Production managers spend the majority of their time ensuring everything is running smoothly and efficiently. They come up with different processes, policies, and procedures in order to increase production and improve efficiency.
Aside from being a great leader, production managers are crazy-good at planning. Since they have to hit deadlines, they have everything planned down to the second. That's why efficiency is the name of their game. They want to ensure goals and deadlines are not only met, but also completed.
While they're consistently focused on meeting deadlines, production managers care a great deal about safety. A safe work environment equals a safe and happy team. That's why production managers place a huge emphasis on complying with safety policies and regulations. A safety rule a day keeps the work incidents at bay.
How to Become a Production Manager
What is a Production Manager
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Production Manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $39.7 an hour? That's $82,584 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 1,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Production Manager Do
There are certain skills that many Production Managers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Interpersonal skills, Leadership skills and Problem-solving skills.
How To Become a Production Manager
If you're interested in becoming a Production Manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 61.7% of Production Managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.1% of Production Managers have master's degrees. Even though most Production Managers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Production Manager. When we researched the most common majors for a Production Manager, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Associate Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Production Manager resumes include High School Diploma degrees or Master's Degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Production Manager. In fact, many Production Manager jobs require experience in a role such as Production Supervisor. Meanwhile, many Production Managers also have previous career experience in roles such as Operations Manager or Manager.
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Production Manager Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a Production Manager can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as Operations Manager, progress to a title such as General Manager and then eventually end up with the title General Manager Of Operations.
Production Manager Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Production Manager
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12 Production Manager Resume Examples
Build a professional production manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your production manager resume.
Jerry Robinson Production Manager |
Terry Walker Production Manager Experience Production Manager2019 - Present Tyson Foods•Vienna, GA
Store Manager2017 - 2019 The Home Depot•Atlanta, GA
Executive Assistant2016 - 2017 Wells Fargo•Charlotte, NC
Production Coordinator2013 - 2016 CBS•New York, NY
Skills Conference CallsAdministrative TasksLogisticsPOSStore ManagementPersonnel FilesProduction ControlProduct KnowledgeQuality ChecksSQF Education High School Diploma 2013 - 2013 |
Learn How To Write a Production Manager Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Production Manager resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Production Manager Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Production Manager Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Production Manager templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Production Manager resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Production Manager Demographics
Production Manager Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among Production Managers, 23.4% of them are women, while 76.6% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among Production Managers is White, which makes up 64.8% of all Production Managers.
- The most common foreign language among Production Managers is Spanish at 56.1%.
Find the best Production Manager job for you
Production Manager Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Production Manager Jobs - $128K and Up
- Work From Home Production Manager Jobs
- Entry Level Production Manager Jobs
- Part Time Production Manager Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Production Manager Jobs
Top Colleges for Production Managers
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. Maine Maritime Academy
Castine, ME • Private
5. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
6. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
7. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
8. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
9. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
10. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
Find the best Production Manager job for you
Production Manager Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Production Manager Jobs - $128K and Up
- Work From Home Production Manager Jobs
- Entry Level Production Manager Jobs
- Part Time Production Manager Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Production Manager Jobs
Online Courses For Production Manager That You May Like
Case-based practical course on product management to build strong foundations in product concepts, process & frameworks...
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You = Super Productive. Create a daily routine, get organized & start achieving your goals with our productivity class...
Top Skills For a Production Manager
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 7.6% of Production Managers listed Continuous Improvement on their resume, but soft skills such as Interpersonal skills and Leadership skills are important as well.
Best States For a Production Manager
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Production Manager. The best states for people in this position are Washington, California, Idaho, and Nevada. Production Managers make the most in Washington with an average salary of $107,677. Whereas in California and Idaho, they would average $92,895 and $90,781, respectively. While Production Managers would only make an average of $90,603 in Nevada, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Nevada
$90,603
Avg. Salary
2. Utah
$85,850
Avg. Salary
3. California
$92,895
Avg. Salary
How Do Production Manager Rate Their Jobs?
Top Production Manager Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ Production Managers and discovered their number of Production Manager opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Murphy-brown was the best, especially with an average salary of $71,102. Aramark follows up with an average salary of $69,916, and then comes McDonald's with an average of $54,901. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a Production Manager. The employers include Fox, Cbs, and Provista
Production Manager Videos
Becoming a Production Manager FAQs
How long does it take to become a Production Manager?
It takes 6 years of professional experience to become a production manager. That is the time it takes to learn specific production manager skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 9 to 11 years years to become a production manager.
What do you call a production manager?
You can call a production manager a plant manager. A production manager in manufacturing is commonly known as a plant manager. However, many other titles are also used depending on the company and industry.
Another type of production manager works in the film industry and is sometimes called a unit producer.
Industry production or plant manager oversees an entire manufacturing plant or a specific area of production. A plant manufacturer maintains records and keeps the facility operating smoothly. A plant manager coordinates the efforts of floor supervisors and workers.
Other job titles for industry plant manager include:
Area Plant Manager
General Production Manager
Manufacturing Coordinator
Manufacturing Manager
Plant Manager
Plant Senior Manager
Product Line Manager
Production Control Manager
Production Manager
Sub Plant Manager
Another type of production manager can work in the film industry. In the film industry, a production manager is unit production manager by the Directors Guild of America and is responsible for budgets, shooting schedules, and managing the day-to-day business side of a production. The production manager also oversees what's known as "below-the-line.
What does it take to be a production manager?
What it takes to be a production manager is a hard-working attitude, supervisor experience, and a willingness to learn production.
A production manager in manufacturing maintains records of material counts, employee quotes, and more. In this position, your duties are to keep the facility working at the capacity requested by your supervisor.
Most production managers have a bachelor's degree in degree in business administration or industrial engineering. After that, experience related to operations and five or more years of experience in a supervisory or management role is needed.
There is a type of production manager that specializes in the film industry. Similar to a manufacturing production manager, a film production manager does not need a college degree. While there are no formally required qualifications to be a film production manager, most possess at least a bachelor's degree in film or theater, along with experience on a movie set.
A TV and film production manager is responsible for ensuring all aspects of film production are going according to plan and schedule. Your duties are to keep track of the budget and compare it with the expenditures, as well as to keep track of the progress of filming and keep everything in order.
What qualifications do you need to be a production manager?
The qualifications needed to be a production manager are the right culmination of fundamental manufacturing knowledge and experience working in a supervisor role in production.
Most production managers have a bachelor's degree in degree in business administration or industrial engineering. After that, experience related to operations and five or more years of experience in a supervisory or management role is needed.
To become a production manager means you must have demonstrated leadership skills in a manufacturing environment. Other skills include being proficient in computer productivity applications (e.g., Microsoft Office Suite). Finally, a production manager needs to have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Some production managers complete certification in their industry. Certification can be earned through the Association for Operations Management or the American Society for Quality.