McWane Ductile Ohio - Operations Trainee

About the role

Operations Trainee is an entry-level position designed to develop future leaders in manufacturing operations. This role provides hands-on experience in production processes, quality control, safety, maintenance coordination, and continuous improvement initiatives. Trainees will rotate through key departments to gain a comprehensive understanding of plant operations by blending technical learning with early-stage leadership experience, preparing candidates to step into supervisory roles by developing decision-making ability, team coordination and oversight, and accountability for production performance.

Responsibilities

• Assist in daily production activities to meet efficiency, quality, and safety targets
• Monitor operations and escalate issues or deviations
• Support production scheduling and workflow coordination
• Learn and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs)
• Participate in Lean / Six Sigma / continuous improvement initiatives
• Identify inefficiencies and recommend solutions
• Assist with tracking KPIs (OEE, downtime, scrap, throughput)
• Coordinate with maintenance on equipment issues
• Assist in basic troubleshooting and preventive maintenance activities
• Support equipment installations and process changes
• Follow and enforce quality standards
• Assist with root cause analysis and corrective actions
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and company requirements
• Promote and model safe behaviors on the shop floor
• Participate in EHS audits and hazard identification
• Ensure team adherence to EHS policies and requirements
• Work cross-functionally with engineering, maintenance, quality, and operations
• Participate in meetings, training, and project teams
• Communicate effectively across all levels of the organization
• Provide indirect supervision to production employees by guiding workflow and task prioritization, reinforcing safety, quality, and production standards, and supporting team communication and coordination
• Serve as backup/relief for frontline leadership roles (e.g., shift supervisor, team lead), providing assistance with shift coverage during absences, vacations, or high-demand periods
• Be exposed to onboarding and training of new employees, participation in team performance discussions and problem-solving efforts

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Operations Management, or other related fields
• Experience in a manufacturing maintenance environment a plus

Physical Demands

• Regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear
• Usually required to sit
• Occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with hands and arms, climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch
• Frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds
• Specific vision abilities required include close vision, color vision and peripheral vision
• Occasionally exposed to fumes or airborne particles and outside weather conditions
• Noise level in the work environment is usually moderate

Career Path

• Manufacturing Department Head
• Operations Management
• Manufacturing / Process Engineer
• Continuous Improvement Leader