---
title: "Industrial Production Manager"
description: "Plan, direct, or coordinate the work activities and resources necessary for manufacturing products in accordance with cost, quality, and quantity…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-production-manager"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Industrial Production Manager

**Category:** Management · **SOC code:** 11-3051 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 11-3051.00

Plan, direct, or coordinate the work activities and resources necessary for manufacturing products in accordance with cost, quality, and quantity specifications.

Also advertised as: Area Plant Manager; Assembly Manager; General Production Manager; Manufacturing Coordinator; Manufacturing Manager; Plant Manager; Product Line Manager; Production Control Manager.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $126,060 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $60.61/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $78,000 to $205,520, with the middle half between $98,160 and $161,880
- **Total US employment:** 246,250
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +1.9% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 17,100 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 49/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 246,250 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $78,000 |
| 25th | $98,160 |
| 50th (median) | $126,060 |
| 75th | $161,880 |
| 90th | $205,520 |
| Mean (average) | $134,170 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DE | $153,000 | $153,294 | 370 |
| WY | $151,490 | $163,436 | 390 |
| MA | $148,050 | $139,991 | 4,470 |
| NJ | $147,260 | $135,343 | 6,780 |
| NH | $146,590 | $140,729 | 1,540 |
| WA | $145,210 | $135,694 | 4,760 |
| CO | $141,020 | $136,844 | 1,730 |
| CT | $134,780 | $130,084 | 3,360 |
| LA | $133,210 | $151,020 | 2,680 |
| CA | $132,620 | $119,780 | 25,130 |
| MD | $132,540 | $126,278 | 2,480 |
| TX | $130,890 | $134,859 | 21,200 |
| NY | $130,470 | $120,894 | 6,630 |
| PR | $129,740 | No BEA price parity | 1,050 |
| VA | $128,230 | $126,830 | 2,570 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-production-manager/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/industrial-production-manager.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 241,900 in the 2024–2034 base year to 246,500 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 4,600 jobs, or +1.9%. Slower than average: 1.9% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 17,100 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** 5 years or more.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 29.4% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 25.8% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 16.2% |
| Some College Courses | 11.5% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 8.1% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 5.3% |

## What the work involves

- Review operations and confer with technical or administrative staff to resolve production or processing problems.
- Review processing schedules or production orders to make decisions concerning inventory requirements, staffing requirements, work procedures, or duty assignments, considering budgetary limitations and time constraints.
- Direct or coordinate production, processing, distribution, or marketing activities of industrial organizations.
- Hire, train, evaluate, or discharge staff or resolve personnel grievances.
- Prepare and maintain production reports or personnel records.
- Develop or implement production tracking or quality control systems, analyzing production, quality control, maintenance, or other operational reports to detect production problems.
- Set and monitor product standards, examining samples of raw products or directing testing during processing, to ensure finished products are of prescribed quality.
- Coordinate or recommend procedures for facility or equipment maintenance or modification, including the replacement of machines.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Coordination — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Production and Processing — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Personnel and Human Resources — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Enterprising (E), Conventional (C), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| E — Enterprising | 6.03 |
| C — Conventional | 5.21 |
| R — Realistic | 4.00 |
| I — Investigative | 2.92 |
| S — Social | 1.85 |
| A — Artistic | 1.40 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESTJ | 88.1 |
| ISTJ | 79.1 |
| ENTJ | 68.8 |
| ESFJ | 68.5 |
| ESTP | 67.4 |

Best-fitting types: ESTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [General and Operations Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/general-and-operations-manager) — median $105,770
- [Quality Control Systems Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/quality-control-systems-manager) — median $126,060
- [Biomass Power Plant Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biomass-power-plant-manager) — median $126,060
- [Biofuels Production Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biofuels-production-manager) — median $126,060
- [Supply Chain Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/supply-chain-manager) — median $107,230
- [Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-storage-and-distribution-manager) — median $107,230
- [Geothermal Production Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geothermal-production-manager) — median $126,060
- [Construction Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-manager) — median $114,990
- [Project Management Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/project-management-specialist) — median $102,320
- [Hydroelectric Production Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydroelectric-production-manager) — median $126,060

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/industrial-production-manager