Guided Search Partners (GSP)
Guided Search Partners is an Executive Search firm built on Trust, Transparency, Specialization, and Long-term Relationships.
We connect high-performing professionals with organizations that value people, performance, and growth, helping leaders find roles where they can make an impact and build meaningful careers.

About the Opportunity
We’re supporting a search for a Manufacturing Manager with an automotive injection molding operation in Texas. This role will lead day-to-day manufacturing execution across three shifts, with responsibility for labor management, production performance, supervisor development, and customer requirements. The focus is on improving operating discipline, changeovers, OEE, downtime, scrap, and overall production execution.

What You’ll Do
You’ll lead manufacturing execution across all shifts and work closely with plant functions to improve performance and protect customer delivery.

Key areas of focus include:

• Lead daily manufacturing execution across three shifts
• Ensure safety, quality, delivery, labor, scrap, and productivity targets are met
• Direct and develop first-, second-, and third-shift production supervisors
• Establish accountability and consistent handoffs across shifts
• Improve escalation and communication across the 24/5 operation
• Plan and manage labor against customer demand and production schedules
• Manage staffing availability and weekend build requirements
• Lead SMED and changeover reduction efforts
• Improve OEE and reduce downtime
• Drive standard work and continuous improvement
• Support scrap reduction and throughput improvement
• Partner with Quality, Materials, Engineering, Maintenance, and the technical Molding Manager
• Respond with urgency when customer requirements are at risk
• Provide visible leadership on the production floor

Who You Are
You are a manufacturing or operations leader with experience in a high-volume automotive environment and responsibility across multiple shifts.

You are comfortable managing labor, developing supervisors, holding teams accountable to KPIs, and staying engaged when production or customer issues require support outside normal first-shift hours.

Preferred Experience & Attributes
• High-volume automotive manufacturing experience
• Multi-shift manufacturing leadership experience
• Strong production leadership and labor management experience
• Experience developing production supervisors
• Strong KPI accountability background
• Injection molding experience strongly preferred
• Understanding of press-based manufacturing operations
• Demonstrated success with SMED and changeover reduction
• OEE improvement experience
• Scrap and downtime reduction experience
• Throughput improvement experience
• Continuous improvement experience
• Comfortable working in a demanding customer environment
• Ability to support off-shift or weekend production needs when required

Why This Role Matters
The plant is adding resources and oversight to stabilize performance, improve operating discipline, and stay ahead of future customer issues. This role will have direct influence over daily execution, labor performance, changeovers, downtime, productivity, and customer delivery.