ABOUT PECO
Process Engineering & Equipment Company (PECO) is a full-service designer, manufacturer, and distributor of engineered industrial fluid equipment used primarily in mission-critical HVAC and industrial applications. Operating from our Grand Rapids, Michigan facility with approximately 40 employees, PECO is recognized for quality engineered systems, fabricated skid packages, pump repair and assembly, and technical excellence across the markets we serve. We are entering a period of focused growth and operational professionalization under new leadership, and we are seeking a Director of Operations to bring structure, discipline, and leadership to our engineering, shop, fabrication, and project execution functions.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Director of Operations & Engineering is a working leadership role with a dual mandate. First, it owns everything downstream of the purchase order — procurement, scheduling, cost control, fabrication, pump repair and assembly, project execution, and engineering — and is accountable for delivering every job on time, on budget, and to spec. Second, it serves as the organization’s internal project management leader for enterprise-wide, transformational initiatives: standing up a project management function, assessing current state, and designing the systems, processes, and procedures — including ERP — required to scale the business. This is a hands-on position: the Director is expected to be on the shop floor, engaged in the work, and leading by example — not managing from a desk. As a full member of the PECO Senior Leadership Team (SLT), the Director also builds the operational systems, metrics, and cross-functional coordination the organization currently lacks. The role directly manages the shop and the engineering team, owns Safety-Quality-Delivery-Cost (SQDC) metric development and adherence, and serves as the critical link between sales, engineering, Krum, and the customer on anything that flows through the shop. Reporting directly to the President, this individual will professionalize PECO’s operations function from the ground up.
POST-PO EXECUTION: PROCUREMENT, SCHEDULING & COST CONTROL
- Own every job from purchase order to completion — take handoff once a quote is won and drive scope, schedule, cost, and quality to on-time, on-budget delivery; escalate issues early.
- Manage procurement of materials, components, and supplies for all active jobs and shop operations; create POs, manage vendors, and negotiate pricing and lead times to hit cost and delivery targets.
- Own job scheduling across the shop — build and maintain a visible, shared schedule that accounts for labor capacity, material availability, and committed delivery dates.
- Control cost on every job — track labor and material against plan, manage change orders, and protect project margin; surface overruns before they compound.
- Maintain appropriate inventory of high-velocity materials, consumables, and critical spares; flag dead stock and support inventory discipline with purchasing and accounting.
- Serve as primary project manager for all active fabrication and service jobs, tracking scope, schedule, cost, and quality against plan.
- Establish a clear procedure and single point of accountability for material ordering — closing the gap where multiple people can order for the same job and items get missed due to inconsistent communication and documentation.
- Track part delivery against the schedule, proactively identifying and following the longest lead-time items on each job; update the schedule as parts and materials arrive or slip, and maintain the job log.
ENGINEERING, SHOP & PRODUCTION LEADERSHIP
- Lead the engineering team as direct reports; ensure fabrication drawings, BOMs, and specifications are complete, accurate, and actionable before work begins, and that engineering output supports shop throughput and delivery commitments.
- Provide working leadership of the shop floor — all fabrication, skid assembly, pump repair and rebuild, and general manufacturing; presence and hands-on engagement are expected.
- Directly manage shop technicians, fabricators, and pump repair staff; set clear expectations, give regular feedback, and hold the team to quality, output, and conduct standards.
- Develop and sustain SQDC metrics (Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost) for the shop; establish baselines, build visual management tools, and drive continuous improvement.
- Champion shop-floor safety — ensure procedures are followed, PPE is used consistently, and incidents or near misses are documented, investigated, and corrected.
- Enforce quality standards for all output — skids, assembled packages, repaired pumps, and delivered equipment; ensure work leaves the shop right the first time.
- Drive process improvement in fabrication, assembly, and pump repair; reduce waste and improve throughput and labor efficiency on both large capital projects and small everyday jobs.
- Evaluate equipment, tooling, and facility needs; develop capital expenditure recommendations with supporting justification for President review.
- Maintain a clean, organized, efficient shop; own 5S or equivalent workplace organization standards and hold the team accountable.
- Review and support the design engineering team’s work in progress — including 3D models, BOMs, and technical selections such as cooling tower or chiller sizing — to confirm accuracy before release to procurement and fabrication.
- Conduct a daily shop walkthrough to check progress and confirm work is being built as designed.
- Look for opportunities to train and develop engineering staff as job-specific examples arise; manage CAD software licensing and other tools needed to support the team.
ENTERPRISE & TRANSFORMATIONAL PROJECT LEADERSHIP
- Stand up the project management function — establish the standards, tools, and cadence for how projects are scoped, tracked, and closed across the business, from day-to-day jobs to multi-quarter initiatives.
- Assess current state — map existing systems, processes, and workflows across operations, engineering, purchasing, and administration; identify gaps, bottlenecks, and the highest-leverage opportunities to improve.
- Serve as project manager and liaison for enterprise-wide transformational initiatives — own scope, schedule, budget, stakeholders, and change management on large cross-functional programs that reshape how the company operates.
- Lead ERP development and rollout — act as internal owner and liaison for evaluating, selecting, configuring, and implementing ERP and related business systems; coordinate vendors, users, and leadership through the transition.
- Design systems, processes, and procedures to scale — build the repeatable, documented ways of working the organization needs to grow, and drive adoption across teams.
- Benchmark performance against internal baselines and external standards; use the data to prioritize initiatives and measure whether transformational work delivers the intended results.
CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COORDINATION & LEADERSHIP TEAM
- Own the quote-won-to-job-complete handoff between sales, engineering, the shop, and Krum; ensure information flows accurately and on time across all functions.
- Coordinate with sales on timelines, delivery commitments, and scope changes; communicate lead-time or capacity constraints before they become customer problems.
- Interface directly with customers as needed — project status, site coordination, startup support, and technical questions on delivered equipment.
- Coordinate with the Krum General Manager on jobs, repairs, and service work that cross between locations; manage shared resources and capacity without conflict.
- Serve as a full member of the PECO Senior Leadership Team; contribute operational insight and honest assessment to strategic discussions and company-wide performance reviews.
- Report SQDC performance, schedule status, and improvement progress to the President on a regular cadence; use data, not anecdote, to drive decisions.
- Close the loop on quoting accuracy — provide real labor-hour estimates, material cost inputs, and lead-time guidance to sales and engineering before quotes go out, and feed actuals back post-job to improve future estimates.
- Maintain broad awareness of what’s happening across the business, even outside operations and engineering; scan for items slipping through the cracks and step in where appropriate.
- Serve as an informal sounding board for sales and leadership on project approach and ideas as they develop.
QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years in manufacturing operations, fabrication, or shop leadership; direct experience managing production employees in a hands-on environment required.
- Experience leading or closely managing an engineering or technical team, including ownership of drawings, BOMs, and specifications.
- Demonstrated experience with SQDC or equivalent lean/continuous improvement frameworks; ability to build metrics from scratch where none exist.
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration, supply chain, engineering, or applied sciences preferred.
- Experience scheduling production or service jobs across multiple concurrent projects; familiarity with capacity planning, labor loading, and delivery management.
- Technical aptitude in at least one of: pump systems, fluid handling equipment, HVAC/mechanical systems, or custom fabrication and assembly; willingness to learn across all of PECO’s product lines.
- Project management experience, formal or practical — tracking scope, schedule, cost, and quality simultaneously across multiple active jobs.
- Experience leading cross-functional or enterprise-wide improvement projects, and/or participation in an ERP selection or implementation; ability to assess current state and design scalable systems, processes, and procedures (PMP or similar a plus).
- Procurement experience, including vendor management, PO creation, and basic negotiation of pricing and lead times.
- Proficiency in business and production tools (ERP/order systems, Microsoft Office, scheduling tools); Sage 100 or similar ERP a plus.
DESIRED ATTRIBUTES
- A working leader — earns credibility on the floor by doing the work alongside the team, not just directing from above.
- A builder — energized by creating structure, measurement, and process where little exists; motivated by ambiguity rather than frustrated by it.
- Highly organized — manages multiple concurrent jobs without dropping the ball and holds others to commitments while modeling the same discipline.
- Strong cross-functional communicator — translates shop and engineering realities into language sales and leadership can act on, and vice versa.
- Comfortable in a trades-heavy environment — connects with fabricators, technicians, engineers, and shop staff while operating effectively at the leadership table.
Pay: $125,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
