McWane Ductile Ohio - Operations Trainee

Operations Trainee is an entry-level, on-site role designed to develop future leaders in manufacturing operations. The position provides hands-on experience across production activities, quality control, safety, maintenance coordination, and continuous improvement initiatives. Trainees will rotate through key departments to gain a comprehensive understanding of plant operations, blending technical learning with early-stage leadership exposure to help prepare for supervisory responsibilities, decision-making, team coordination, and accountability for production performance. Essential duties include supporting daily production activities to meet efficiency, quality, and safety targets; monitoring operations and escalating issues; assisting in production scheduling and workflow coordination; learning and enforcing standard operating procedures; participating in Lean/Six Sigma/continuous improvement initiatives; tracking KPIs (OEE, downtime, scrap, throughput); coordinating with maintenance on equipment issues; assisting with basic troubleshooting and preventive maintenance; supporting equipment installations and process changes; following quality standards and performing root cause analysis and corrective actions; promoting safe behaviors and participating in EHS audits; cross-functional collaboration with engineering, maintenance, quality, and operations; participating in training, project teams, and leadership development with increasing responsibility including supervisory exposure; career paths include Manufacturing Department Head, Operations Management, Manufacturing/Process Engineer, and Continuous Improvement Leader.