Day in the life
A Day in the Life of an Industrial Production Manager
What industrial production managers actually do from the start of a shift to the end: the tasks, tools, schedule and realities of the job.
What is a typical day like for an industrial production manager?
Walk the floor at shift change. From there, the day usually includes plan production schedules, manage supervisors and staff, and track output and costs. Full time, often long hours and on call for problems on any shift.
Hour by hour: a typical shift
No two days are identical, but this timeline reflects a realistic day for an industrial production manager working full time.
- Walk the floor at shift change.
- Lead the daily production meeting.
- Review scrap and downtime.
- Meet maintenance on a failing line.
- Review the budget.
- Plan a lean project.
- Report to the plant director.
Where industrial production managers work
Production managers work in plant offices and on the factory floor.
Hours and schedule
Full time, often long hours and on call for problems on any shift.
Tasks you’ll do most often
- Plan production schedules
- Manage supervisors and staff
- Track output and costs
- Ensure product quality
- Lead safety programs
- Solve production problems
- Drive continuous improvement
Tools you’ll use every day
- ERP systems
- MES software
- KPI dashboards
- Excel
- Quality management systems
- Scheduling tools
The best and hardest parts of the job
What people like
- High pay
- Lead a whole operation
- Tangible results
- Strong demand for experience
What’s hard
- Long hours
- On call
- Pressure on cost and output
- Safety responsibility
You’ll likely thrive if…
- I like running operations
- I solve problems fast
- I care about safety
- I can lead supervisors
- I like data
- I can handle pressure
Not sure? Take the free Industrial Production Manager fit quiz or the Career Match Quiz.
Staying safe on the job
- Lead a strong safety culture
- Investigate every incident
- Enforce lockout/tagout
- Maintain machine guarding