The Plant Manager Factor: How They Make or Break Your MES Hire

A client hires a fantastic Director of MES , smart, experienced, culturally aligned. Six weeks in, they call and say they think they have made a mistake. The issue was not the hire. It was the plant manager, who felt threatened, had not been included early, and quietly shut down support for the rollout.

Why Ops Alignment Is Non-Negotiable

After hundreds of interviews and conversations with MES leaders, this theme comes up again and again: if Ops leadership is not brought in early, the MES programme will face resistance no matter how good your hire is.

The best MES leaders know how to identify plant influencers early, secure support with respect rather than command, and make plant managers co-owners rather than blockers.

Building Alignment Into Your Hiring Process

If your hiring and onboarding process does not factor in plant leadership alignment, you are setting your new VP or Director up for internal headwinds from day one.

When hiring for senior MES roles:

• Loop in plant leadership before the offer is signed
• Position the role as a partner, not a project driver
• Make success a shared metric across Ops and Digital

Because when the plant manager is on side, adoption flies. When they are not, you will fight for every inch.

Frequently Asked Questions