General Manager

Ellwood Aluminum is a large diameter aluminum ingot and billet, rectangular aluminum slab, and cast plate manufacturer for customers worldwide. With our dedicated melting and holding furnaces and a casting pit capable of lengths up to 360 inches, our mission is to be a world-class, USA, aluminum supplier and a true partner to our customers through our metallurgical expertise and cutting-edge technology.

Elwood Aluminum is seeking an experienced and motivated General Manager who will direct the Plant operations, including, but not limited to, casting and finishing operations, safety, material procurement, quality and logistics.

This individual will provide strategic leadership for operations with a lean, customer-centric approach, ensuring full compliance with all policies and procedures while driving the organization’s success. The role involves collaboration with internal business units, suppliers, and customers. The ideal candidate is a hands-on, results-driven, and innovative leader committed to continuous improvement. This is an FLSA salaried exempt position reporting to the President of Ellwood Aluminum.

ELLWOOD Aluminum requires all team members to be either U. S. Citizens or provide appropriate unexpired documentation to establish both identity and employment authorization.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

- Lead all aspects of EA, including but not limited to operations, safety, material procurement, quality and logistics.

- Provide strategic and tactical leadership to achieve business goals/objectives to plan.

- Lead, mentor, coach and develop direct reports to be both tactical and strategic thinkers and doers.

- Supports EA’s people strategy and positive employee relations efforts to maintain a union-free status, including but limited to regular communication and consistent enforcement of values, policies, and procedures.

- Maintain ongoing dialog with all team members regarding safety, productivity, performance, company goals, and policies. Champion the company’s mission, values, and policies. Maintain team member engagement.

- Identify operational bottlenecks and cross-functionally implement continuous improvement projects using lean/six sigma methodologies.

- Identify operational priorities by assessing and determining project objectives, such as, efficiency, cost savings, energy conservation, operator convenience, safety, environmental quality; relevance, time, and costs.

- Develop operational solutions by defining, studying, estimating, and screening alternatives; calculating economics; determining impact on total operational system.

- Directly drive operational metrics and individual KPI’s that impact profitability, charge cost planning, inventory management, operational expenses, etc.

- Maintain safe and healthy work environment by directing and enforcing safety standards and procedures, complying with legal regulations.

- Provides operational management information by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing operating and engineering data and trends.

- Maintain excellent customer relations by providing prompt and effective service and investigating to conclusion and resolution - all customer claims.

- Ability to travel regionally and nationally occasionally (10-25%); reliable transportation and valid driver’s license required.

Educations and Experience

- BS degree in engineering, preferably material science or metallurgy; master’s degree preferred

- 15 years of operations experience in heavy manufacturing environment

- 7 to 10 years of progressive leadership roles within an organization

- 3-5 years’ experience with DC Casting Tables - Wagstaff Technology preferred

Skills, Abilities, Requirements

- Operations & Production Management o Lean manufacturing & six sigma knowledge o Work flow optimization o Capacity planning and resource allocation o Production scheduling

- Technical Knowledge of Aluminum Casting Process o Metallurgy of aluminum and alloy behavior o Quality control in casting (mold condition, bleed out prevention, alloy calculation) o Equipment knowledge (furnaces, tables, molds, etc.) o Process troubleshooting and continuous improvement

- Leadership & People Management o Building teams and cross-functional leadership o Performance management o Workforce development

- Financial & Business Acumen o Budget and cost control o Capital investment planning

- Supply chain development and management o KPI tracking and ROI analysis

- Health, Safety & Environmental Compliance

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and ability to adjust focus. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; stand, walk, use hands to operate equipment, talk and hear. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms and stoop, kneel, or crouch. The work environment has exposure to both inside and outside environmental conditions including temperature changes and may at times be exposed to extreme heat (above 100 degrees) for periods of more than one hour. This position requires travel occasionally by land and/or air.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

All employment decisions are based on business and customer needs, job requirements and individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation or sexual preference, gender identity, pregnancy, or marital status), national origin, age, disability, or protected veteran status, because of an individual’s engaging in protected activities or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal or state law.

Experience

Required

- 7 - 10 years: Demonstrated progressive leadership roles within the organization, consistently taking on increasing responsibilities and driving team success.

- 15 year(s): Extensive operations experience in a heavy manufacturing environment, with a strong focus on efficiency, safety, and process optimization.

Education

Preferred

- Bachelors or better in Engineering

- Bachelors or better in Metallurgical Engineering

Equal Opportunity Employer

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.