Operations Manager — Northgate Pump Works

## Mission Build pumps that keep water, fuel and process lines moving for the people who cannot afford a shutdown. ## Vision The first call a plant engineer makes when a pump has to work the first time and every time after. ## Core Values - Safety before speed - Ship what we promised, when we promised it - Fix the process, not the person - Say it plainly - Leave the floor better than you found it

Mission Northgate builds pumps for water, fuel and food lines that cannot go down. Why this hire matters now Orders are up and delivery is down. Our GM is running the floor and the business at the same time, and neither is getting enough of him. Customers are starting to ask about lead times before they ask about price. What success looks like in 12 months 95% on time delivery. Backlog under control. Supervisors running their own shifts. The GM spends his week on customers and the next three years, not on the schedule. Stakeholders aligned on this - General Manager: Sponsor and direct boss. Sits on Rounds 1 and 2. - Owner: Approves the offer. Meets the finalist over lunch. - Second shift supervisor: The strongest internal voice. Sits on Round 3. - Sales manager: Needs reliable ship dates. Informal chat with the finalist.

Two profiles fail here. The engineer who wants to fix the schedule from a desk and never learns why second shift ignores it. The firefighter who is great in a crisis but never builds the system that stops the next one. The first stalls in month 3. The second burns out the supervisors by month 9.

Operations Manager, Northgate Pump Works Reports to: General Manager Location: On site, Green Bay area, WI Direct reports: 3 production supervisors, 1 shipping lead, 1 production scheduler About Northgate We design and build centrifugal and positive displacement pumps for municipal water, fuel transfer and food processing. 180 people. Two shifts. Family owned for three generations. Demand is up. Our delivery has not kept pace, and our customers have noticed. The role You run the plant day to day. Scheduling, assembly, test, shipping and the people who do the work. The goal for year one is simple to say and hard to do: ship on time. We are at 81%. We need 95%, and we need it without adding a third shift. What you will own - The production schedule, from released order to shipped pump - Daily tier meetings on both shifts, and what gets escalated out of them - Hiring, coaching and reviewing the three production supervisors - Safety on the floor, with the EHS coordinator as your partner - Overtime, staffing levels and cross training across assembly and test - The weekly delivery forecast that sales and the GM rely on You will love it here if you are: - Happiest when you can see the work, not just the report about it - Steady under pressure and honest about bad news early - A builder of supervisors, not a replacement for them What you will not be doing: - Running engineering or new product development. That team reports to the GM. - Managing purchasing. You will work closely with the buyer, but you do not own the function. Requirements - 7+ years in manufacturing, with at least 3 leading supervisors - Experience in make to order or engineered to order production - Comfortable in an ERP system and in Excel - Lean or continuous improvement experience you can point to with a real result Compensation Base $115k to $135k. Bonus up to 20% tied to on time delivery, safety and overtime. Full benefits. 401(k) with match. Relocation available. If interested Send a short note about a time you took a late running operation and got it shipping on time. Tell us what you changed first.

30 days. Learn the floor. - Work at least one full shift in assembly, test and shipping - 1:1 with every supervisor, the scheduler and the shipping lead - Map how an order actually moves from release to the dock, not how the procedure says it does - Sit in on the weekly sales and ops meeting and just listen - One page memo to the GM: "What is really making us late" 60 days. Put the basics in place. - Daily tier meeting running on both shifts with the same board and the same five numbers - One schedule everyone works from. Retire the side spreadsheets. - Past due backlog triaged. Every late order has an owner and a date. - First root cause project on the biggest source of late orders, with operators on the team 90 days. Prove it can hold. - On time delivery above 87% for four straight weeks - Overtime trending down toward 10% - Weekly delivery forecast shared with sales every Monday - Supervisor development plan agreed with each supervisor 6 months. Clear the backlog. - Past due backlog under 100 units - On time delivery above 91% - Cross training matrix in place so no station depends on one person - Near miss reporting up. Lost time incidents at zero. 1 year. Run on the system. - 95% on time delivery, held for a full quarter - Overtime under 8% - All three supervisors still in seat and running their own tier meetings - Next year's capacity plan written with the GM and approved

Where this person exists Mid size manufacturers that build to order, where one person owns the schedule and the floor at the same time. Look at: - Pump, valve, compressor and fluid handling manufacturers across the Midwest - Industrial equipment makers with 100 to 400 employees - Production managers and senior supervisors at larger plants who are ready to run a whole operation Title patterns to search - "Operations Manager" at manufacturers with 100 to 500 employees - "Production Manager" in make to order or engineered to order shops - "Plant Superintendent" or "Manufacturing Manager" in fluid handling or industrial equipment Signals worth a closer look - Tenure of 3+ years in one plant with a clear promotion - A named result on the profile: on time delivery, backlog, overtime, safety - Lean or continuous improvement work tied to a real line or cell Avoid - Candidates whose whole career is in high volume, low mix automotive. The rhythm is different. - Corporate operations roles with no direct reports on the floor

Touch 1. Phone call, no pitch. Operations people are on the floor, not on LinkedIn. Call early morning or right after first shift. Ask for ten minutes to swap notes on make to order scheduling. Touch 2. Short email the same day. "Tried you this morning. We build pumps in Wisconsin and our delivery has not kept up with demand. Would value your take, even if you are happy where you are." Touch 3. LinkedIn connect (day 3). One line. Reference something real from their profile. Touch 4 to 6. Spaced 5 to 7 days apart. Share what the role actually is. The on time delivery number. The backlog. The fact that there is no third shift coming. Good operations people want the honest version. Touch 7 to 8. Offer a plant tour. Invite them to walk the floor with the GM. Most strong candidates decide on the floor, not in an office. Touch 9. Referral ask. If they are not interested, ask who the best operations manager they have worked with is. Touch 10. Closing the loop. "Last note from me. We are moving our finalists forward in two weeks. If timing is wrong, no problem, and thank you for the time." Touch 11. Check back in 90 days. Put a date on the calendar. Timing changes.

Round 1. Recruiter plus GM (60 min). Goal: Can this person run the floor day to day and tell us the truth about it? Questions: 1. Tell me about the last time your plant was shipping late. What did you look at first, and what did you change? 2. Walk me through your daily routine on a normal Tuesday. Where are you at 6am, 10am and 3pm? 3. Tell me about a supervisor you coached who got better. What did you actually do? 4. Tell me about a supervisor you had to move out. How long did you wait, and was it too long? Round 2. Floor walk and working session (2 hours, on site). Goal: Watch them see the plant. 1. Walk the floor with the second shift supervisor. Ask them to point out three things they would look into. 2. Give them last month's schedule, the past due list and the overtime report. Ask for a 30 minute read out on what is driving late orders. 3. Role play: sales calls and wants a large order pulled forward two weeks. What do they say? Round 3. The team (60 min, no GM). Goal: Do the people who will report to them want to work for them? Two supervisors plus the scheduler. Open agenda. Their feedback carries real weight.

Two from former direct reports. Non negotiable. Questions: 1. What did they do on the floor that other managers did not? 2. When a line went down, what did they do in the first hour? 3. Where did they fall short as a manager? Give me one example. 4. Would you work for them again? One from a former boss. Questions: 1. What number did they own, and did they move it? 2. How did they deliver bad news to you? 3. Would you hire them again for the same job? One from a peer in sales or customer service. Questions: 1. Could you trust their ship dates? 2. When they said no, how did they say it? Red flags to listen for - Results described with no people in the story - References who cannot name a specific improvement - A pattern of leaving right after a big change was announced

Offer Base: $128,000 Bonus: up to 20% of base, paid annually, tied to on time delivery, safety and overtime Sign on: $10,000 (repaid if voluntary exit under 12 months) Benefits: Medical, dental, vision from day one. 401(k) with 4% match. Three weeks PTO. Relocation: Up to $12,000 Start date: Monday, November 2, 2026 Counter offer prevention We have already addressed: - Scope. This role runs the whole plant floor, not one department. - Support. The GM has committed to no third shift and a real scheduling tool budget in year one. - Growth. Clear path to GM as the owner steps back over the next three years.

Operations managers rarely leave for cash alone. Step 1. Ask early: "What would make you stay where you are?" Most answers are about support, scope or the boss. Step 2. Show them the plant again before the offer. A second floor walk with the owner does more than a bigger number. Step 3. Put the support in writing. No third shift. The scheduling tool budget. The path to GM. Step 4. Keep the decision window short. Five working days. Step 5. When the counter comes, call the same day. Remind them what they told you in Step 1.

Day 1 handover By end of day 1, the new Operations Manager has: - ERP access with the production, shipping and labor reports they need - The full past due list, sorted by customer and ship date - A shift change walk with both supervisors, first and second shift - A 1:1 booked with every direct report in week 1 - A standing weekly slot with the GM for the first 90 days

30 / 60 / 90 review cadence Day 30. GM plus new Operations Manager. One question: "What is really making us late?" Written answer, one page. Day 60. Same, plus: "Which of your supervisors needs the most help, and what help?" Day 90. GM and owner together. "Are we on track for 95% on time? What do you need from us to get there?" Day 180. Check point. If on time delivery is not above 91%, the GM hears the reason from the Operations Manager first, with a plan.

Week 1 to 2. Build the search. Kit complete. Role posted. Phone outreach started. Week 3 to 5. Screen. Recruiter plus GM screen weekly. Top 5 advance. Week 6 to 7. On site rounds. Floor walk and working session with 3 finalists. 2 advance to the team round. Week 8. Team round plus references. References run in parallel with the team round. Week 9. Offer. Counter offer plan agreed before the offer goes out. Week 10 to 12. Notice period and start.