biofuels production manager

*Position Summary*

The Production Manager owns the staffing, performance management and procedural functions of the production department. This role is accountable for workforce staffing, performance management and discipline. This role also is responsible for the development and continuous improvement of production procedures. This is a hands-on leadership position that requires a balanced presence between the production floor and the office. The Production Manager is expected to spend significant time on the shop floor working directly with Production Supervisor(s), Leads and Production teams, while also fulfilling the administrative responsibilities of the role, including planning, scheduling, reporting, documentation and performance management.

*Role Progression*

This role is hired at the Production Manager level but will begin by performing the Production Supervisor function. The first phase is focused on gaining hands-on floor experience, working directly with production workers, learning the product, how it is built, learning scheduling and building relationships with the team. It is estimated to be a 9- to 12-month phase and once Merik Canada is satisfied with knowledge and performance in this phase, the employee will move into full Production Manager responsibilities as described in this job description. The Production Manager will then hire a Production Supervisor to backfill the role and the Production Manager will take on the full Production Manager role and responsibilities.

*Key Responsibilities*

_*1. Staffing & Workforce Management*_

• Own the end-to-end staffing lifecycle for the production workforce, forecasting labor needs and leading recruiting, interviewing and hiring of production personnel in partnership with Human Resources.
• Manage headcount planning and shift coverage across production teams, ensuring the department is adequately and appropriately staffed.
• Ensure new hires are properly onboarded and integrated into their work cells.

_*2. Performance Management & Discipline*_

• Own the performance management process for the production workforce, including coaching, progressive discipline and Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs).
• Lead discipline decisions, workplace investigations and terminations in partnership with Human Resources, ensuring consistency and compliance with company policy and applicable employment standards legislation.
• Conduct and oversee performance reviews for the production workforce.
• Track attendance, conduct / performance issues, ensuring they are documented and addressed in a timely, consistent manner.

_*3. Production Oversight & Team Leadership*_

• Collaborate with Supervisor(s) to provide daily direction, coaching and support to production leads and teams.
• Ensure work is assigned effectively, materials are staged ahead of need and work cells are continuously fed with raw materials to meet the production schedule.
• Review production output, schedule attainment and labor efficiency, identifying and resolving operational barriers.
• Act as a point of escalation for day-to-day production issues.

_*4. Procedures & Continuous Improvement*_

• Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and work instructions for existing production processes in conjunction with Engineering.
• Review existing procedures against industry best practices and provide recommendations for improvements to quality, safety, throughput and cost.
• Translate process improvement and lean manufacturing initiatives into standard work at the production floor level.
• Ensure production staff are trained on new or updated procedures and that documentation is kept current and accessible.

_*5. Safety, ?uality & Compliance*_

• Promote and reinforce a strong safety culture on the production floor, ensuring safety standards are upheld, training is completed and incidents are reported promptly.
• Generate and maintain safety procedures for the production floor and enforce compliance with established