Production Manager – Custom Manufacturing
Join Our Production Team
CHL Systems is seeking an experienced Production Manager – Custom Manufacturing to lead daily manufacturing operations across fabrication, welding, machining, and assembly.
This role is ideal for a manufacturing leader who combines strong people leadership with real technical manufacturing experience. We are looking for someone who understands how custom equipment gets built, can lead through experienced supervisors and skilled tradespeople, and knows how to keep complex production work moving safely, accurately, and on schedule.
Our environment is custom, engineered, and project-driven, not repetitive high-volume production. The right candidate will be comfortable working from engineering drawings, navigating changing priorities, resolving production challenges, and partnering closely with Engineering, Production Planning, Quality, and Supply Chain.
Why Join CHL Systems?
- Competitive compensation with growth opportunities
- Weekly pay
- Medical, dental, vision, PTO, paid holidays, and 401(k) with company match
- Stable, family-owned manufacturing company with 65+ years in business
- Collaborative environment with direct access to company leadership
- Opportunity to make a visible impact on production performance, team development, and customer delivery
- Diverse custom automation, material handling, and engineered manufacturing projects
What You’ll Do
- Lead daily manufacturing operations across fabrication, welding, machining, and assembly
- Lead, coach, and develop production supervisors and team members while establishing clear expectations and accountability
- Partner with Production Planning to align labor, capacity, materials, priorities, and production schedules
- Maintain a strong presence on the production floor, monitor progress, identify constraints, and remove barriers that impact safety, quality, productivity, or delivery
- Work closely with Engineering to resolve manufacturability, drawing, design, tolerance, fit-up, and other technical production challenges
- Coordinate across Quality, Purchasing, Supply Chain, Engineering, and Planning to keep projects moving and meet customer commitments
- Monitor and improve production performance, including on-time delivery, throughput, labor utilization, productivity, rework, scrap, safety, and quality
- Ensure staffing and resources are aligned with production requirements and support capacity planning, labor allocation, and overtime decisions
- Drive practical continuous improvement through Lean, 5S, standard work, root cause analysis, and workflow improvements
- Reinforce company safety expectations, including PPE, machine safety, Lockout/Tagout, material handling, and safe equipment practices
- Support employee development, performance management, training, and succession planning within Production
What Success Looks Like
The successful Production Manager will be a visible, credible leader on the manufacturing floor who can balance technical understanding with strong people leadership. You should be comfortable asking questions, challenging assumptions, listening to experienced tradespeople, and making sound decisions that support the broader operation.
Success in this role means building accountability and consistency across Production while improving safety, quality, workflow, schedule performance, and team development.
What We’re Looking For
Required Qualifications
- 8+ years of industrial manufacturing experience with progressive leadership responsibility
- Demonstrated experience leading production teams, supervisors, and/or multiple manufacturing work areas
- Strong technical manufacturing background in one or more areas such as fabrication, welding, machining, sheet metal, industrial assembly, or custom equipment manufacturing
- Experience in a custom, engineered-to-order, job-shop, made-to-order, or low-volume/high-mix manufacturing environment
- Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, blueprints, specifications, and production documentation
- Strong understanding of production flow, scheduling, labor planning, capacity, quality, and operational performance
- Experience using production metrics and shop-floor information to improve safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and efficiency
- Proven ability to coach, develop, and hold supervisors and employees accountable
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills with the ability to respond effectively to changing production priorities
- Ability to collaborate effectively with Engineering, Production Planning, Quality, Purchasing, Supply Chain, and company leadership
- Working knowledge of industrial safety practices, including PPE, machine safety, Lockout/Tagout, and material handling
Preferred Qualifications
- Previous experience as a Production Manager, Manufacturing Manager, Fabrication Manager, Operations Manager, or similar manufacturing leadership role
- Experience leading across multiple manufacturing disciplines or departments
- Prior technical or trade experience in fabrication, welding, machining, industrial equipment, or a related field
- Experience with custom automation, material handling systems, engineered equipment, or similar industrial products
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems for production planning, labor tracking, inventory, or performance reporting
- Familiarity with ISO quality systems, Lean Manufacturing, 5S, standard work, and root cause analysis
- Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, Operations Management, or a related field preferred; equivalent technical, trade, and leadership experience will also be considered
- Lean, Six Sigma, or Continuous Improvement certification is a plus
Work Environment
- Full-time, onsite position based in Souderton, Pennsylvania
- Frequent presence on the manufacturing floor is required
- Manufacturing environment includes fabrication, machining, welding, assembly, industrial equipment, noise, and material handling
- Regular interaction with production employees, supervisors, engineers, planners, quality, purchasing, and operations leadership
- Ability to walk, stand, and move throughout production areas for extended periods
- Occasional lifting up to 50 lbs. with assistance as needed
- PPE is required in designated areas
- Occasional extended hours may be necessary based on production and project requirements
About CHL Systems
For more than 65 years, CHL Systems has designed and manufactured custom automation, material handling, and engineered equipment solutions for customers across the food, pharmaceutical, and general manufacturing industries.
Our work brings together engineering, fabrication, machining, welding, assembly, and field expertise to build custom solutions around each customer’s needs. As a family-owned company, we value craftsmanship, accountability, teamwork, continuous improvement, and long-term relationships with our employees and customers.
Equal Opportunity Employer (M/F/D/V)
CHL Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status.