For one thing, he has not aged (a rare talent outside of Hollywood). The average plant manager who responded to this years survey is 47 years old, and has 19 years of industry experience. He or she has been with their current employer a little more than 13 years, and supervises an average of around 22 people. Women, at only 7 percent of the respondents, are still a minority.

Thats all quite similar to what respondents to the 2002 Survey told us. So what did change?

First, the latest survey suggests that distributor plant managers may be gaining on their manufacturing counterparts, who traditionally have been far better paid. Generally, lube distributors operations are less complicated than lube manufacturing, explained one company executive. Distribution is more a throughput operation, transferring product. Manufacturing is more demanding, more processes and engineering, and probably requires supervising more people and skills.

Nevertheless, plant managers who work for lube distributors – one-third of the respondents in this job segment of the survey – reported average annual compensation of $70,359 in 2004. In 2002, plant managers at lube distributors averaged only $62,254 a year, lagging well behind their counterparts who managed plants for lube manufacturers. Median compensation at lube distributors came in at a reported $66,500 this time, versus $60,000 in 2002 and $52,000 in 2000.

By contrast, the two-thirds of respondents working for lube manufacturing companies reported an average $94,775 in compensation this year, versus $97,132 in 2002 – a slight decrease. Median compensation for these respondents was unchanged, however, at $85,000 in both 2004 and 2002; in 2000, it was $70,000.

The 2004 Survey looked at how compensation varies by type and size of company, geographic region, length of time in the job, and number of people supervised. The latest data indicates:

The highest-paid respondent reported an annual compensation of $180,000, and worked for a lubricant manufacturer. The highest compensation reported by a plant manager for a lubricant distributor was $135,000.

At the other end of the spectrum, the lowest compensation reported was $26,400 per year at a lubricant distributor. The low at a lubricant manufacturer was $33,000.

Size of the pay packet definitely goes up with the size of the workforce managed. The highest median salaries – $101,000 for lube manufacturing plant manager, $90,000 for lube distribution plant managers – went to those who supervise more than 12 people. Median compensation dropped to $76,000 and $48,000, respectively, for those supervising five or fewer people.

The median reported compensation paid to plant managers who have held their position for five years or longer (slightly over half the respondents) was $83,000 at lube manufacturers, $60,000 at lube distributors.

Forty-seven percent of the respondents say they have been in their plant management jobs fewer than five years, yet theyve managed to negotiate higher pay than those with longevity in the position. The median compensation for these relative newcomers in 2004 was $85,000 for those working at lube manufacturers, $67,000 at lube distributors.

Laws of Attraction

This is the fourth time LubesnGreases has directly surveyed key lubricants industry employees about their compensation. More than 400 individuals responded this time, including 86 who identified themselves as plant and operations managers at lube manufacturers or distributors.

These positions are among the most difficult to fill, according to executives we talked to. Young people see the lubes and chemicals business as being unglamorous, noted one lube company official. They dont want to spend the long hours in a plant, or do what we require in manufacturing. They think they can earn just as much elsewhere.

That belief was explored in Keeping America Competitive, published by the National Association of

Manufacturers, The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte Touche. Manufacturing companies, the white paper noted, are a major source of high-tech innovation, wealth creation and exciting, varied careers. Manufacturing contributes more than a quarter of the U.S. total economic output, and its varied jobs and careers averaged $54,000 in total compensation in 2000 – 20 percent higher than the national average.

But manufacturing is also battling a highly negative image; young people often view a career in manufacturing as serving a life sentence or being on a chain gang, the report found. That may be no surprise, but its a far cry from the skilled, highly motivated plant managers that lube companies say they need. At Chemtool Inc. in Crystal Lake, Ill., General Manager Dean Athans stresses that the plant managers job involves far more than cranking out endless batches. That person has to operate the plant, manage people, and also has to be able to interact professionally with local government and regulatory agencies, with the city council, make presentations to city staff, and liaison with the local people.

Athans is looking now for the right person to become plant manager for Chemtools new 65,000-square-foot lube plant in Elkhorn, Wis., which is expected to come on stream this month. Were looking within the company first, and within the region. He also thinks its important to stay within the chemical and lubricants industry when filling such a position, because of the need to understand specific fluid processes, equipment and safety issues. They need to be able to understand our safety issues, which may not be the same in non-lube manufacturing. They need to know how to use an MSDS, and to train workers.

This will actually be the second lube plant manager Athans has hired in as many years. When Chemtool opened its grease plant in Tehachapi, Calif., last October, the person I hired as plant manager was Bill Hart, who was working at a major oil companys plant on the West Coast that was being closed. He wanted to remain in California, and his wifes family is nearby in Bakersfield. So with our new plant being just 110 miles from Los Angeles, it worked out very well for us.

The search for a new plant manager is not undertaken blithely, agreed Kurtis Miller, vice president of Cargill Industrial Oils & Lubricants in Minneapolis. With more than 1,000 plants, parent company Cargill Inc. has to constantly recruit and train young talent to keep its management pipeline full. It goes at it with an arsenal of employment tools, such as an internal recruiting service, jobs available postings on the company website, and internet resources like Monster.com.

We like to hire people who are college graduates, and move them up as little as five to seven years out of college. So at a fairly early age, they can find themselves in charge of a manufacturing plant, although it may be a small one, says Miller.

Thats been the case with Jill Bayer, who joined Cargill as a freshly minted engineer. After a few years of seasoning, she was tapped recently as plant manager for Cargills newly expanded Chicago Heights, Ill., industrial lubes plant. Shell oversee a second plant expansion thats now on the drawing boards, and then two new shift managers will probably be needed as well, Miller added.

There have been times when weve had to hire from outside to get the skills we need, because Cargill Industrial Oils deviates from Cargills normal operations, which tend to be in food processing, Miller commented, but we do our best to attract and maintain and promote from within.

Promote from within is also the mantra at Allegheny Petroleum Products, says Jim Kudis, vice president. Over half of his employees have been with the company more than 10 years, and its only a 17-year-old company, he pointed out. But with more than 40 people now on the payroll, Im beginning to wonder if were getting to that point, that size, where well have to look outside for faster growth.

Allegheny opened a new lube and additive blending facility earlier this year in Ambridge, Pa., but has not yet appointed a plant manager there. Unfortunately, the two people I had in mind didnt want to take on the job right now. We do have a plant supervisor on site to handle the scheduling and daily work. Other management tasks – like interviewing new hires and ordering raw materials – are being handled for now from headquarters in Wilmerding, Pa.

Sure, hed like to hire a plant manager, Kudis said, but hed rather take his time and not be stampeded into hiring the wrong person. Well see how it goes. So far, this is working out for us.

Added Attractions

When he finds the right person, a delicate negotiation involving more than just salary will undoubtedly take place, Kudis acknowledges.

You have to keep your talent, and take care of it. That means some incentive and bonus plans can be helpful, he said. But you have to lay out the goals clearly in advance. Without clear definitions, it can cause problems. It needs to be laid out in black and white, just what the targets are, and how youll know when theyre met.

For manufacturing jobs in the Chicago market, skilled operators and laborers are very challenging to find, Cargills Miller added. So our package is very good, better than average. We use whatever we can to attract and maintain our employees without using just salaries alone.

As in previous years, the 2004 Survey looked at total compensation, not just salary, to reveal how plant managers are rewarded and motivated.

Seventy-two percent of lube manufacturing plant managers said theyd received a raise in the last 12 months, versus 55 percent of lube distributor plant managers. Thats about the same rate as 2002.

More plant managers at lube distributors – 79 percent – responded that they expect to receive a bonus this year. One in five expects a commission, and 35 percent expect some form of profit sharing.

At lube manufacturing plants, 65 percent of managers said they expect a bonus this year, yet only 4 percent expect commission. And 30 percent expect to get profit sharing.

METHODOLOGY

With guidance from experienced specialists in both surveying and personnel issues, LubesnGreases designed a salary questionnaire for key job functions at U.S. lubricant suppliers. The main objective was to investigate compensation for three professional career paths (manufacturing/production, sales and marketing, and laboratory/technical). A second objective was to determine whether companies which manufacture lubes offer higher or lower salaries than those which distribute lubes only. A third objective was to track salary trends over time.

On July 16, questionnaires were mailed to 1,250 professionals from the LubesnGreases database in the job categories under study; a reminder mailing was sent August 6. A total of 413 usable surveys were returned, for a 33 percent response rate. Participants responded directly to Charles R. Mann Associates of Washington, D.C., an independent statistical survey firm, which compiled and analyzed the results at the end of August. No one at LNG Publishing or LubesnGreases magazine saw any individual data or any of the returned forms.

The respondents included 86 plant managers; 249 individuals in sales and/or marketing; and 78 in laboratory/R&D/technical management.