Overview
Position Summary
We are seeking an experienced Job Shop Manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of our machine shop. This position is responsible for managing personnel, production scheduling, workflow, quality, safety, and on-time delivery while maintaining productivity and profitability.
The ideal candidate has strong hands-on machining and manufacturing experience and understands the demands of a job-shop environment, including short-run and custom work, changing priorities, tight tolerances, expedited jobs, and demanding customer delivery requirements.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage daily machine shop operations and overall production workflow.
- Supervise machinists, CNC operators, manual machinists, helpers, and other shop personnel.
- Review incoming jobs, drawings, specifications, tolerances, and customer requirements.
- Plan and prioritize work based on delivery dates, machine availability, material availability, and manpower.
- Assign jobs to appropriate machines and employees based on capabilities and workload.
- Monitor jobs throughout production to ensure they remain on schedule and within estimated hours.
- Coordinate CNC, manual machining, inspection, material handling, outside processing, and other operations as required.
- Work closely with estimating, purchasing, quality, sales, and management.
- Identify production bottlenecks and make adjustments to maintain workflow.
- Manage rush and emergency jobs while minimizing disruption to existing production.
- Ensure employees have the correct drawings, tooling, materials, programs, and information before beginning work.
- Monitor machine utilization, labor efficiency, overtime, scrap, rework, and overall shop productivity.
- Assist with estimating machining hours and determining manufacturing methods when needed.
- Ensure finished parts meet drawing specifications and customer quality requirements.
- Work with Quality Control to address nonconforming parts, corrective actions, and process improvements.
- Maintain a clean, organized, and safe shop environment.
- Enforce company safety policies and proper machine operating procedures.
- Coordinate preventive maintenance and repairs to minimize machine downtime.
- Train, develop, and evaluate shop employees.
- Hold employees accountable for productivity, workmanship, attendance, safety, and company policies.
- Participate in hiring and staffing decisions as production requirements change.
- Provide management with regular updates regarding production status, scheduling concerns, manpower needs, and equipment issues.
- Continuously look for opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce setup and cycle times, decrease scrap, and increase shop profitability.
Qualifications
- Minimum 5 years of machine shop or manufacturing experience preferred.
- Previous supervisory, shop foreman, production manager, or job shop management experience strongly preferred.
- Strong understanding of CNC and manual machining operations.
- Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, GD&T, tolerances, and manufacturing specifications.
- Working knowledge of machining processes, tooling, speeds and feeds, workholding, and inspection methods.
- Experience scheduling multiple jobs across different machines and departments.
- Strong understanding of job costing, estimated versus actual labor hours, and production efficiency.
- Ability to troubleshoot machining and production problems.
- Strong leadership and employee-management skills.
- Ability to make decisions quickly and effectively in a fast-paced job-shop environment.
- Good organizational and communication skills.
- Basic computer skills and experience with ERP/MRP or shop-management software preferred.
Preferred Experience
Experience in oilfield, energy, industrial repair, heavy machining, or custom manufacturing is a plus.
Experience with large-diameter parts, tight-tolerance machining, CNC turning, CNC milling, manual machining, repair work, and short-run/custom production is also preferred.
What We’re Looking For
We are looking for a manager who is comfortable being on the shop floor and involved in production, not someone who manages strictly from an office.
The right candidate should be able to look at the workload, understand what needs to happen next, communicate expectations clearly to employees, solve problems as they arise, and keep jobs moving through the shop.
This position requires someone who can balance quality, delivery, productivity, safety, and profitability while maintaining accountability throughout the shop.
Pay: $85,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
