Lead People. Drive Performance. Shape the Future.

Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve Ltd. is seeking an experienced Planer & Kiln Manager to lead our planer and kiln operations at our Murray Brothers Lumber Company division in Madawaska, Ontario. This is an outstanding opportunity for a hands-on leader who is passionate about safety, quality, operational excellence, and developing people.

Your Contribution

As Planer & Kiln Manager, you will provide the leadership, direction, and operational expertise needed to ensure our planer and kiln operations are conducted safely, efficiently, and to the highest quality standards. You will oversee lumber drying, finishing, production flow, quality performance, and employee development while fostering a culture where safety, accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement are at the forefront of everything we do.

Your contributions will include:

• Providing visible, hands-on leadership that promotes a culture of safety, accountability, and respect.
• Leading, coaching, mentoring, and developing a high-performing team through effective communication, training, and performance management.
• Providing overall leadership for the planer and kiln departments to ensure production schedules, quality standards, and customer commitments are consistently achieved.
• Coordinating production flow between the sawmill, kilns, planer, and shipping operations to maximize efficiency and throughput.
• Overseeing kiln schedules to ensure lumber is dried safely, efficiently, and to customer moisture specifications while minimizing degrade and maximizing recovery.
• Ensuring the planer and kiln departments consistently achieve production, quality, recovery, and customer service objectives.
• Identifying and implementing continuous improvement initiatives that enhance productivity, quality, efficiency, energy utilization, and cost performance.
• Collaborating with maintenance to maximize equipment reliability and minimize downtime through effective preventative maintenance planning.
• Monitoring departmental key performance indicators and using data to drive operational decisions and continuous improvement.
• Assisting with workforce planning, scheduling, budgeting, capital planning, and departmental performance reporting.
• Supporting recruitment, onboarding, succession planning, leadership development, and employee engagement initiatives.
• Ensuring compliance with company policies, environmental requirements, and all applicable health and safety legislation.
• Building an engaged, empowered team committed to operational excellence and continuous improvement.

Skills & Qualifications

The ideal candidate will bring a combination of technical expertise, leadership experience, business acumen, and a passion for continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum five years of progressive leadership experience in a sawmill, planer mill, kiln operation, or wood products manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated success leading, coaching, and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong understanding of planer operations, lumber drying processes, lumber manufacturing, production flow, and quality standards.
• Proven ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to build positive working relationships throughout the organization.
• Knowledge of production planning, workflow optimization, and manufacturing performance measurement.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and production reporting systems.
• Thorough understanding of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and a demonstrated commitment to workplace safety.
• Valid Ontario driver's licence.

Additional Experience We Value

• Post-secondary education in Forestry, Wood Products, Engineering, Business, Manufacturing, or a related discipline.
• Experience managing dry kiln operations, including kiln scheduling, moisture content management, and lumber drying optimization.
• Knowledge of computerized kiln control systems and drying schedules.
• Lumber grading certification or extensive knowledge of lumber grades and quality standards.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, Six Sigma, or similar operational excellence initiatives.
• Experience with budgeting, production planning, inventory management, scheduling, and performance measurement.
• Mechanical aptitude and experience collaborating with maintenance teams to improve equipment reliability and reduce downtime.
• Demonstrated success in employee coaching, performance management, succession planning, and leadership development.
• High degree of safety awareness and a proactive approach to hazard identification and risk reduction.
• Self-motivated with exceptional organizational and time management skills.
• Professionalism, integrity, accountability, and a strong work ethic.
• Adaptability and the ability to respond effectively to changing production priorities.
• Willingness to occasionally work outside regular hours to support operational needs.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Company events
• Dental care
• Employee assistance program
• Extended health care
• Life insurance
• On-site parking
• Paid time off
• Store discount
• Vision care

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Madawaska, ON: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Experience:

• Leadership: 5 years (required)
• Planer and Kiln: 5 years (required)

Work Location: In person