Chief Operating Officer – Operations Leader

About the role

The Chief Operating Officer will lead the scaling and stabilization of operations, reporting directly to the CEO. This hands‑on executive will bridge sales and production, improve throughput, and ensure profitable, on‑time delivery.

Key responsibilities

• Conduct a comprehensive operational diagnostic across stamping, secondary operations, material flow, changeovers, scheduling, maintenance, and supply chain within the first 90 days.
• Establish baseline metrics (OEE, press speed, downtime, quality yield, throughput) and implement plant‑wide KPI dashboards.
• Define forward‑looking production targets aligned with commercial growth, including machine‑level throughput and labor staffing models.
• Develop capacity plans and capital‑expenditure roadmaps tied to ROI and throughput impact.
• Execute targeted improvement initiatives to close performance gaps, increase press speeds, enhance changeover discipline, and strengthen preventive and predictive maintenance.
• Improve quality performance through disciplined root‑cause analysis and PPM reduction.

Required profile

• Executive‑level leader with extensive hands‑on shop‑floor experience.
• Proven ability to diagnose constraints, professionalize scheduling and capacity planning, and drive measurable performance improvements.
• Experience managing production in a union environment and aligning cross‑functional teams.
• Board‑level visibility and strong partnership skills with CEOs and plant leadership.

Required skills