Plant Manager

The AZEK Company

Location:  Egan, MN

Ultralox Interlocking Technologyis a business unit of The AZEK Company headquartered in Chicago, IL.  Ultralox is committed to providing the highest quality products that offer long-lasting, made to order railing styles. Our beautiful and durable railings are available in both easy to install, convenient kits as well as customized railing systems that will make your projects stand out from the crowd. We are proudly made in the USA and have extensive experience and understanding of the various installation processes. Count on us for quality railing and fencing solutions to withstand the tests of time and the elements.

The AZEK Company (www.azekco.com) is a $1 Billion and growing industry-leading manufacturer of beautiful, low-maintenance, and environmentally sustainable building products, with a focus on decking and outdoor living.   Consistently recognized as the market leader in innovation, quality and aesthetics, products across AZEK’s portfolio are made from up to 100% recycled material and primarily replace wood on the outside of homes, providing a long-lasting, eco-friendly and stylish solution to consumers. We are committed to accelerating the use of recycled material in the manufacturing of our innovative products, keeping millions of pounds of waste out of landfills each year and revolutionizing the industry to create a more sustainable future. In June 2020, we completed a highly successful IPO (NYSE: AZEK).                                                       

Summary of Position:

The Director of Operations leads the safe and cost-effective operations of the Azek Company while maintaining quality and service standards that meet or exceed customer expectations.  Scope of Operations covers the end-to-end supply chain including Sourcing, Receiving, Warehousing, Production, Shipping and support functions such as ES&H, Quality, Engineering, etc.

Responsibility/Duties:

People

• Cultivate a culture of employee engagement and teamwork in accordance with Company Values
• Drive an environment of accountability while maintaining respect for all employees
• Maintain a formal training and development program to facilitate flexibility in production and to foster career pathing
• Maintain a presence on the shop floor and keep open communication with all employees to ensure a constant exchange of ideas, concerns, and information
• Maintain adherence to Azek’s employee policies and procedures including consistent use of progressive discipline when required
• Ensure compliance with all local, state, and federal regulations and company policies

Environment, Safety & Health

• Ensure environmental protection, operational safety and the health and well-being of our employees
• Ensure that ES&H training is delivered to all new employees and refresher sessions are completed at appropriate cycles
• Ensure that all safety policies and procedures are followed.  This includes incident reporting, investigation, root cause analysis, corrective action implementation and follow-up.
• Deliver ‘Green’ improvements and cost savings with support from Azek’s Director of Energy & Sustainability

Quality

• Ensure quality of components, processes and products that meet or exceed customer expectations
• Drive implementation of quality standards and processes according to the Azek Quality Policy
• Ensure successful implementation of corrective actions derived from audits, formal complaints, customer feedback, etc.                                         

Materials / Inventory / Warehouse

• Ensure volume purchases of raw materials or purchased products consider marketplace economics, long range forecasts and production process requirements
• Oversee purchased item prices, terms of sales, traffic routes and development standard operating procedures needed to support efficient work
• Direct or personally conduct vendor negotiations concerning rejected commodities, components, or supplies including disposition and adjustment of purchased items not fulfilling specifications
• Work with central Azek Supply Chain to investigate potential suppliers, interview vendor company representatives, analyze competitive bids and select vendors for placement on the approved supplier list
• Control and manage inventory of raw materials, purchased components and items, and supplies relating to the manufacturing process, manufactured parts and parts sales
• Ensure proper inventory levels and related order points are established and maintained in consideration of procurement lead time, the most economical quantities to minimize investment and storage costs, manufacturing requirements, and customer service requirements
• Direct the auditing of inventory levels, cycle counting procedures, the preparation of related reports, and the maintenance of inventory transaction records
• Work with stakeholders on forecasting inventory requirements to facilitate procurement procedures, raw material and component delivery, and storage space utilization

Production / Finance / Controlling

• Staff to required employee levels based upon demand forecasting and customer orders
• Ensure budget adherence and improve the plant cost structure over time (fixed and variable)
• Oversee production activities and drive improved efficiencies using Lean Manufacturing techniques
• Minimize financial variances related to material, labor and overhead
• Implement strategies to improve inventory turns and health
• Ensure inventory accuracy for all raw material, WIP and finished goods

Product & Process Industrialization / Engineering

• Ensure manufacturability of products within the constraints of safety, quality, quantity, delivery and cost goals
• Supervise, support and control ramp-up and ramp-down projects
• Ensure capable production processes and equipment with respect to standard KPIs such as routing accuracy, process performance rate, overall equipment effectiveness
• Oversee the purchase of equipment, supplies and services for the plant and grounds within capital and expense guidelines

Strategy Development / Change Management

• Derive the plant strategy from higher level Azek strategic targets, to ensure the expectations of the customer and company profitability
• Prepare the plant and its employees to meet high annual growth targets
• Build a continuous improvement culture, leveraging tools as prescribed by Azek’s Lean organization

Performance Measurements:

Metrics include, but are not limited to:

• Safety – TRIR, LTIR
• Product quality levels, backorders, and number of customer complaints
• Plant Productivity – OEE, Labor Efficiency, MUV, etc.
• Plant related variances
• Inventory - $, Days, Turns
• Complete and On Time shipping performance
• Cycle count metrics, Physical Inventory results
• Capital and expense budget performance
• Continuous Improvement metrics such as 6S audit scores

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree in an Engineering, Operations Management or Supply Chain Management
• Minimum of ten years’ experience across multiple aspects of Operations and Supply Chain Mgmt
• Outstanding organizational skills
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to communicate with all levels of the organization
• Able to handle sensitive information with confidentiality
• Demonstrates leadership, problem solving and conflict management skills (horizontal and vertical)
• Demonstrates a professional, team-player attitude toward work and co-workers
• Must be able to embrace/drive change
• Computer literate including proficiency in ERP systems, Microsoft Office programs and Outlook