How To Become A Plant General Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a plant general manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Kim Roberts

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a plant general manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $56.81 an hour? That's $118,157 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 189,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a plant general manager?

Dr. Kim Roberts

Professor of Operations Management, Website

Business-related occupations offer attractive salaries and offer a variety of disciplines, such as accounting, contract management, cybersecurity, finance, human resources, logistics, marketing, management, operations, sales, and more. However, business careers are often demanding, requiring long work weeks and travel.

Skills
leadership
communication
innovation
adaptation
critical thinking
problem solving
emotional intelligence
empathy
teamwork
cultural competence
conflict management
ethics and social responsibility

ScorePlant General ManagerUS Average

Salary

8.1

Avg. Salary $118,157

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.6

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.47%

Asian 6.36%

Black or African American 6.18%

Hispanic or Latino 15.17%

Unknown 4.34%

White 67.49%

Gender

female 5.75%

male 94.25%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

9.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.2

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a plant general manager

Explore plant general manager education requirements

Most common plant general manager degrees

Bachelor's

69.7 %

Master's

12.1 %

Associate

12.1 %

Start to develop specific plant general manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Continuous Improvement	10.31%
Product Quality	8.13%
Safety Program	6.96%
Plant Operations	4.70%
OSHA	4.33%

Complete relevant plant general manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New plant general managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a plant general manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real plant general manager resumes.

Research plant general manager duties and responsibilities

Manage this facility-supplying FDA regulate delivery systems and resins for pharmaceutical, industrial, and hospital applications.
Manage the design and implementation of GMP and packaging process to improve productivity, quality and profitability.
Work closely with, sales, customer service, engineering and QA, and technical support on all new customer proposals.
Garner error-free FDA regulatory audit results by implementing new quality programs and establishing quality tracking metrics and departmental reward system.

Prepare your plant general manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your plant general manager resume.

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