Plant Manager I

Job Description

Norco is currently seeking an individual to fill our Plant Manager I position. The Plant Manager I is accountable for the overall safe, compliant, reliable, efficient, and financially responsible operation of the production facility. The position establishes facility strategy and operating priorities, develops the leadership team, allocates resources, manages operational and regulatory risk, drives performance, and leads long-term improvement to support production capacity, customer service, and business continuity. Other responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Plant Leadership and Strategy

• Provide overall leadership and direction for the production facility and assigned support functions.
• Establish facility goals, staffing plans, operating priorities, budgets, capital priorities, reliability priorities, and improvement strategies.
• Maintain overall facility accountability for employee safety, product quality, regulatory compliance, customer service, production capacity, equipment reliability, operating cost, inventory control, and business continuity.
  

Leadership Development and Organizational Capability

• Build, direct, and develop the plant leadership team; establish clear accountability for supervisors and managers; assess leadership effectiveness; and maintain succession and development plans for critical facility roles.
• Approve or recommend hiring, promotion, compensation, discipline, and termination decisions within assigned authority.

Operational and Financial Performance

• Review plant performance through KPI’s, safety, quality, production, service, labor, training, inventory, maintenance, downtime, and financial measures.
• Require recovery plans and corrective action when plant or department performance does not meet expectations.
• Plan and request approval for operating expenditures, capital projects, staffing changes, and other resources needed to meet business requirements.
• Balance production capacity, service requirements, operating cost, equipment reliability, inventory, and plant resources when making operating decisions.
• Approve major operating commitments and significant resource decisions within assigned authority.

Safety, Quality, and Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure operations are conducted in accordance with applicable company safety rules, procedures, work instructions, quality requirements, and assigned personal protective equipment requirements.
• Ensure required production and regulated records receive review and approval by properly trained and authorized personnel.
• Lead or oversee significant incidents, root-cause analyses, corrective actions, audit responses, product-quality events, regulatory interactions, service disruptions, and business-continuity responses.
  Cross-Functional Leadership
• Coordinate significant facility matters with Gas Operations, Quality, Safety, Human Resources, Sales, Customer Service, Distribution, Maintenance, Procurement, Finance, Information Technology, and branch leadership.
• Communicate plant risks, performance, operating constraints, resource needs, and significant decisions clearly and promptly to appropriate stakeholders.
• Participate in company planning, leadership meetings, management reviews, emergency response, and special projects.
• Maintain sufficient technical knowledge to evaluate operating risk and make informed management decisions.
• Stay informed of and adhere to company policies and procedures.

Supervision

• Incumbent works under general supervision and exercises substantial independent judgment within established company policies, approved budgets, regulatory requirements, and assigned authority.

Organizational Role

• Manager - plans and assigns work to accomplish facility and departmental goals; responsible for leadership, hiring, employee development, performance management, resource allocation, and operating outcomes for assigned employees and functions.

Qualifications

Required Education and Experience:

• Five years of progressively responsible experience in production, manufacturing, compressed gas, chemical processing, distribution, or a related operational environment.
• Three years of successful experience leading supervisors, departments, or comparable operational workgroups.
• Equivalent combinations of education, training, and relevant experience may be considered.
• Valid driver's license.
• Forklift certification or ability to become certified if required.
• Comprehensive understanding of production leadership, safety management, quality systems, regulatory compliance, operating risk, budgeting, capital planning, and resource allocation.
• Working knowledge of industrial, medical, specialty, and fuel gases; cylinders; production equipment; cylinder maintenance; material handling; loading; and related plant operations.
• Ability to lead managers and supervisors, establish accountability, develop employees, and support succession planning.
• Strong judgment regarding safety, regulatory, legal, operational, customer-service, reputational, and financial risk.
• Excellent organizational, decision-making, root-cause analysis, change-management, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to analyze operational and financial measures and translate findings into effective priorities and corrective actions.
• Ability to communicate concisely with employees, branch personnel, company leadership, customers, contractors, auditors, and regulators.
• Ability to safely handle compressed gas cylinders and use material-handling aids as required.

Preferred Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, physical science, operations management, or a related field.
• Experience in compressed gas production, medical gas production, specialty gas operations, fuel gas operations, cylinder maintenance, or regulated manufacturing.
• Experience with quality assurance, audits, regulated documentation, budgets, capital projects, reliability, and continuous improvement.

Additional information