Production team leader vs assistant production manager

The differences between production team leaders and assistant production managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a production team leader and an assistant production manager. Additionally, an assistant production manager has an average salary of $60,730, which is higher than the $38,780 average annual salary of a production team leader.

The top three skills for a production team leader include customer service, safety procedures and quality standards. The most important skills for an assistant production manager are OSHA, production schedules, and safety procedures.

Production team leader vs assistant production manager overview

	Production Team Leader	Assistant Production Manager
Yearly salary	$38,780	$60,730
Hourly rate	$18.64	$29.20
Growth rate	-	10%
Number of jobs	149,057	91,839
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	2	2

What does a production team leader do?

A production team leader is in charge of leading and overseeing the efforts of a production team, ensuring projects are carried out in adherence to its goals and timelines. It is their duty to set guidelines and objectives, manage budgets and schedules, liaise with internal and external parties, and assess the performance of team members. They must also monitor the progress of operations and address issues and concerns, resolving them promptly and efficiently. Moreover, a production team leader must encourage and lead staff to reach goals while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

What does an assistant production manager do?

An assistant production manager is responsible for planning and overseeing an organization's manufacturing operations, ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. They work under the directives and supervision of a production manager and present them with regular progress reports. Moreover, an assistant production manager also performs support tasks such as preparing guidelines and timelines, assessing the workforce's performance, liaising with internal and external parties, maintaining records, coordinating staff, and resolving issues and concerns. They must also lead and encourage staff while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

Production team leader vs assistant production manager salary

Production team leaders and assistant production managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Production Team Leader	Assistant Production Manager
Average salary	$38,780	$60,730
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $59,000	Between $39,000 And $93,000
Highest paying City	Brentwood, NY	Piscataway, NJ
Highest paying state	Wyoming	New Jersey
Best paying company	Plug Power	Pace University
Best paying industry	Automotive	Automotive

Differences between production team leader and assistant production manager education

There are a few differences between a production team leader and an assistant production manager in terms of educational background:

	Production Team Leader	Assistant Production Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Production team leader vs assistant production manager demographics

Here are the differences between production team leaders' and assistant production managers' demographics:

	Production Team Leader	Assistant Production Manager
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 69.9% Female, 30.1%	Male, 65.6% Female, 34.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.6% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 5.0% White, 61.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.4% Asian, 5.1% White, 60.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between production team leader and assistant production manager duties and responsibilities

Production team leader example responsibilities.

Devise and implement procedures to achieve ISO registration.
Manage manufacturing department operations to ensure compliance with establish quality specifications, production levels, and FDA regulations.
Enforce policy and procedures including GMP and HACCP; ensure employees follow FDA, GDA, OHSA regulations.
Request parts from materials warehouse, assist and troubleshoot assembly procedures; research part numbers, build procedures and schematics.
Improve general production and quality of product by ensuring strict commitment to GMP, FDA regulations, and standard operating procedures.
Participate in Kaizen meetings to increase production efficiency and reduce downtime.

Assistant production manager example responsibilities.

Manage welding and CNC machinery operations.
Lead targeted decision-making across fast-pace production operations for this growth-orient USDA food factory producing quality meat products.
Establish first compute environment standards for production Unix platforms.
Serve as client liaison communicating project status and SLA requirements.
Maintain all necessary records pertaining to HACCP and USDA regulations regarding cook/chill program.
Train students and staff on HACCP regulations, safe food handling practices and recipe adherence.

Production team leader vs assistant production manager skills

Common production team leader skills

Customer Service, 8%
Safety Procedures, 7%
Quality Standards, 6%
Work Ethic, 5%
Production Schedules, 5%
Lean Manufacturing, 5%

Common assistant production manager skills

OSHA, 8%
Production Schedules, 7%
Safety Procedures, 7%
ISO, 6%
Production Process, 5%
Payroll, 5%

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Production Team Leader
Production Team Leader vs Assistant Production Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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