General Manager

Position Summary
The General Manager is responsible for the overall leadership, management, and performance of the metal fabrication company. This individual will oversee daily operations across production, engineering, scheduling, quality, maintenance,
purchasing, inventory, shipping, and personnel management.
The General Manager will ensure that all departments work together efficiently to produce high-quality fabricated metal components while meeting customer expectations, delivery schedules, safety standards, and company financial goals.
The ideal candidate is a hands-on, results-driven leader with strong manufacturing experience, a solid understanding of metal fabrication processes, and the ability to develop employees, improve production efficiency, control costs, and drive profitable
growth.
Key Responsibilities
1. Overall Operations Management
• Oversee all daily manufacturing and business operations.
• Coordinate production activities involving plate lasers, tube lasers, press brakes, rod bending equipment, welding, and related
fabrication processes.
• Establish priorities and ensure production schedules align with customer demand and available capacity.
• Monitor workflow from order entry and material purchasing through fabrication, inspection, and shipment.
• Identify production bottlenecks and implement solutions to improve throughput and reduce lead times.
• Ensure departments communicate effectively and work toward common company objectives.
• Establish clear expectations, accountability, and performance standards for department managers and employees.
2. Production Planning and Scheduling
• Oversee production planning, job scheduling, labor allocation, and machine utilization.
• Ensure jobs are released to production with the necessary materials, drawings, programs, tooling, and work instructions.
• Monitor work-in-process inventory and ensure jobs move efficiently through each manufacturing stage.
• Coordinate laser cutting, forming, bending, welding, and finishing operations to maximize workflow efficiency.
• Review capacity constraints and make adjustments to labor, shifts, equipment, and schedules as needed.
• Work with sales and customer service to establish realistic delivery dates and communicate schedule changes.
• Reduce setup times, excessive material handling, rework, downtime, and production delays.
3. Financial Performance and Cost Control
• Take responsibility for the company's operating performance and profitability.
• Develop, manage, and monitor operating budgets.
• Review job costs, labor hours, material usage, scrap, overtime, and manufacturing expenses.

• Monitor gross profit margins, operating expenses, and overall financial results.
• Work with estimating and sales to ensure jobs are priced appropriately and meet margin expectations.
• Identify opportunities to reduce costs without compromising safety, quality, or customer service.
• Review financial and production reports regularly and take corrective action when performance falls short of goals.
• Support capital investment decisions involving machinery, tooling, software, and facility improvements.
4. Employee Leadership and Development
• Lead, coach, and develop supervisors, department managers, and production employees.
• Establish measurable goals and performance expectations for each department.
• Ensure adequate staffing, training, and cross-training throughout the organization.
• Conduct performance reviews and address performance issues promptly and professionally.
• Build a culture of accountability, teamwork, continuous improvement, and employee engagement.
• Assist with recruiting, hiring, onboarding, retention, and succession planning.
• Develop future leaders and strengthen the company's supervisory team.
• Promote consistent communication between management, office personnel, and shop-floor employees.
5. Quality Management
• Ensure fabricated products meet customer specifications, engineering drawings, and applicable quality requirements.
• Establish and maintain effective quality control and inspection procedures.
• Monitor scrap, rework, customer complaints, and product returns.
• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions to prevent recurring quality issues.
• Ensure welding, cutting, forming, and fabrication processes meet required specifications.
• Coordinate with engineering and production teams to resolve drawing, programming, dimensional, and fabrication problems.
• Promote a culture in which quality is everyone's responsibility.
6. Equipment, Maintenance, and Productivity
• Ensure plate lasers, tube lasers, press brakes, rod bending equipment, welding equipment, and supporting machinery are
properly maintained.
• Establish preventive maintenance schedules and ensure maintenance activities are completed.
• Monitor equipment downtime, utilization, reliability, and operating costs.
• Coordinate machine repairs, service calls, tooling requirements, and equipment upgrades.
• Work with operators and maintenance personnel to identify opportunities to improve machine performance.
• Ensure operators are properly trained in equipment operation and routine maintenance.
• Evaluate new technology, automation, and process improvements that can increase capacity and profitability.
7. Purchasing, Inventory, and Supply Chain
• Oversee purchasing, raw material availability, inventory management, and supplier performance.
• Ensure steel plate, tubing, rod, welding consumables, tooling, and other supplies are available to support production.
• Monitor inventory levels to prevent shortages while avoiding excessive material inventory.
• Develop strong supplier relationships and negotiate pricing, delivery schedules, and service expectations.
• Improve material traceability, inventory accuracy, and scrap management where required.
• Coordinate with production and scheduling to minimize material shortages and expedite costs.
8. Safety and Regulatory Compliance
• Maintain a safe working environment across all manufacturing and office areas.

• Ensure compliance with applicable OSHA requirements and company safety policies.
• Promote safe practices for laser operations, material handling, press brakes, welding, lifting equipment, and compressed
gases.
• Ensure employees receive appropriate safety training and use required personal protective equipment.
• Investigate incidents and near misses and implement corrective actions.
• Maintain clean, organized, and efficient work areas through consistent housekeeping standards.
• Hold supervisors and employees accountable for safe work practices.
9. Customer Satisfaction and Business Growth
• Ensure the company consistently meets customer expectations for quality, delivery, responsiveness, and value.
• Work closely with sales, estimating, engineering, and customer service to support customer requirements.
• Help resolve escalated customer concerns and delivery issues.
• Identify opportunities to increase capacity, improve service, expand capabilities, and grow existing customer relationships.
• Support new customer opportunities and evaluate the operational impact of new business.
• Ensure the company has the processes, people, and equipment necessary to support sustainable growth.
10. Continuous Improvement and Strategic Planning
• Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for manufacturing and business operations.
• Implement lean manufacturing principles, standard work, 5S, and other continuous improvement practices where appropriate.
• Evaluate production processes to reduce waste, improve throughput, and increase labor productivity.
• Lead regular management and production meetings to review performance and resolve problems.
• Develop short-term and long-term operational improvement plans.
• Work with the owner or president to establish company goals, capital plans, staffing requirements, and growth strategies.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
The General Manager will be accountable for measurable performance in areas including:
• On-time delivery: Percentage of customer orders shipped on schedule.
• Profitability: Gross margin, operating profit, and performance against budget.
• Production efficiency: Labor productivity, machine utilization, and throughput.
• Quality: Scrap rates, rework hours, defects, and customer complaints.
• Schedule performance: Production schedule attainment and work-in-process levels.
• Cost control: Material usage, overtime, labor costs, and operating expenses.
• Equipment reliability: Machine downtime and preventive maintenance completion.
• Safety: Incident rates, training completion, and corrective action follow-through.
• Employee performance: Retention, absenteeism, training, and productivity.
• Customer satisfaction: Delivery performance, responsiveness, and repeat business.
Qualifications and Experience
• Five or more years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing, metal fabrication, or a related industrial environment; greater experience preferred.
• Demonstrated success managing production teams, supervisors, and multiple manufacturing departments.
• Strong understanding of metal fabrication processes, including laser cutting, tube cutting, press brake forming, rod bending, and welding.
• Experience with production scheduling, capacity planning, labor management, and workflow optimization.

• Ability to understand manufacturing drawings, tolerances, material specifications, and fabrication requirements.
• Strong financial and business skills, including budgeting, cost control, job costing, and profitability analysis.
• Experience with ERP or manufacturing management systems and production reporting.
• Proven ability to develop employees, improve processes, and hold teams accountable.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, organizational, and decision-making skills.
• Working knowledge of workplace safety requirements and manufacturing quality systems.
Preferred Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Engineering, Business Management, or a related field; equivalent practical experience will be considered.
• Experience in a custom, contract, or job-shop metal fabrication environment.
• Experience with lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, and process optimization.
• Familiarity with CAD/CAM software, CNC programming workflows, and manufacturing ERP systems.
• Experience managing capital expenditures, equipment investments, and facility improvements.
• Experience working directly with company owners and contributing to strategic business decisions.
Leadership Expectations
The General Manager is expected to be a visible, engaged leader who spends time on the production floor as well as managing the broader business. This individual must be comfortable making decisions, solving problems, coaching
employees, managing costs, and balancing customer needs with production capacity.
The successful candidate will take ownership of results, establish clear accountability throughout the organization, communicate effectively, and create a culture focused on safety, quality, productivity, customer service, and profitability.
Measures of Success
Within the first 6–12 months, the General Manager should demonstrate measurable progress in:
• Improving on-time delivery and production scheduling.
• Increasing labor and equipment productivity.
• Reducing scrap, rework, overtime, and avoidable operating expenses.
• Improving communication and accountability between departments.
• Establishing consistent production reporting and KPI reviews.
• Strengthening employee development and supervisory effectiveness.
• Improving overall profitability and customer satisfaction.
Position Objective
To lead the company as a well-organized, efficient, safe, and profitable metal fabrication operation while building a strong team
and positioning the business for long-term growth.