SUMMARY The Tool Room Manager owns the condition, repair and cavitation of every injection molding tool at Grandview, and the machine shop that supports both molding and assembly. The role reports to the Plant Manager so that tool condition is decided by the organization accountable for it, not by the organization under pressure to keep a press running. The role is accountable for recovering and sustaining cavitation to requirement, for a tool preventive maintenance program built from failure history, and for writing tooling knowledge into the plant so it does not depend on any one person. It is also accountable for building the tool room capability needed to take on new platform work without third parties. The mold is a capacity asset. A blocked cavity is lost capacity with a cost and a return date, not a maintenance statistic.
LEADERS Leaders are expected to create a safe work environment through implementation and commitment to the Safety & Health - Vision, Mission, Values, and the Safety Principles of Conduct. Promote safety by following company and site safety policies and procedures, responding to safety non-conformance by coaching to correct behaviors, and encouraging and supporting employees by attending employee safety meetings and recognizing safe behaviors.
SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL
All employees are expected to act in a safe manner at all times and ensure that those around them do not put themselves or others at risk. Everyone is personally accountable for his/her own safety as well as that of their co-workers. Safety and health is a shared responsibility of everyone in the organization and a condition of employment. We value and expect engagement out of all employees. Co-workers share the responsibility for doing the right thing for the environment and carrying out the stewardship principles addressed in our Environmental Policy. We will provide the resources necessary to implement this policy, and management will conduct periodic reviews to ensure its ongoing effectiveness. SCOPE
Operation Tool room and machine shop across two shifts; available for critical tooling failures on all shifts Departments Owned Injection mold tool room (tool and die); CNC machining and machine shop Direct Reports Tool room supervisor or lead toolmakers; toolmakers and mold technicians; CNC machinists Internal Customers Operations Manager - molds released to production. Maintenance Manager - machined rebuild parts and spares for assembly and molding equipment. Center Structure Cost center with full cost transparency and documented service level agreements with Operations and with Maintenance. Internal chargebacks are not used. Does Not Own Molding presses, auxiliary equipment or assembly equipment maintenance - Maintenance Manager. Process windows, output, cycle time to standard or scrap disposition - Operations Manager. Quality standards and metrology - Quality Manager. OEE Ownership Owns the Availability loss on tool-coded stoppages. Tier Participation Presents tooling availability and blocked cavities at Tier 2a; prepares and presents own section at Tier 3
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Other duties may be assigned. Must follow all work rules and policies. 30% Mold Condition & Cavity Recovery: Own mold condition across the full tooling asset base, with a condition assessment, refurbishment plan, life cycle and replacement horizon for every active mold. Own cavitation to the plant requirement. Own the blocked-cavity record: every blocked cavity documented with root cause, cost of lost capacity, repair plan and committed return-to-service date. Own cavity and core work, venting, gating, ejection, cooling circuits, parting line and dimensional restoration to print. Release molds to production formally, with documented condition, verified cavitation and first-article support; no mold returns to service on verbal approval. 15% Hot Runner & Manifold Systems: Own hot runner and manifold diagnosis, repair, requalification and spares strategy. Treat manifold and nozzle failures as capacity events with formal root cause, not routine repairs. Deliver hot runner and manifold improvement work in the plant recovery plan against its dates. 15%Tool Preventive Maintenance: Build a preventive maintenance plan for every active mold from failure history rather than the calendar, recorded as tool-coded work in MaintainX. Keep tool PM current, published weekly. Eliminate repeat tool failures. 15%CNC Machining & Machine Shop: Own CNC machining for spares fabrication, tooling modification, sub-assembly manufacture and machining rebuilds for assembly equipment, delivered to Maintenance against the agreed service level. Ensure machined spares and sub-assembly stations are prebuilt, inspected and staged for SMED events, and measure the tooling contribution to changeover time. 10%Tooling Standards, Documentation & Suppliers: Hold a current drawing package in the plant for every active mold. Write tooling standards and the repair playbook so knowledge sits in the plant rather than with a person. Manage outside toolmakers with drawing packages as a condition of acceptance. Support new tool acceptance and launch with Quality and Operations under APQP, and build the capability to do new platform work without third parties. 15% People, Cost & Reporting: Lead through the tool room supervisor and lead toolmakers across two shifts. Hold weekly one-on-ones and document coaching. Build bench strength through cross-training, apprenticeship and knowledge capture. Own the operating budget and report cost against plan monthly with variance explained. Quantify and publish the cost of lost capacity from blocked cavities and tool-coded downtime. Build capital and cost-reduction cases with a documented baseline and stated alternatives. Maintain tooling records to ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015. Prepare and present the tooling scorecard at Tier 3.
QUALIFICATIONS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Tooling depth is the first requirement. It is not tradeable against years of general maintenance or operations management.
EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE
- Journeyman toolmaker or mold maker certification, or a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline; or an equivalent combination of education and directly applicable injection mold experience.
- Minimum ten years of multi-cavity injection mold tooling experience in a high-volume environment, including five years leading skilled trades.
- Hands-on hot runner and manifold diagnosis, repair and requalification.
- Demonstrated recovery of cavitation or tool availability, with a documented baseline, the countermeasures applied, and the measured result.
- Has built a tool preventive maintenance program from failure history rather than the calendar.
- Has managed outside toolmakers with drawing packages as a condition of acceptance.
- Has supervised a tool room across two shifts, with availability for critical failures.
- Demonstrated ownership of an operating budget and construction of capital business cases.
- Preferred: packaging, dispensing, or closures high-cavitation tooling; mold qualification and launch under APQP and PPAP; SMED implementation with a measured changeover reduction; CAD/CAM; Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE (REQUIRED)
- Injection Mold Construction & Repair: Multi-cavity tooling, venting, gating, cooling circuits, ejection systems, parting line condition and dimensional restoration.
- Hot Runner & Manifold Systems: Diagnosis, repair, balancing, requalification and spares strategy.
- Machining: CNC milling and turning, EDM and grinding, with sufficient CAM knowledge to direct and check machinists’ work.
- Dimensional Control: GD&T, shrink and dimensional correction, first-article inspection, and working with metrology to prove a correction.
- Tool Wear vs Process Drift: Tool steel measurement sufficient to attribute a failing dimension to the tool or the process with evidence.
- Problem Solving: A3, 5-Why and fishbone as a normal working method rather than an event.
- Systems: MaintainX or equivalent CMMS; ERP (JD Edwards EnterpriseOne preferred); CAD viewing; advanced Excel.
LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES (REQUIRED)
The technical requirements above are necessary but not sufficient. These competencies are assessed with the same rigor.
- Documentation: Writes tooling knowledge into the plant - drawing packages, standards, repair records - rather than holding it personally. This is a core deliverable of the role.
- Capacity Thinking: Prioritizes repair by production impact and states clearly what is being deferred and what that deferral will cost.
- Ownership: Takes accountability for tool condition and availability. No finger-pointing at process, operations or maintenance.
- Data Ownership: Publishes cavitation, blocked cavities and PM backlog whether they are good or bad, and can explain any of them without a subordinate in the room.
- Bench Strength: Develops toolmakers and machinists so that the tool room does not depend on any one person, including this role.
- Business Literacy: Understands how cavitation and tool availability translate into capacity, margin and the plant’s ability to win new work, and can speak to it in front of corporate leadership.
WHAT THIS ROLE IS NOT
Stated plainly so that the scope is understood before the interview rather than after.
- It is not a press or equipment maintenance role. Molding presses, auxiliaries and assembly equipment sit with the Maintenance Manager.
- It is not a production role. It does not own output, process windows or cycle time to standard.
- It does not own quality standards or metrology. Those sit with Quality.
It owns the tools, the machine shop, and the evidence that both deliver the capacity the plant needs.
LANGUAGE, MATHEMATICAL & REASONING SKILLS
Ability to read and interpret mold drawings, engineering drawings, GD&T, machining programs, safety rules and procedure manuals. Ability to write repair records, corrective action responses and capital justifications, and to present tooling condition and capacity data to plant leadership, corporate leadership, mold vendors and customers. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percentage and to work in inches and millimeters. Ability to calculate shrink and dimensional correction, cavitation, MTBF, MTTR, PM adherence, tool availability and the dollarized cost of lost capacity. Ability to determine whether a defect originates in the tool, the machine, the process or the material, and to prove it rather than assert it.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT
While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to stand, walk, talk, and hear; frequently required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and sit, bend, stoop, twist, kneel, squat, or crawl. The employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus are required. This position works in a tool room and general manufacturing environment with machine tools, injection molding presses, hydraulic systems, hot surfaces, overhead cranes, and powered industrial trucks. The noise level is usually moderate to loud, and hearing protection and other personal protective equipment are required in designated areas. The role supports two tool room shifts and requires availability for critical tooling failures on all shifts. Approximately 5% travel may be required for mold vendor and supplier support.
LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMER
The above job description is meant to describe the general nature and level of work being performed; it is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required for the position.
All job requirements are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health and safety of themselves or other employees.
This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform other job-related duties requested by their supervisor in compliance with Federal and State Laws.
Requirements are representative of minimum levels of knowledge, skills and/or abilities. To perform this job successfully, the employee must possess the abilities or aptitudes to perform each duty proficiently. Continued employment remains on an “at-will” basis.
Silgan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, or the presence of a disability, which would not prevent the performance of essential job duties with, or without reasonable accommodation of any other protective status. Silgan is a drug-free workplace.