For those who have an interest in becoming a plant manager, there are many opportunities in the fields of Environmental, Safety, and Occupational Health Management to explore this career opportunity. It’s essential that you understand what the job entails before making a firm decision, though. Therefore, we’re going to look at the job description, as well as how to become a plant manager and the expected salary of a plant manager.
Expected Job Duties for a Plant Manager
The people who must organize and watch over the daily operations of a manufacturing plant, as well as similar organizations, are plant managers. It’s their responsibility to oversee efficiency and production, the employees, and to ensure the plant consistently runs efficiently, quickly, safely, and smoothly.
Under some circumstances, the plant manager will oversee entire locations. However, it isn’t uncommon for them to also monitor individual sections of the operation. To maintain optimal operation, plant managers will assign workers, create work schedules, develop production schedules, and hire and train new staff.
They’ll also collect and analyze new data to determine where waste could be occurring or where improvement could occur. The plant manager is also responsible for keeping an eye on plant and worker safety, monitoring the production equipment to ensure it remains in optimal working order, and repair or replace equipment as it becomes necessary.
The last line of defense is the plant manager regarding quality control each time manufactured items leave the plant. They maintain constant communication with other departments or sections of the plant to ensure all operations are running smoothly.
How Much Money Can a Plant Manager Make?
The latest statistics are from 2017 from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), and they report that a plant manager salary is, on average, $48.36 hourly. That equates to $100,580 annually.
How to Become a Plant Manager
Those six figures sound pretty good, right? Now that you’re interested, here is how to become a plant manager. Generally, plant managers must have a Bachelor’s degree in business administration or industrial engineering , or a degree closely related. However, if plant workers have several years of experience, they have the opportunity to take management classes so they can be promoted to plant manager. If you’re looking at a larger plant, you may discover that they require their incoming staff members to have an advanced degree in higher education. More specifically, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree is often the prerequisite.
It isn’t uncommon for plant managers to spend months with the company training following their hire date. The purpose of this is, so they understand the inner workings and processes of the plant. Though it’s not a requirement, certifications are available for this industry.
Finally, Ask Yourself: Do You Think Like a Manager?
When you become a plant manager, you must have optimal interpersonal skill. What this means is you must be able to speak with senior management, employees, and other department managers. You’ll also be tapping into your leadership skills because it’s your responsibility to keep employees motivated. Your problem-solving skills must be sharp because, while on the plant floor, you’ll be required to assess situations and devise a solution quickly. It’s also necessary that you have optimal time management skills because you’ll be facing tight production-line deadlines, shipping dates, and other time constraints.
Check out our other resource on High Paying jobs within Occupational Health and Safety Industries:
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