Production Director, Signage

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Description

The Production Director leads all signage manufacturing operations, including fabrication, wide-format printing, finishing, assembly, production quality and installation. This leader is accountable for meeting customer commitments, maximizing production capacity, controlling costs, and achieving departmental financial objectives.

This is a high-accountability leadership role requiring operational expertise, financial discipline, and a growth mindset. The Director will build a high-performing team, establish clear expectations, improve productivity, eliminate bottlenecks, and ensure the department can scale efficiently as Strategic Factory grows.

The objective is to deliver exceptional quality, flawless execution, and profitable growth through strong leadership, disciplined processes, and measurable results.

Essential Responsibilities

1. Financial Performance and Profitability

• Own departmental performance against revenue, gross margin, labor, material, and profitability targets.
• Monitor job costing, estimated versus actual labor, material usage, overtime, waste, and rework to protect margins.
• Establish cost controls and identify opportunities to improve productivity, reduce expenses, and increase throughput.
• Align staffing, equipment, purchasing, and production capacity with work orders, forecasts, and company growth objectives.
• Partner with the VP of Signage, Finance, Sales, and Project Management to ensure production decisions support company-wide financial goals.

2. Production Leadership and Execution

• Lead all daily signage production operations, including fabricated signs, channel letters, dimensional signage, wide-format printing, finishing, and assembly.
• Own production scheduling, workflow, capacity planning, and on-time completion.
• Establish clear priorities, deadlines, and ownership across production teams.
• Coordinate with Engineering, Project Management, Purchasing, and Installation to ensure projects move efficiently from order to completion.
• Identify constraints early, resolve production issues quickly, and maintain visibility into work in progress, material availability, and equipment utilization.
• Ensure production commitments are realistic, communicated, and consistently achieved.

3. Leadership and Accountability

• Build and develop a high-performing team focused on urgency, quality, teamwork, and results.
• Establish clear roles, measurable expectations, and accountability for supervisors and production employees.
• Hold team leaders accountable for schedules, staffing, productivity, quality, safety, and financial performance.
• Coach and develop supervisors to solve problems, make decisions, and own their results rather than relying on constant intervention.
• Address performance issues promptly, recognize strong performance, and ensure appropriate training and staffing.
• Foster a positive, high-energy culture that values continuous improvement, direct communication, and follow-through.
• Leadership standard: Set expectations, provide the tools to succeed, measure results, coach consistently, and hold people accountable.

4. Quality and Customer Satisfaction

• Establish quality standards for all fabricated, printed, and finished signage.
• Ensure work meets approved artwork, engineering specifications, material requirements, and customer expectations.
• Track defects, rework, scrap, and customer complaints; implement corrective actions to prevent recurring problems.
• Partner with Project Management and Installation to resolve issues and protect customer commitments.
• Promote a customer-first mindset in which quality, communication, and on-time delivery drive retention and future revenue.

5. Operational Excellence and Growth

• Continuously improve workflows, production methods, standard operating procedures, and equipment utilization.
• Eliminate bottlenecks, unnecessary handling, downtime, waste, and inefficient labor practices.
• Develop a scalable production plan aligned with sales forecasts and annual revenue goals.
• Identify staffing, equipment, facility, and technology investments needed to support growth, with clear financial justification.
• Make disciplined in-house versus outsourcing decisions based on cost, capacity, quality, and delivery.
• Use production data and performance scorecards to identify trends, assign corrective actions, and measure results.

6. Materials, Equipment, and Safety

• Manage material planning, inventory accuracy, purchasing coordination, and supplier performance.
• Control material waste and ensure supplies are available to meet production schedules without unnecessary inventory.
• Oversee preventive maintenance and ensure equipment is operated and maintained properly.
• Maintain a safe, organized production environment and enforce company safety policies and applicable OSHA requirements.
• Ensure required training, maintenance records, and safety procedures are consistently maintained.

7. Communication and Cross-Functional Leadership

• Provide regular reporting on financial performance, production schedules, capacity, staffing, quality, and operational risks.
• Communicate schedule changes, material shortages, and customer delivery risks proactively.
• Work collaboratively with Sales, Engineering, Project Management, Purchasing, and Installation to achieve company objectives.
• Support leadership decisions, communicate priorities consistently, and focus on solutions rather than excuses.

The Director will be evaluated against established company targets, including:

• Financial: Revenue achievement, gross margin, labor costs, and departmental profitability.
• Execution: On-time delivery, schedule adherence, throughput, and production cycle time.
• Quality: Rework, scrap, defects, and customer complaints.
• Productivity: Labor efficiency, overtime, equipment utilization, and capacity.
• Growth: Ability to increase production volume while controlling costs and maintaining quality.
• Leadership: Staffing, employee development, accountability, and performance improvement.
• Operational discipline: Material waste, inventory accuracy, safety, and completion of improvement initiatives.

Requirements

• 7-10 years of progressive experience in sign manufacturing, fabrication, wide-format printing, or a related production environment.
• At least 5 years of leadership experience managing production teams and preferably multiple production functions.
• Demonstrated experience with fabricated and printed signage, production scheduling, workflow management, and quality control.
• Proven ability to manage job costs, labor, materials, capacity, and profitability.
• Track record of improving productivity, quality, on-time delivery, and financial results.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Experience with ERP/MIS systems, production reporting, and performance metrics.
• Knowledge of equipment maintenance, workplace safety, and manufacturing best practices.
• Relevant degree preferred; equivalent experience and demonstrated results will be considered.