Powder Coating Operations Manager

Yellowstone Local is proud to represent Western Utility Telecom, an industry leader in utility and telecommunications manufacturing.

If you are ready to own the performance of an industrial finishing operation and lead people, production, customers, and profitability with real accountability, this is your opportunity.

What's in it for You?

• Annual salary of $100,000 to $125,000.

• Full time, exempt position.

• 401(k) with company match and retirement plan.

• Health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Flexible Spending Account (FSA).

• Life insurance.

• Paid time off.

• Parental leave.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

• Lead an established team of approximately seven employees.

• Take ownership of a department spanning sandblasting, liquid paint, and powder coating operations.

• Have meaningful responsibility for production, financial performance, quality, safety, customer service, and continued growth.

• Work in a role where you can make day to day operational decisions within established company policies, budgets, and authority.

• Build your impact beyond production supervision through budgeting, job costing, process improvement, employee development, and customer relationships.

Why You’ll Love It Here

• This is a true operations leadership role where you will be trusted to run the normal day to day business of the department.

• Your decisions directly influence productivity, margins, quality, delivery, employee development, and customer satisfaction.

• You will have the opportunity to improve processes, develop employees, solve operational challenges, and help position the department for continued growth.

• You will move between the production floor and the office, combining hands on manufacturing leadership with business unit management.

• Western Utility Telecom values accountability, teamwork, urgency, continuous improvement, and pride in workmanship.

• You will have the opportunity to recommend operational improvements and capital investments supported by measurable results.

Your New Role

• Lead the Powder Coating Operations department in Salem, OR 97304.

• Direct daily sandblasting, liquid paint, powder coating, surface preparation, inspection, and final release operations.

• Lead and supervise approximately seven employees while establishing production priorities, staffing plans, and work schedules.

• Manage workflow and production scheduling to support customer requirements for quality and delivery.

• Resolve production bottlenecks, equipment issues, material shortages, and capacity constraints.

• Coordinate preventive maintenance and support effective utilization of equipment and facilities.

• Own departmental financial performance, including operating budgets, margins, labor efficiency, overtime, material consumption, throughput, capacity utilization, and rework.

• Review actual job performance against estimates and use the results to improve operations and future pricing decisions.

• Participate in quoting, job costing, pricing, capacity planning, material planning, and technical feasibility decisions.

• Identify opportunities to improve margins, increase productivity, and reduce unnecessary operating costs.

• Develop recommendations for capital investments based on measurable operational or financial returns.

• Set clear expectations for safety, quality, productivity, attendance, teamwork, and professional conduct.

• Coach, train, develop, and hold employees accountable for performance.

• Conduct performance evaluations and address employee performance issues when necessary.

• Support recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, training, cross training, and workforce planning.

• Serve as a key operational contact for industrial coating customers and understand their technical, scheduling, quality, and delivery requirements.

• Respond professionally to customer concerns and lead corrective action for quality or service issues.

• Support opportunities to expand business with existing customers and develop new customers and markets.

• Monitor first pass quality, rework, scrap, customer complaints, safety, and other operational performance measures.

• Identify root causes of recurring production or quality problems and implement effective corrective actions.

• Maintain an organized, professional, and safe industrial operation while ensuring required PPE and established safety procedures are followed.

• Support applicable workplace safety, environmental, hazardous material, and company requirements.

• Develop and improve standard operating procedures while reducing waste, downtime, unnecessary handling, rework, and operating costs.

• Make routine operational decisions involving production priorities, employee assignments, workflow, materials, quality corrective actions, customer scheduling, maintenance priorities, training, and process improvements within established authority.

• Present company leadership with relevant facts, alternatives, and recommended solutions when matters require executive involvement.

• Provide regular operating reviews covering department revenue and margins, budget performance, backlog and forecast, labor and productivity, delivery, quality, safety, staffing, customer issues, risks, and opportunities.

Hiring Expectations: Apply today, complete a quick phone screening, and get ready for an interview with our team to discuss your goals and experience.

• 5 or more years of progressively responsible experience in manufacturing, coatings, industrial finishing, fabrication, or a related industrial environment.

• 3 or more years of supervisory or management experience.

• Working knowledge of powder coating, industrial painting, sandblasting, surface preparation, or comparable industrial finishing processes.

• Experience managing employees in a manufacturing or production environment.

• Experience with operating budgets, job costing, margins, labor efficiency, inventory, and departmental financial performance.

• Strong production planning, production scheduling, workflow management, and organizational skills.

• Demonstrated ability to identify operational problems, make decisions, and implement effective solutions.

• Strong customer service and communication skills.

• Ability to train and develop employees, delegate responsibility, and establish accountability.

• Experience working directly with manufacturing or industrial customers.

• Strong understanding of workplace safety in an industrial manufacturing environment.

• Familiarity with structural steel products and fabrication environments is a plus.

• Proficiency with spreadsheets, email, word processing, and common production and business systems.

• A bachelor's degree in Business, Operations Management, Manufacturing, Engineering, or a related field is desirable. Directly related management and industry experience may substitute for formal education.

• Ability to lead the department as a business unit while balancing employees, customers, production, safety, quality, financial performance, and long term growth.

Western Utility Telecom is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. #orange