Plant Manager

## Company Description PQ is a leading global provider of silicates, silicas and derivative products. PQ's products are used in a wide variety of industrial processes and many customer products, from decorative paints to green cement, from clean drinking water to green tires and from toothpaste to biofuels and beer. Ideal candidates resonate with PQ's Core Values of Integrity, Sustainability, People, Customer Focus and Safety. Successful employees embrace and model these values in their behaviors and actions. ## Job Description The Plant Manager holds overall accountability for the safe, compliant, reliable, and profitable operation of the National Silicates silicate manufacturing facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Leading the site’s operations, maintenance, EH&S, quality, and supply chain functions, the Plant Manager delivers the company’s goals for safety, environmental compliance, quality, customer service, and financial performance. The role also carries stewardship of the facility’s major assets and provides leadership for significant capital projects, working with a multi-disciplinary team across corporate functions (Engineering, Finance, Quality, EH&S, Reliability, and IT). **Key Responsibilities** **Environmental, Health & Safety (EH&S)** - Lead the effort to promote a strong EH&S culture that enables an accident-free workplace and ensures compliance with OSHA and all environmental regulatory requirements. - Ensure full compliance with OSHA, EPA, and applicable state environmental requirements, including all site operating-permit conditions (air, water, and spill-prevention obligations), and own accurate, on-time regulatory reporting. - Maintain robust process-safety, contractor-safety, and emergency-response programs appropriate to a furnace-based chemical manufacturing operation. - Advance leading-indicator programs — near-miss reporting, audits, and behavior-based safety — and ensure timely closure of corrective actions. **Operations, Quality & Reliability** - Direct all production operations across all shifts to meet production, quality, and delivery targets. - Embed a Quality Management System that ensures products are manufactured within specification and raw material losses are minimized. - Interact with the planning department to design and execute a production plan that meets customer delivery requirements. - Improve asset reliability and uptime — particularly of furnaces and other critical units — through proactive and predictive maintenance and disciplined maintenance planning. - Manage utilities and energy (notably natural gas) as both a reliability and a cost lever. **Continuous Improvement & Lean Manufacturing** - Implement a continuous improvement process that uses Lean tools such as OEE and 5S and engages employees at all levels in driving improvements in safety, quality, cost, and delivery. - Personally deploy structured root-cause problem solving and Kaizen and sustain standard work to lock in gains. - Drive employee engagement through visible KPIs and daily management / tiered accountability and build continuous-improvement capability across the workforce. **Financial Management** - Own the plant P&L and develop the annual operating plan. - Create and manage annual budgets for capital expenditure, fixed costs, and variable costs. - Apply manufacturing-finance acumen — conversion cost / cost-per-ton, standard costing, variance analysis, and an accurate, on-time month-end close in partnership with Finance — and drive structured cost reduction. - Clearly distinguish operating expense (Opex) from capital expenditure (CapEx); prepare and justify capital appropriation requests (AFEs) and manage approved capital to budget and schedule. - Control spare-parts and inventory investment, working capital, and open commitments within delegated authority. **Capital Projects & Asset Stewardship** - Collaborate with the Engineering department to develop and implement projects that improve productivity and safety.…