational change
