Role of the Section Manager

In many production environments, the line is so fast-paced that there is the need for a section manager to oversee each group of events. For example, in the automobile industry, there may be a chassis manager, another for windshields, seats and so on.

Since each of these individual areas has its own set of employees and its own part of the assembly process, it makes perfect sense that there is a separate manager in charge of each of these areas. Even within the electronics industry, some plants may have a different manager for different areas within the production environment.

Role of the Section Manager
In production areas that are separated by way of a particular piece of the production process, it's important that a section manager be assigned in order to keep the process of only that part of the line running smoothly. It would be very difficult indeed if one manager attempted to run two areas of an automobile assembly line that were working simultaneously.

A section manager's job includes but is not limited to the following:

• Make sure his section is running smoothly

• Be sure that there is enough inventory for the shift

• Ascertain that the line in his section is in proper mechanical order

• Assure that he has enough line workers to complete the amount of work required for his shift

• Accommodate or improvise any shortages in staff due to vacation, illness, or personal difficulties

• Confer with other section managers in order to assure that each section's line quotas are working in line with one another

• Conduct quality inspections

• Set production standards for his section

• Train new employees

It's important for each section manager to work together so that the operation runs smoothly.I f each manager attempts to run his section as a separate entity from the others, the operation will fail to run smoothly, and as such, both production and quality will suffer.

The purpose of a section manager is not to give each few employees their own manager, but to organize the assembly line so that the plant manager has better control of the line and doesn't have to be concerned with how production workers are progressing toward completing the shift's work requirement.

In some companies, in addition to the plant manager and section manager, there may also be a line manager who oversees everything that comes off the production line. In that case, the section manager will report to the line manager who in turn reports to the plant manager or production manager, contingent upon the make up of the individual company.