Senior production manager vs production supervisor

The differences between senior production managers and production supervisors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a senior production manager and a production supervisor. Additionally, a senior production manager has an average salary of $128,721, which is higher than the $63,391 average annual salary of a production supervisor.

The top three skills for a senior production manager include project management, continuous improvement and lean manufacturing. The most important skills for a production supervisor are lean manufacturing, safety procedures, and production schedules.

Senior production manager vs production supervisor overview

	Senior Production Manager	Production Supervisor
Yearly salary	$128,721	$63,391
Hourly rate	$61.89	$30.48
Growth rate	3%	-
Number of jobs	55,902	83,529
Job satisfaction	-	4.33
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Average age	48	46
Years of experience	2	2

What does a senior production manager do?

Basically, a Senior Production Manager takes responsibility for supervising the production reports in assigned departments. Senior Production Managers are in charge of the product workmanship or product quality of methods, techniques, and processes. They focus on conformance with economical manufacturing objectives, profit goals, and production schedules. They ensure that the production process is on time and within the budget.

What does a production supervisor do?

Production supervisors are employees who oversee the production process, usually handling activities directly related to people management. They manage employees by ensuring that the production floor employees are doing their work well and are motivated. Production supervisors guide employees and ensure that everyone is working towards company goals. They properly communicate these goals as well as the strategies to meet the set goals. Production supervisors have a direct hand in the hiring and subsequent training of employees. They should have good communication skills, decision-making skills, and leadership skills.

Senior production manager vs production supervisor salary

Senior production managers and production supervisors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Production Manager	Production Supervisor
Average salary	$128,721	$63,391
Salary range	Between $91,000 And $181,000	Between $43,000 And $91,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Fremont, CA
Highest paying state	Alaska	California
Best paying company	The Walt Disney Company	Intuitive Surgical
Best paying industry	Technology	Automotive

Differences between senior production manager and production supervisor education

There are a few differences between a senior production manager and a production supervisor in terms of educational background:

	Senior Production Manager	Production Supervisor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	Stanford University

Senior production manager vs production supervisor demographics

Here are the differences between senior production managers' and production supervisors' demographics:

	Senior Production Manager	Production Supervisor
Average age	48	46
Gender ratio	Male, 65.5% Female, 34.5%	Male, 83.4% Female, 16.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 13.1% Asian, 9.1% White, 69.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 17.1% Asian, 5.0% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	8%	6%

Differences between senior production manager and production supervisor duties and responsibilities

Senior production manager example responsibilities.

Train all plant departments in following them in the IBM AS400 system achieving a significant reduction in transaction errors.
Manage and direct production QA and QC managers to ensure top quality product ships on time and with proper packaging.
Organize and manage daily activities of design studio; including financials, operational expenses, creating BOM charts and product costing.
Manage product booking to multiple overseas business partners seasonally.
Manage all booking and costing negotiations including seasonal costing and forecasting.
Coordinate logistics, and manage entire shipping department including warehouse and employees.

Production supervisor example responsibilities.

Manage an run extruders an injection molds.
Utilize MRP system to monitor and manage raw material and finish goods inventory.
Manage employee's schedules, time off requests, vacation and payroll with the KRONOS time management software.
Manage departments responsible for beginning raw material production process using automate CNC control plasma cutting machines.
Lead targeted decision-making across fast-pace production operations for this growth-orient USDA food factory producing quality meat products.
Manage manufacturing department operations to ensure compliance with establish quality specifications, production levels, and FDA regulations.

Senior production manager vs production supervisor skills

Common senior production manager skills

Project Management, 8%
Continuous Improvement, 7%
Lean Manufacturing, 6%
SR, 4%
Production Schedules, 4%
Sigma, 4%

Common production supervisor skills

Lean Manufacturing, 9%
Safety Procedures, 6%
Production Schedules, 6%
Quality Standards, 5%
Customer Service, 4%
ISO, 4%

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Senior Production Manager
Senior Production Manager vs Production Supervisor

Updated January 8, 2025

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