General Manager

Job Description

General Manager Job Description

About Wilevco

Founded in 1956, Wilevco is an assembler and dealer of food manufacturing machinery for producers ranging from multinational corporations like Tyson, Cargill, Conagra to small privately owned companies. Currently 16 employees (including two salespeople and an engineer working remotely) we operate out of a company-owned, 16,000 square foot facility in Billerica, MA. Most customers are in North America as well as Great Britain, South Africa, and Australia.

New ownership took over in 2020. Since then, we have reinvested in the business, adding product lines and expertise to better support customers. As revenue has tripled, the business has outgrown its existing systems.

Role Description

Wilevco is seeking a dynamic and hands-on General Manager to lead day-to-day operations in Billerica, MA and help guide and stabilize the company through its next phase of growth. This is a highly visible, in the office every day, leadership role. Will work closely with the Owner while taking charge of core functions including Shop / Production, Operations, Engineering, and administration, allowing the Owner to focus on customer relationships and sales.

Candidate Characteristics

· Customer focused leader to take responsibility for day-to-day operations

· Hands on, highly visible – internal face of the company and the person that people come to for direction and support

· Manages by walking around and being seen. Has presence, instills confidence even if they haven’t done it before

· Servant leader, focused on building and empowering the team

· Improves company culture – commitment to customers, accountability, attitude, morale, professionalism

· Understands the need to act immediately to solve customer issues

· Holds everyone – including themselves and (especially) Owner – to high standards

· Energized by the opportunity to improve systems, elevate team performance, and build a high-performing organization.

· Quarterbacks problem solving / firefighting – and then creates and installs process to prevent the problem from happening again

Key Responsibilities

· Work closely with Owner to build an operationally excellent business focused on customers

· Take charge of core internal functions including production, operations, engineering, and accounting, allowing the Owner to focus on customer relationships and Sales

· Drive accountability through the “order to cash” process across departments

· Passion to improve systems, elevate team performance, and build a high-performing team

· Ready to firefight – when customers are down or looking for information must shift priorities and act quickly to get them the answers they need …

· . . . And then identify the core issue and install solution to prevent it from happening again

· Mentor, motivate, and develop staff across departments; foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement

· Conduct regular 1:1 and team meetings to set expectations, align priorities, and ensure results

· Manage staffing, performance reviews, and training/development needs

Reports

With Owner’s support, responsible for day-to-day management of four internal departments:

Engineering

· Manage engineering team of three

· Ensure models, drawings, BOMS, assembly documentation, and other materials are accurate, complete, functional, and consistent with company policy

· With Owner, set engineering priorities and ensure milestones are met

Shop / Production

· Support Production Manager to ensure that builds are completed on safety, on quality, on design, on time, on budget

· Lead / Push Continuous Improvement of production path

· Work with the production team to set schedule - prioritize builds, manage shop resources, and eliminate bottlenecks.

· Own QC, documentation, and testing of all builds

· Ensure customer tests are properly setup, completed, and documented

Operations

· Support Operations Manager to ensure that we have the right parts and machine inventory to support customers

· Oversee parts inventory levels and purchasing to ensure that customers are fully supported

· Ensure Warehouse and Parts area are clean, organized, and efficient

· Ensure parts inventory levels are set to support customers without wasting resources

Financial Management

· Direct support of Senior Accountant

· Know and understand in detail Payables, Receivables, Cash Flow. Hold weekly / monthly review and follow up

· Know and understand what we are spending money on and how we can get savings

· With outside accounting firm support Senior Accountant in FP&A (currently QuickBooks)

Limited support of Installations / Service Manager