Manufacturing Operations Manager

Work Schedule Standard (Mon-Fri) Environmental Conditions Adherence to all Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Safety Standards, Office, Some degree of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) required (safety glasses, gowning, gloves, lab coat, ear plugs etc.), Warehouse Job Description As part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific team, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life every single day to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We provide our global teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while helping to take science a step beyond by developing solutions for some of the world’s toughest challenges, like protecting the environment, making sure our food is safe or helping find cures for cancer. About the Role: As the Manufacturing Operations Manager, you will lead, direct and optimize manufacturing operations to safely deliver high-quality products on time, at the right cost, and in line with customer and business requirements. You will be accountable for operational performance across Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, Inventory, Productivity and People, while building the capability and capacity required to support sustainable business growth. As a key member of the Site Leadership Team, you will translate business priorities into disciplined daily execution, develop high-performing production leaders and teams, and champion Practical Process Improvement (PPI), Lean Manufacturing, 5S and structured problem solving. You will partner closely with Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Planning, Finance, Human Resources, EHS and other support functions to improve flow, strengthen operational reliability, increase customer responsiveness and create a culture of ownership, accountability and continuous improvement. What You'll Do: Safety, Health & Environment Lead and promote a strong Safety First culture across all manufacturing operations, ensuring safety is embedded in daily leadership, planning and decision-making. Ensure manufacturing activities comply with applicable workplace health, safety, environmental and regulatory requirements, as well as Thermo Fisher Scientific EHS standards. Drive proactive hazard identification, risk assessment, incident prevention and corrective-action closure within production areas. Participate in and support investigations of safety incidents and near misses, ensuring root causes are understood and sustainable corrective actions are implemented. Conduct regular safety engagement activities, workplace inspections and leadership safety walks, and ensure identified actions are closed in a timely manner. Ensure employees are trained, competent and authorized to perform work safely and in accordance with approved procedures and controls. Manufacturing Operations Lead daily manufacturing operations to achieve site production, customer and business requirements across Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and Inventory. Ensure production schedules are executed safely, efficiently and in accordance with approved quality standards, work instructions and customer requirements. Optimize labor, equipment, production-cell and material utilization to maximize throughput, capacity utilization and operational efficiency. Develop and execute manufacturing plans that align labor, skills, work bays, tooling and production capacity with current demand and future growth requirements. Drive disciplined daily management through tier meetings, visual management, standard work, escalation and structured problem solving. Review operational performance, identify gaps and implement timely countermeasures to protect customer commitments and site objectives. Lead production supervisors, team leaders and manufacturing employees to deliver consistent shift-to-shift execution and strong operational handovers. Quality Excellence Ensure products are manufactured in accordance with customer specifications, approved processes and applicable quality-system requirements. Partner with Quality and Engineering to strengthen process capability, product quality and Right First Time performance. Lead structured problem-solving, root cause analysis and corrective-action implementation for manufacturing quality issues. Reduce defects, scrap, rework, out-of-box failures and customer complaints through effective process controls, standard work and employee ownership. Support internal, customer and external audits and ensure manufacturing-related findings and actions are addressed effectively. Operational Excellence, PPI, Lean Manufacturing & 5S Champion Practical Process Improvement (PPI), Lean Manufacturing and 5S principles across manufacturing operations. Develop, implement and sustain world-class 5S standards across production areas, including workplace organization, housekeeping, visual management and standard work. Establish regular 5S audits, ownership routines and corrective-action follow-up to ensure improvements are sustained. Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on waste elimination, improved flow, reduced cycle time, increased capacity and productivity improvement. Use Lean and PPI tools such as Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen, standard work, visual management, root cause analysis and problem-solving boards to improve end-to-end performance. Build employee capability and engagement in continuous improvement by coaching teams to identify problems, implement countermeasures and sustain gains. Partner with Engineering and Maintenance to improve equipment effectiveness, process reliability and manufacturing capability. Leadership & People Development Lead, coach and develop production supervisors, team leaders and manufacturing employees to build a high-performance and highly engaged organization. Set clear expectations, establish accountability and ensure employees understand how their daily performance contributes to customer and site objectives. Conduct regular coaching, performance discussions and development planning, and address performance gaps in a timely and constructive manner. Develop succession plans, skills matrices, cross-training plans and talent pipelines to strengthen manufacturing capability and organizational resilience. Promote teamwork, respect, inclusion, ownership and continuous learning across the manufacturing organization. Ensure effective communication of business priorities, operational changes, performance results and key site messages to manufacturing teams. Financial & Cost Management Manage manufacturing operations within approved budget and cost expectations while maintaining safety, quality and customer delivery performance. Drive productivity, labor-efficiency and cost-reduction initiatives and ensure benefits are measurable, validated and sustained. Monitor direct labor, overtime, manufacturing expenses and productivity performance and implement actions to address unfavorable trends.