Production team leader vs production superintendent

The differences between production team leaders and production superintendents 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 a production superintendent. Additionally, a production superintendent has an average salary of $88,703, 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 a production superintendent are continuous improvement, OSHA, and production supervisors.

Production team leader vs production superintendent overview

	Production Team Leader	Production Superintendent
Yearly salary	$38,780	$88,703
Hourly rate	$18.64	$42.65
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	149,057	101,534
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
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 a production superintendent do?

A production superintendent oversees the production operations of manufacturing plants to ensure their efficiency and adherence to guidelines, budgets, and timelines. They have the authority to coordinate meetings with managers and teams to set objectives and schedules, supervise the use of funds, address issues and concerns, conduct assessments and evaluations, and develop strategies to meet production goals. Moreover, as a production superintendent, it is essential to lead staff while implementing the company's safety policies and regulations for a smooth and safe workflow.

Production team leader vs production superintendent salary

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

	Production Team Leader	Production Superintendent
Average salary	$38,780	$88,703
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $59,000	Between $62,000 And $125,000
Highest paying City	Brentwood, NY	East Windsor, NJ
Highest paying state	Wyoming	New Jersey
Best paying company	Plug Power	Bunge
Best paying industry	Automotive	Automotive

Differences between production team leader and production superintendent education

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

	Production Team Leader	Production Superintendent
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Production team leader vs production superintendent demographics

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

	Production Team Leader	Production Superintendent
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 69.9% Female, 30.1%	Male, 95.5% Female, 4.5%
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, 13.1% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 4.8% White, 61.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between production team leader and production superintendent 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.

Production superintendent example responsibilities.

Manage day-to-day operation and maintenance activities in a high volume, OSHA, PSM cover specialty chemical manufacturing facility.
Participate in kaizen events and lean projects.
Script SQL commands for data mining and ad-hoc reports.
Analyze vendor data and debug production databases (SQL).
Introduce Kaizen and SPC to facility and develop metrics for operating unit.
Train employees in hazard analysis of critical control points (HACCP).

Production team leader vs production superintendent 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 production superintendent skills

Continuous Improvement, 10%
OSHA, 10%
Production Supervisors, 9%
Safety Standards, 9%
Product Quality, 7%
Equipment Maintenance, 5%

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Production Team Leader
Production Team Leader vs Production Superintendent

Updated January 8, 2025

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