Controller Operations & Systems

Company Description:

Founded in Cleveland in 1944, WLS specializes in short and medium run metal stamping, fabrication and laser cutting to service a wide variety of industries.

Position Summary:

The Controller – Operations & Systems is responsible for driving measurable improvements in labor productivity, costing accuracy, inventory control, and data integrity across manufacturing operations. This is not a traditional accounting role. This position owns the connection between shop floor performance, financial results, and system data.

Core Mandate

• Own the truth: reconcile ERP data to actual shop floor performance
• Eliminate inefficiencies: drive earned vs paid labor accountability
• Fix costing: align quoted, standard, and actual performance
• Build systems: automate reporting and eliminate manual processes
• Drive action: lead and drive corrective action across departments

Key Responsibilities

• Labor & Throughput Control
• Own weekly earned vs paid labor reporting
• Identify and eliminate top labor losses
• Challenge run rates vs standards

Costing Discipline

• Maintain and continuously correct standard costing
• Build feedback loop from actual performance to quoting
• Quantify and reduce margin erosion

Systems & Automation

• Lead implementation of modern finance and reporting systems
• Automate recurring reporting and analytics
• Build dashboards linking operational and financial performance

Data & AI Utilization

• Use AI daily to accelerate analysis and identify anomalies
• Automate data reconciliation and reporting workflows

Inventory & Data Integrity

• Own inventory accuracy and cycle count processes
• Reconcile ERP data to shop floor reality

Qualifications

• 7–15+ years in manufacturing finance
• Strong standard costing expertise
• Tech-savvy with modern systems (ERP, analytics, automation)
• Proven ability to drive operational change