Career Profile: Industrial Production Managers

Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 203,800 people employed as industrial production managers in the United States. The median annual salary is $103,150. Entry level employees earn approximately $64,150 per year and senior employees earn approximately $170,470 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Review plans and confer with research or support staff to develop new products or processes.
• Develop budgets or approve expenditures for supplies, materials, or human resources, ensuring that materials, labor, or equipment are used efficiently to meet production targets.
• Maintain current knowledge of the quality control field, relying on current literature pertaining to materials use, technological advances, or statistical studies.
• Coordinate or recommend procedures for facility or equipment maintenance or modification, including the replacement of machines.
• Initiate or coordinate inventory or cost control programs.
• Negotiate materials prices with suppliers.
• Direct or coordinate production, processing, distribution, or marketing activities of industrial organizations.
• Review processing schedules or production orders to make decisions concerning inventory requirements, staffing requirements, work procedures, or duty assignments, considering budgetary limitations and time constraints.
• Review operations and confer with technical or administrative staff to resolve production or processing problems.
• Hire, train, evaluate, or discharge staff or resolve personnel grievances.
• Develop or implement production tracking or quality control systems, analyzing production, quality control, maintenance, or other operational reports to detect production problems.
• Prepare and maintain production reports or personnel records.
• Set and monitor product standards, examining samples of raw products or directing testing during processing, to ensure finished products are of prescribed quality.

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