Production Manager

About the Role

Cembrane specializes in advanced Silicon Carbide (SiC) flat sheet membranes for water treatment, aiming to establish SiC as a standard in the industry by providing simple, durable, and economical membrane filtration. With products supplied in over 70 countries, Cembrane is entering a critical scale-up phase in Hutto, expanding production capacity and moving toward continuous manufacturing. This role is central to stabilizing daily output, building disciplined shop-floor execution, improving yield, and preparing the operation for reliable 24/7 production.

The Production Manager will lead daily manufacturing operations, ensuring safe, efficient production through effective staffing, shift transitions, quality control, throughput, and on-time delivery. The position will prepare the Hutto facility for continuous operations, lead a team of 20+ operators, and drive operational excellence by standardizing processes, tracking KPIs, resolving production challenges, and partnering with Quality and Engineering teams. Success is demonstrated by building a high-performing team that understands daily goals, takes ownership of results, and consistently delivers improvements in output, yield, staffing effectiveness, and operational discipline.

The role is based in Hutto, TX, reports to the CEO of Cembrane Group, and may require some on-call, weekend, and holiday work as needed.

Responsibilities

• Plan, organize, and execute daily and weekly production schedules to meet customer demand and output targets.
• Lead shift planning, staffing, prioritization, and production follow-up for a growing operation moving toward continuous production.
• Maintain a strong floor presence by observing work, coaching operators, identifying constraints, and ensuring work instructions are followed.
• Monitor production KPIs including output, uptime, yield, scrap, rework, labor efficiency, and on-time delivery.
• Respond quickly to bottlenecks, material shortages, process deviations, and equipment downtime to reduce lost production time.
• Lead, coach, and develop approximately 20 production operators and shift resources.
• Set clear expectations for attendance, productivity, safety, quality, teamwork, and ownership.
• Create structure for training, cross-training, shift handovers, operator certification, and performance follow-up.
• Build a culture of accountability, direct communication, practical problem-solving, and continuous improvement.
• Constructively manage conflict and competing priorities while keeping the team focused on production goals.
• Ensure production complies with ISO 9001 requirements, internal work instructions, quality procedures, and customer specifications.
• Partner closely with Quality to improve first-pass yield, reduce defects, and strengthen process discipline.
• Promote a safe working environment through visible leadership, daily reinforcement, incident follow-up, and compliance with HSE requirements.
• Support audits, corrective actions, root-cause analysis, and preventive actions related to production performance.
• Implement lean manufacturing practices, standard work, visual management, and structured problem-solving routines.
• Support commissioning and ramp-up of new production equipment, including furnace-related production planning and operational readiness.
• Identify opportunities to improve throughput, reduce waste, stabilize labor utilization, and strengthen production cost performance.
• Work cross-functionally with Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, Supply Chain, and Leadership to remove constraints and drive execution.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in manufacturing operations, production leadership, or plant-floor management.
• 2+ years leading hourly production teams, preferably with responsibility for 15+ direct or indirect reports.
• Experience managing or preparing teams for 24/7, continuous, or multi-shift manufacturing operations.
• Hands-on leadership style with a strong onsite presence and comfort spending significant time on the production floor.
• Working knowledge of ISO 9001, production documentation, standard work, nonconformance handling, and audit readiness.
• Demonstrated ability to improve production output, stabilize processes, reduce bottlenecks, and hold teams accountable.
• Strong communication skills, practical judgment, and ability to make decisions under pressure.
• Resilient and comfortable driving change in a fast-moving operation where priorities can shift quickly.
• Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or similar continuous improvement training.
• Experience with ERP/MRP systems, production planning tools, production dashboards, and KPI-based management.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, manufacturing, operations management, business, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on manufacturing leadership experience.
• Experience in advanced manufacturing, ceramics, water treatment, chemical processing, thermal processing, semiconductor, automotive, or similar technical operations (preferred).
• Experience managing furnace, kiln, thermal, continuous-flow, or high-temperature production environments (preferred).

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits.
• 401k Match of 4%.
• Parental Leave.
• Company-paid life insurance along with company-paid short- and long-term disability.
• 11 paid holidays.
• Three weeks of PTO per year (prorated based on start date).
• Roll over of up to 64 unused PTO hours to the following year.
• Sixteen personal hours (number for the first year determined by hire date).
• Paid days off between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day with no impact to PTO balance.
• Annual Incentive Plans based on Company Profit.

About the Company

Cembrane is the world's leading manufacturer of Silicon Carbide (SiC) flat sheet membranes, reshaping how water is treated and reused. In 2021, Cembrane joined the Ovivo family, strengthening its position as a leading membrane manufacturer. Ovivo is a global provider of equipment, technology, and systems producing high-purity water and treating challenging wastewater. With over 150 years of expertise, Ovivo delivers conventional to highly technological water treatment solutions for industrial and municipal markets, emphasizing innovation, cost-effectiveness, energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability.