Director of Fabrication Abilene TX

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Position Summary

The Director of Fabrication is responsible for the overall leadership, financial performance, safety, quality, estimating, planning, and production of the company's pipe and modular fabrication operations in Abilene, Texas.

This position will operate the fabrication facility as a business unit and will have full responsibility for the Fabrication Business Unit P&L, including revenue, gross margin, overhead, labor productivity, estimating performance, project execution, and capital planning.

The Director of Fabrication will provide leadership across estimating, QA/QC, safety, production, project execution, scheduling, material management, facility operations, and workforce planning to ensure fabrication work is executed safely, efficiently, on schedule, within budget, and in accordance with company and client quality requirements.

The Director will work closely with Construction, Engineering, Project Management, Project Controls, Supply Chain, Finance, and Executive Leadership to ensure the fabrication facility supports both internal EPC projects and external fabrication opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

Business Unit Leadership & P&L

Provide overall leadership and accountability for the Fabrication Business Unit.

Own and manage the fabrication facility's annual P&L, revenue, gross margin, overhead, and profitability targets.

Develop annual operating plans, budgets, forecasts, and business objectives.

Monitor backlog, revenue projections, shop loading, labor requirements, and capacity utilization.

Establish and track key performance indicators for safety, quality, productivity, schedule, cost, and profitability.

Identify opportunities to improve margins, productivity, throughput, and overall financial performance.

Participate in strategic planning for growth of the company's fabrication capabilities and market presence.

 

Fabrication Operations & Production

Ensure projects are properly planned, staffed, sequenced, and executed to meet required delivery dates.

Maintain visibility of shop capacity and develop short- and long-term production forecasts.

Establish production goals and monitor actual performance against planned hours and production quantities.

Drive improvements in labor productivity, workflow, material handling, equipment utilization, and shop layout.

Coordinate production priorities across multiple projects and clients.

Ensure fabrication activities are properly integrated with engineering, procurement, construction, and project schedules.

Estimating & Preconstruction

Review and approve all fabrication estimates prior to executive review.

Ensure estimates accurately reflect labor productivity, material requirements, equipment, subcontracting, indirect costs, schedule requirements, and risk.

Establish and maintain fabrication estimating standards, historical productivity data, and estimating metrics.

Participate in bid reviews and major proposal decisions.

Review estimate-to-actual performance and incorporate lessons learned into future estimates.

Support development of competitive fabrication pricing while maintaining required margins and risk controls.

Financial & Project Controls

Monitor project budgets, earned hours, actual hours, productivity, cost-to-complete, and forecasted margins.

Review fabrication project financial performance regularly with Project Management and Finance.

Ensure accurate forecasting of revenue, cost, and gross margin.

Identify unfavorable cost or schedule trends early and implement corrective action.

Monitor fabrication backlog and resource loading to ensure appropriate staffing and capacity.

Develop measurable productivity standards for major fabrication activities.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Provide executive oversight of the fabrication QA/QC program.

Ensure compliance with applicable ASME, AWS, API, client specifications, project requirements, and company quality procedures.

Ensure appropriate welding procedures, welder qualifications, inspection requirements, NDE, documentation, and turnover packages are maintained.

Support continuous improvement of the company's Quality Management System.

Monitor weld rejection rates, NCRs, rework, repair rates, and other quality KPIs.

Ensure quality issues are identified, documented, corrected, and incorporated into lessons learned.

Maintain a strong culture where quality is built into the work rather than inspected in after completion.

Safety Leadership

Provide visible leadership for the company's safety culture within the fabrication facility.

Work closely with EHS Director to ensure compliance with company policies, OSHA requirements, and client expectations.

Ensure supervisors and employees understand that safe execution is a fundamental requirement of production.

Participate in safety meetings, observations, incident reviews, and corrective-action planning.

Monitor leading and lagging safety indicators.

Workforce Leadership

Develop and maintain an effective fabrication leadership organization.

Provide direct leadership to fabrication management and supervision.

Establish manpower plans based on backlog, shop loading, and production requirements.

Recruit, develop, and retain qualified supervision, welders, fitters, fabricators, equipment operators, inspectors, and other craft personnel.

Develop succession plans for critical fabrication leadership positions.

Establish clear expectations and accountability throughout the organization.

Promote training, cross-training, employee development, and advancement opportunities.

Scheduling & Planning

Maintain an integrated fabrication production schedule tied to project requirements.

Coordinate priorities with Project Management, Construction, Engineering, Procurement, and Project Controls.

Identify material, engineering, equipment, or resource constraints before they affect production.

Conduct regular production planning and scheduling meetings.

Ensure supervisors have clear work plans, drawings, materials, equipment, and manpower before work begins.

Drive a proactive planning culture rather than reactive shop management.

Materials & Supply Chain Coordination

Coordinate closely with Procurement and Material Management to ensure materials are available when required.

Monitor critical and long-lead materials that could affect fabrication schedules.

Ensure effective receiving, storage, inventory control, preservation, and issuance of fabrication materials.

Reduce lost time associated with missing materials, drawings, specifications, or information.

Facility & Capital Equipment

Maintain overall responsibility for effective utilization and condition of the fabrication facility.

Develop recommendations for capital equipment, automation, facility improvements, and technology investments.

Evaluate equipment investments based on safety, productivity, capacity, quality, and financial return.

Ensure preventive maintenance programs are established for critical shop equipment.

Continuously evaluate opportunities to automate or improve fabrication processes.

Continuous Improvement

Develop measurable productivity benchmarks for pipe fabrication, structural fabrication, modular assembly, welding, fitting, material handling, and related operations.

Implement Lean manufacturing and continuous-improvement principles where appropriate.

Track planned versus actual labor hours and identify root causes of productivity variance.

Standardize processes and work practices throughout the facility.

Utilize technology, automation, data, and production metrics to increase visibility and improve decision-making.

Key Performance Indicators

The Director of Fabrication will be accountable for performance metrics including:

Safety performance

Fabrication Business Unit revenue

Gross margin and EBITDA contribution

Overhead performance

Backlog and shop loading

Labor productivity

Planned versus actual labor hours

Schedule performance and on-time delivery

Estimate versus actual performance

Weld rejection and repair rates

Rework and NCRs

Material availability

Shop utilization and throughput

Client satisfaction

Employee retention and development

Qualifications

Required

10+ years of progressive experience in industrial fabrication, construction, manufacturing, or EPC operations.

5+ years in a significant fabrication leadership role.

Demonstrated experience managing pipe fabrication and/or modular fabrication operations.

Strong understanding of welding, fitting, piping, structural fabrication, modular assembly, and industrial construction.

Demonstrated ability to manage budgets, forecasts, labor productivity, and financial performance.

Strong understanding of fabrication estimating and project controls.

Experience managing multiple projects and competing production priorities.

Strong leadership and organizational-development skills.

Ability to communicate effectively with craft employees, supervisors, project teams, clients, and executive leadership.

Preferred

Experience with both pipe fabrication and modular/skid fabrication.

Experience within an EPC or industrial construction organization.

Knowledge of ASME and AWS fabrication requirements.

Experience with ASME code fabrication and applicable quality programs.

Experience implementing Lean manufacturing, production tracking, or fabrication automation.

Leadership Expectations

The successful Director of Fabrication will operate the Abilene fabrication facility with an ownership mentality.

This individual is expected to understand not only what is happening on the shop floor, but also why it is happening and how it affects the financial performance of the business.

The Director must be equally comfortable reviewing a P&L and forecast with executive leadership, reviewing an estimate with the estimating team, discussing weld quality with QA/QC, evaluating productivity with shop supervision, and walking the facility with employees to identify safety and operational improvements.

The position requires a leader who creates accountability while developing people and building a fabrication organization capable of supporting the continued growth of the company.

Measures of Success

A safe fabrication operation with strong employee engagement and accountability.

Consistent achievement of Business Unit revenue and profitability targets.

Predictable fabrication schedules and on-time project delivery.

Accurate estimating and improved estimate-to-actual performance.

Measurable improvements in labor productivity and shop throughput.

Strong quality performance with minimal rework and weld repairs.

Effective utilization of manpower, equipment, and facility capacity.

Development of a strong fabrication leadership and supervisory team.

Effective coordination between Fabrication, Engineering, Procurement, Project Management, Construction, and Project Controls.

Continued expansion of the company's ability to competitively execute pipe, skid, and modular fabrication work.