Required Qualifications:  

• A Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Chemical or Mechanical is required. (May consider other engineering degrees)
• Must have some continuous flow manufacturing vs Batch (Although can have both) industry experience (chemicals\steel,Pharm\possibly food if continuous flow) 
• Minimum of five (5) years of professional experience  
• A minimum of two (2) years of experience as a leader with direct reports or indirect/functional leadership experience is required. 

 Salary Range: $110,000 - 145,000 USD

Great co \with outstanding benefits and career growth

Possible Questions Chat 

Here’s how I’d prep your candidate for this Messer Zone Production Manager (Sacramento) interview—tight, practical, and aligned to what Messer actually cares about.

🎯 What Messer Will REALLY Be Testing

They’re not just hiring a plant manager—they want:

• Safety-first leader (not talk—proof)

• Multi-site operator who can execute without excuses

• Continuous flow mindset (uptime, reliability, discipline)

• Strong people leader (can develop operators/techs)

• Cost + performance accountability (COGS, uptime, PIFOT)

🔥 MOST LIKELY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (and how to answer)

1. “Tell me about your experience managing multiple sites.”

What they want: Coordination, prioritization, autonomy

Strong approach:

• of sites + distance

• Team structure (who reports to you)

• How you stay connected (KPIs, daily calls, dashboards)

• A real example of balancing competing priorities

👉 Key phrase to include:

“I run my sites through visibility, accountability, and standardization.”

2. “How do you drive a strong safety culture?”

This is HUGE for Messer

Must hit:

• Leading indicators (not just OSHA recordables)

• Near miss culture

• Behavior-based safety

• Personal involvement on floor

👉 Strong positioning:

“Safety is not compliance-driven—it’s behavior-driven. I make it visible daily.”

Give a story:

• Example where you reduced incidents

• Or corrected unsafe culture

3. “Describe your experience with Process Safety / PSM.”

Even if not deep PSM—frame it well.

Talk about:

• MOC (Management of Change)

• Permit to work

• Lockout/tagout

• Audits / incident investigations

👉 Phrase:

“I understand the difference between personal safety and process safety—and I manage both deliberately.”

4. “How do you improve plant reliability and uptime?”

They want continuous flow mindset

Hit these:

• Preventive vs predictive maintenance

• Working with reliability teams

• Data-driven decisions (downtime tracking)

👉 Example:

Reduced downtime X%
Improved OEE / uptime / throughput

5. “How do you handle underperforming employees?”

They want a leader, not a friend

Structure:

• Clear expectations

• Coaching first

• Documented follow-up

• Decisive action if needed

👉 Phrase:

“I’m fair but very clear—people know where they stand.”

6. “How do you manage costs and budgets?”

Tie to plant performance

Talk about:

• COGS awareness

• Maintenance spend vs downtime

• Inventory control

• ROI on projects

👉 Example:

“Cut maintenance costs without hurting reliability by optimizing PM schedules”

7. “Give an example of continuous improvement you led.”

They LOVE this

Use:

• Lean / Kaizen / Six Sigma (if applicable)

• Real measurable result

👉 Example:

• Throughput increase

• Scrap reduction

• Labor efficiency

8. “Why Messer?”

They want commitment (you’ve lost deals here before—important)

👉 Strong angle:

• Stability (family-owned, global)

• Industry leader (vs competitors like Linde plc)

• Long-term growth vs job hopping

9. “Are you comfortable with travel between sites (Sacramento/Ceres)?”

This has been a deal-breaker before

👉 Candidate MUST say clearly:

“Yes—I understand the travel expectations and I’m fully comfortable with it.”

No hesitation.

⚠️ LANDMINES (coach your candidate HARD on these)

• ❌ Talking too much about batch vs continuous (must emphasize continuous flow)

• ❌ Weak safety examples (“we followed OSHA…” = not enough)

• ❌ Not committing to travel

• ❌ Overreaching on salary early

• ❌ Lack of hands-on leadership stories

💡 QUESTIONS YOUR CANDIDATE SHOULD ASK

These will impress Messer:

• “What are the biggest reliability challenges across the sites today?”

• “Where do you see the biggest safety improvement opportunity?”

• “What does success look like in the first 6–12 months?”

• “How are sites currently measured—what KPIs matter most?”

🧠 FINAL COACHING (THIS IS BIG)

Tell your candidate:

👉 Be direct, structured, and concise
👉 Use real numbers (%, $, downtime, headcount)
👉 Show ownership mentality
👉 Emphasize:

• Safety leadership

• Reliability

• Team development

💬 QUICK CLOSING STATEMENT (they can use)

At the end:

“I’m very interested in this role. I understand the expectations around safety, multi-site leadership, and performance—and I’m confident I can deliver results here.”

If you want, I can:

• Do a mock interview script

• Or tailor answers specifically to your candidate’s resume (that’s where we can really win this one)