Job Description
Assistant Plant Manager- Grand Rapids
Work Arrangement:
This role is categorized as onsite. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to our Grand Rapids plant location
Sponsorship:
GM DOES NOT PROVIDE IMMIGRATION-RELATED SPONSORSHIP FOR THIS ROLE. DO NOT APPLY FOR THIS ROLE IF YOU WILL NEED GM IMMIGRATION SPONSORSHIP (e.g., H-1B, TN, STEM OPT, etc.) NOW OR IN THE FUTURE.
The Role
The Assistant Plant Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for Grand Rapids Operations, a complex, high-volume manufacturing facility supporting driveline and valvetrain components for the high revenue GM portfolio. The role partners closely with plant leadership, operations, quality, maintenance, engineering, safety, HR/LR, GSC, and union leadership to deliver safe, reliable, and competitive performance.
The Assistant Plant Manager translates plant objectives into disciplined daily execution, strengthens cross-shift communication, develops frontline leaders, removes operational barriers, and drives continuous improvement across the facility. Grand Rapids Components is a critical, vertically integrated operation with a broad product portfolio and significant manufacturing complexity, making this role essential to sustaining safe, reliable, and competitive plant performance.
What You’ll Do
- Lead daily plant execution across safety, people, quality, responsiveness, cost, and delivery.
- Review production performance, downtime, staffing, material constraints, customer risks, and recovery actions.
- Promote and teach GMS operating requirements while driving standardization and accountability.
- Champion a strong safety culture through floor presence, risk identification, incident review, and Workplace Safety System activities.
- Coach and develop salaried and represented leaders, including area managers, shift leaders, group leaders, and team leaders.
- Drive rapid response to production, quality, equipment, and material issues that threaten customer requirements.
- Partner with customers to align expectations and resolve issues quickly.
- Support capacity planning, production rate improvement, overtime planning, staffing reviews, and budget execution.
- Partner with HR/LR and UAW leadership to address workforce, employee relations, and labor topics constructively and promptly.
- Lead cross-functional efforts to improve OEE, TIP performance, uptime, throughput, CPU, and operational reliability.
- Represent plant leadership in business reviews, escalation forums, customer meetings, and sector initiatives.
- Provide backup leadership for the Plant Director and ensure effective execution across all shifts and operating departments.
Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business management, operations, or a related field.
- Ten or more years of experience in a manufacturing or industrial environment.
- Significant experience as a manufacturing people leader.
- Progressive leadership experience in a high volume, complex, unionized manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrated ability to lead across safety, people, quality, responsiveness, and cost priorities.
- Strong problem solving, decision making, communication, and influencing skills.
- Working knowledge of GMS, continuous-improvement methods, manufacturing systems, and plant business processes.
- Ability to lead through changing priorities, operational disruptions, and customer impacting situations.
- Experience leading OEE, TIP, throughput, capacity, and downtime reduction initiatives.
- Experience with quality systems, BIQIV, customer escalations, and structured problem solving.
What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)
- Experience in machining, axle assembly, powertrain, valvetrain, or component manufacturing.
- Multi plant or cross functional manufacturing leadership experience.
- Experience working directly with represented employees and union partners.
- Demonstrated success improving safety culture, workforce engagement, equipment reliability, and business results.
- Experience supporting product launches, major capital investments, or aging equipment recovery plans.
Leadership Expectations
- Model GM behaviors in safety, integrity, accountability, inclusion, and respect.
- Lead with urgency while maintaining a strong focus on safe, high quality execution.
- Build trust across shifts, functions, and labor partners through visibility, collaboration, and follow-through.
- Develop talent and strengthen the plant’s leadership pipeline through coaching, feedback, and mentorship.
- Make fact-based decisions and take ownership of outcomes.
- Drive operational excellence through disciplined execution, standardization, and continuous improvement.
- Maintain a customer-focused mindset and protect the performance of GM’s assembly plants and vehicle programs.
GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. Do not apply for this role if you will need GM immigration sponsorship now or in the future. This includes direct company sponsorship, entry of GM as the immigration employer of record on a government form, and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H1-B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc).
This role is categorized as onsite. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location on a full-time basis.
This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.
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We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.
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