1337 | Interim Plant Manager | USA
Area: Plant Management
Location: Atlanta Region, USA 🇺🇸
Duration: 6–12 months
Start: ASAP, April 2026
Type: Interim
About Our Client:
Our client is a long-established, family-owned German industrial manufacturer with a production footprint in the USA.
The business supplies industrial substrates to demanding end markets, including automotive and consumer products filtration.
The assignment has been triggered by a combination of underperformance, leadership pressure, and a major investment that has not delivered the expected profitability.
The US site has already been through expansion, including a larger plant setup and a significant production investment, but commercial and operational expectations have not been met.
Job Challenge:
- Acting as Interim Plant Manager, taking full operational responsibility for the US plant and serving as the senior on-site authority.
- Reporting into group leadership in Germany and working closely with headquarters stakeholders.
- Leading a continuous-process manufacturing operation with one main production line running 24/7 and a second, smaller line operating according to order levels.
- Converting an existing consultant-led turnaround roadmap into practical plant-level execution.
- Strengthening day-to-day operating discipline across production, technical, and site management teams.
- Driving early results in plant stabilisation, management alignment, performance visibility, and execution control during the first 3 to 6 months.
- Providing calm but firm leadership in a business where employees are already aware that outside advisors are involved and where internal anxiety is high.
- Creating effective alignment between German headquarters expectations and the realities of day-to-day plant leadership in the USA.
Manager Skills:
- Strong track record in plant turnaround, operational recovery, or crisis-stage manufacturing leadership.
- Experience in continuous-process industries such as converting, film, filtration, packaging, paper, or similar roll-based production environments.
- Confidence leading 24/7 operations with shift-based teams and clear frontline accountability.
- Ability to enter a tense site environment, establish credibility quickly, and create followership across both management and shopfloor populations.
- Strong execution discipline, with the ability to convert high-level recovery plans into action, ownership, and measurable progress.
- Enough personal authority to challenge underperformance while keeping the organisation focused and motivated.
- Comfort operating in a German-led business structure where the US plant and headquarters must stay tightly aligned.
- Cross-cultural sensitivity and communication strength, especially in navigating the realities of German headquarters leadership and US plant operations.
- A leadership style that combines operational toughness with clear communication and visible presence on site.
Key Requirements:
Requirement 01: Proven experience in plant crisis management, operational turnaround, and leading recovery in a live manufacturing environment
Requirement 02: Strong background in continuous-process or other 24/7 industrial manufacturing operations, with the authority to stabilise performance fast
Requirement 03: Must already have the legal right to work in the USA and be available for an on-site interim assignment in the Atlanta Region
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