CCollegeMatcher

Industrial Production Managers

US occupation · SOC 11-3051

Job titles people report: Area Plant Manager, Assembly Manager, General Production Manager, Manufacturing Coordinator, Manufacturing Manager, Plant Manager, Product Line Manager, Production Control Manager, Production Manager, Sub Plant Manager

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$126,060
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$98,160 – $161,880
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
246,250
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+2.6%
Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
Openings a year (projected)
17,000
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Bachelor's degree
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

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

Main tasks

  • Set and monitor product standards, examining samples of raw products or directing testing during processing, to ensure finished products are of prescribed quality.
  • Direct or coordinate production, processing, distribution, or marketing activities of industrial organizations.
  • 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.
  • Review operations and confer with technical or administrative staff to resolve production or processing problems.
  • Hire, train, evaluate, or discharge staff or resolve personnel grievances.
  • Develop or implement production tracking or quality control systems, analyzing production, quality control, maintenance, or other operational reports to detect production problems.
  • Prepare and maintain production reports or personnel records.
  • Review plans and confer with research or support staff to develop new products or processes.

More specific O*NET® occupations under this one: Biofuels Production Managers, Biomass Power Plant Managers, Geothermal Production Managers, Hydroelectric Production Managers, Quality Control Systems Managers.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Bachelor's degree
Work experience in a related job: 5 years or more
O*NET Job Zone 4
Considerable preparation
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Enterprising: leading, persuading and making business decisions
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 9 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Business

  • Business/Commerce, General
  • Business Administration and Management, General
  • Logistics, Materials, and Supply Chain Management
  • Operations Management and Supervision
  • Science/Technology Management

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Business at the Major step.

Where many students take business

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Engineering

  • Industrial Engineering

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Engineering at the Major step.

Where many students take engineering

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Health & Nursing

  • Clinical and Industrial Drug Development
  • Industrial and Physical Pharmacy and Cosmetic Sciences

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Health & Nursing at the Major step.

Where many students take health & nursing

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Other fields

Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.

Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians

  • Engineering/Industrial Management

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk