Foundry Operations Manager

Career Area: Manufacturing Job Description: Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc. When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other.  We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Definition: Leads the day-to-day operations of a medium-sized, multi-shift manufacturing facility whose primary process is metal casting. This role is accountable for safely converting customer demand into high-quality cast products by directing production from core and mold preparation through melting, pouring, shakeout, finishing, and handoff to downstream operations. The Operations Manager develops leaders, optimizes labor and equipment capacity, controls cost and working capital, and partners with safety, quality, maintenance, engineering, supply chain, and human resources to achieve plant objectives for safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, and employee engagement.

Lead all shifts, ensuring safety, quality, delivery, cost, housekeeping, and employee engagement. Direct core making, molding, melting, pouring, shakeout, finishing, inspection, and material flow. Convert customer demand and production schedules into shift priorities, staffing, capacity, maintenance, and recovery plans. Develop operations leaders through goals, coaching, performance management, succession planning, training, and recognition. Manage daily KPIs for safety, yield, scrap, schedule attainment, throughput, downtime, labor, energy, and cost. Partner with Quality and Metallurgy to control process parameters, traceability, defects, containment, and corrective actions. Coordinate equipment reliability, preventive maintenance, critical repairs, and capital priorities with Maintenance and Engineering. Ensure compliance with safety, environmental, labor, and quality requirements, particularly for foundry hazards. Lead continuous improvement to reduce defects, waste, energy use, cycle time, and variation while improving equipment effectiveness. Support operating plans and budgets, control expenses, validate savings, and report risks and results.

Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical, Materials, Industrial, Manufacturing, Mechanical, or a related engineering discipline. Progressive manufacturing leadership expertise, including responsibility for multi-shift operations, front-line leaders, production planning, safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance. Strong understanding of manufacturing safety, environmental controls, quality systems, equipment reliability, capacity planning, labor management, and operational cost control. Advanced English Skills: Analytical Thinking: Interprets operational, metallurgical, quality, and cost data to identify trends, inconsistencies, risks, and root causes. Breaks complex foundry problems into manageable components and selects the appropriate analytical or problem-solving tools. Evaluates cost, benefit, risk, capacity, and probability of success before recommending actions or investments. Effective Communications: Communicates expectations, priorities, risks, and results clearly across shifts and to frontline, technical, and executive audiences. Adapts reports and presentations to the audience and uses fact-based persuasion to align stakeholders. Balances empathy and assertiveness when coaching leaders, addressing performance gaps, or defending an operational position. Manufacturing Operations: Directs multi-shift foundry operations to achieve safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, and inventory objectives. Balances furnace, molding, core, finishing, labor, and material capacity while coordinating workflow across production and