Position Summary
The Director of Operations – Industrial Business is responsible for the strategic leadership, operational performance, and continuous improvement of Shakespeare Company’s Industrial Business, including the manufacturing operations for conductive fibers, polymers, and performance monofilaments. This role provides overall direction for a business with approximately $50 million in annual revenue and is accountable for delivering strong performance in safety, quality, service, productivity, cost, inventory, and operational reliability. This role is designed as the senior operations leader for the Industrial Business and is broader in scope than the current job description, which is focused on polymers and filaments manufacturing operations and emphasizes direct production execution responsibilities.
This position directly leads the department managers responsible for each of the three industrial product lines and provides indirect leadership across manufacturing, maintenance, engineering, quality, planning, and EH&S. The Director of Operations will be expected to build a disciplined, accountable operating culture; develop leadership capability within the organization; and implement scalable processes and management systems that support growth, margin expansion, and operational excellence. This expands the current role structure, which references broader production leadership but does not fully define the leadership-of-leaders model needed for the new organization.
The successful candidate will combine strong technical credibility with strategic business leadership, bringing deep experience in chemical, polymer, fiber, extrusion, or other continuous manufacturing environments. The role requires a leader who can partner effectively with senior leadership in a private-equity-backed business environment to improve EBITDA performance through yield improvement, labor productivity, waste reduction, asset utilization, inventory control, and capital deployment. The current version appropriately emphasizes safety, productivity, cost, and continuous improvement, but this revised version elevates the role to reflect fuller business accountability.
Key Responsibilities
1) Leadership and Organizational Accountability
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Lead the operations of Shakespeare’s Industrial Business, including conductive fibers, polymers, and performance monofilaments, through direct management of the department managers responsible for each product line.
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Build and sustain a high-accountability culture focused on safety, quality, execution, talent development, and operational discipline.
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Coach, mentor, and develop the operations leadership team to strengthen succession depth, improve organizational capability, and drive consistent performance across all product lines.
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Establish clear expectations, standard work, and performance management routines for department managers and their teams.
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Partner closely with Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Finance, and EH&S to ensure cross-functional alignment and execution.
2) Safety, Quality, and Operational Excellence
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Champion a culture where safety is the first priority and every employee is expected to go home in the same condition they arrived.
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Ensure compliance with all safety, environmental, quality, and regulatory requirements applicable to industrial manufacturing operations.
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Drive rapid response and root cause analysis for safety incidents, process upsets, customer complaints, product defects, downtime events, and operational losses.
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Lead continuous improvement efforts using Lean manufacturing, visual management, standard work, tiered accountability, problem solving, and waste elimination.
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Improve process stability and product consistency across polymer processing, conductive fiber manufacturing, and monofilament extrusion operations.
3) Business Performance and Financial Accountability
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Own operational performance for the Industrial Business with accountability for throughput, labor productivity, OEE, material yield, scrap, conversion cost, inventory accuracy, on-time delivery, and overhead spending.
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Drive initiatives that improve EBITDA, gross margin, and working capital performance through disciplined execution and data-based decision making.
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Partner with Finance to develop and manage budgets, forecasts, labor planning, cost reduction initiatives, and capital project justifications.
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Evaluate performance trends and lead corrective actions to improve service, reduce waste, and lower total manufacturing cost.
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Use KPIs and operating reviews to ensure the business consistently meets or exceeds performance expectations.
4) Production Planning, Inventory, and Supply Chain Coordination
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Coordinate with Supply Chain and Planning to align production schedules with customer demand, inventory targets, staffing plans, and operational constraints.
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Ensure accurate ERP transactions for raw material usage, work-in-process, finished goods production, scrap reporting, labor reporting, and order closure.
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Drive inventory accuracy and disciplined transaction control across all three industrial product lines.
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Support Sales, Planning, and Customer Service through participation in business reviews, demand planning, and service recovery activities when needed.
5) Asset Reliability, Engineering, and Capital Projects
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Partner with Maintenance and Engineering to improve machine uptime, preventive maintenance effectiveness, process reliability, and equipment capability.
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Lead prioritization and execution of capital projects that improve safety, capacity, quality, labor efficiency, process capability, and cost performance.
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Support project scope development, vendor selection, ROI analysis, implementation planning, startup, and commissioning.
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Ensure that equipment, process improvements, and capital deployment are aligned with the business strategy and long-term operating requirements of the Industrial Business.
Success Measures / Key Performance Indicators
Success in this role will be measured through performance in the following areas:
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Safety performance
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Quality performance and customer complaint reduction
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On-time delivery / service performance
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OEE and asset utilization
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Material yield / scrap reduction
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Labor productivity and labor variance
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Overhead cost control
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Inventory accuracy and working capital performance
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Cost improvement and savings execution
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Leadership development and organizational capability building
Required Qualifications
Education
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Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a closely related technical field is required.
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Chemical Engineering is strongly preferred.
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MBA or other advanced business degree is preferred.
Experience
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10+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience in chemical processing, polymers, fibers, extrusion, plastics, resin processing, monofilament, or other continuous manufacturing environments.
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5+ years of experience leading leaders, including managers, supervisors, or equivalent operational leadership roles.
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Demonstrated success improving safety, quality, productivity, and cost performance in complex manufacturing operations.
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Experience managing across multiple product lines, departments, or value streams is strongly preferred.
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Experience in a private equity-backed, turnaround, transformation, or high-accountability performance environment is preferred.
Preferred Competencies
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Strong technical understanding of chemical or polymer-based manufacturing processes
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Proven ability to lead in a data-driven, KPI-intensive operating environment
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Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and structured problem-solving experience
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Strong financial acumen, including budgets, cost analysis, and capital planning
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Ability to influence across functions and communicate effectively with shop floor teams, peers, and senior leadership
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Strong leadership presence, accountability, decisiveness, and change management capability
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ERP system experience, preferably Epicor
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Strong Microsoft Excel, reporting, and presentation skills
Work Environment / Additional Expectations
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This is a hands-on leadership role in a manufacturing environment and requires regular presence on the production floor.
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The incumbent must be able to shift effectively between strategic planning, daily operational execution, coaching of leaders, and problem resolution.
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The role may require off-hours responsiveness to significant operational, safety, or customer service issues.
General Statement
The above statements describe the general nature and level of responsibilities for this position and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required. Management may assign other relevant business-related duties as necessary. This language is retained from the current job description.
