Key Responsibilities

1. Business Unit Ownership

• Own the full P&L of the fabrication operation — output, efficiency, quality, cost, and safety.

• Set and hold the production cadence across blanking, bending, welding, and finishing operations.

• Serve as the primary operations leader for the fabrication team; build a culture of accountability and forward planning.

• Partner with COO and the broader leadership team as a peer contributor to company-wide operating rhythm.

2. First 60 Days: Assessment & Infrastructure Buildout

The GM will be expected to hit the ground quickly. Within 60 days of start:

• **Establish, in close collaboration with Production Planner, COO direct repor), a reliable connection between product demand signals and fabrication capacity. Identify gaps, constraints, and sequencing risks.

  **Demand-to-capacity linkage:

• **Assess current bending setup and welding capability against production needs. Implement a structured skills development roadmap to close critical gaps.

  **Technical skills development roadmap:

• **Stand up production plan execution metrics — daily, weekly, and monthly cadence. Establish visibility into on-time completion, throughput, scrap/rework, and capacity utilization.

  **KPI infrastructure:

• **Deliver a concise assessment of the current state, the priority improvement actions, and the resource or support needs required to execute.

  **60-day findings brief:

3. Production Planning & SIOP Integration

• Translate the Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning (SIOP) output into a workable fabrication production schedule.

• Maintain accurate capacity data so planning assumptions reflect reality.

• Flag demand risk and capacity constraints proactively — before they become ship-date misses.

4. Technical Excellence & Workforce Development

• Own the technical standard for all fabrication processes: blanking, bending (press brake setup), welding (spot, TIG, and laser), and finishing.

• Develop and implement structured training and certification pathways, with emphasis on bending setup and welding as the current priority areas.

• Drive consistency through standard work documentation, setup sheets, and operator qualification records.

• Amada equipment proficiency is a significant asset; experience programming and maintaining Amada press brakes and/or laser systems is strongly preferred.

5. Continuous Improvement

• Install a CI cadence — visual management, daily huddles, 5S discipline, and a structured mechanism for surfacing and solving problems at the floor level.

• Shift the team’s operating posture from reactive to proactive: anticipate needs, plan for constraints, and get ahead of failure modes.

• Identify capital and process investments that improve throughput, quality, and margin; build the business case and present to COO.

6. Quality & Safety

• Own fabrication quality outcomes: first-pass yield, scrap rate, rework hours, and escape rate to downstream operations.

• Maintain a safe work environment; target zero recordable incidents and a proactive near-miss reporting culture.

• Ensure compliance with all applicable safety standards and equipment certifications.

Qualifications

Required

• 7+ years of progressive experience in sheet metal fabrication, with at least 3 years in a supervisory or management role.

• Hands-on technical proficiency in blanking, press brake bending (including setup), spot, TIG, and laser welding, and finishing operations.

• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop a fabrication workforce — not just manage it.

• Experience implementing or improving production planning processes and KPI measurement systems.

• Strong problem-solving discipline; comfortable with structured root-cause analysis (5-Why, fishbone, or equivalent).

• Ability to operate comfortably across both the shop floor and the leadership table.

Preferred / Strong Plus

• Amada equipment experience — press brakes, punch/laser, or automation; programming experience a significant differentiator.

• Experience in a low-to-mid volume, high-mix fabrication environment serving industrial OEM or fire/life safety customers.

• Familiarity with ERP-driven production planning (experience with Epicor Kinetic is a plus).

• Exposure to EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) operating model.

• Experience with Lean manufacturing tools — 5S, standard work, SMED, visual management.

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Technology, or related field; or equivalent combination of technical training and experience.

What Success Looks Like

In the first 60 days, the GM has completed a structured operational assessment, established the demand-to-capacity linkage with Production Planner, launched a skills development roadmap for bending setup and welding, and stood up a KPI dashboard that gives the COO and leadership team clear weekly visibility into fabrication performance.

By the end of the first year, fabrication is running as a disciplined business unit: production plan adherence is consistently above target, the workforce is developing measurable technical skills, scrap and rework are trending down, and the GM is contributing forward-looking capacity and improvement proposals to the company’s SIOP and annual planning process.

The longer-term measure: the fabrication operation is a competitive advantage — a reason customers choose us, not a constraint on what we can promise.

You should be proficient in:

• Welding Setups for Production
• Blueprint Reading

Machines & technologies you'll use:

• TIG Welder
• Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
• 3D Modeling (AutoCAD, Solidworks)
• 2D Drawings (AutoCAD, Solidworks)
• Press Brake (Amada)
• Robotic Welder
• CAD Software (AutoCAD, Solidworks)
• Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) (Fanuc)