This Month: Plant Managers

November: Sales and Marketing Executives

December: Laboratory & Technical Managers

Where in the United States do lube plant managers draw the best salaries? That definitely would be the Northcentral region, which includes Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.

How large a staff does the average plant manager supervise? Twenty-eight people if its a lube manufacturing plant, just 15 if its a lube distributorship. Do women who rise to the level of plant manager reap the same rewards as men? Not quite – but the gap between the genders is very slender, less than 7 percent.

In what direction are salaries heading, compared with 2002 and 2004? Thats where the answers become gloomier, as respondents to this years survey report average compensation that is notably lower in some cases than reported in prior years. Hardest hit have been plant managers with lube distributors; their average reported pay is about 2.5 percent lower than the level shown in our 2004 survey. More fortunate are lube manufacturing plant managers, whose reported average salary has ticked up 5 percent over the past two years.

These are just a few of the glimpses into lube plant managers pay to be found in LubesnGreases 2006 Salary Survey, an exclusive study conducted every other year to find out how the industry rewards its key professionals.

Plant managers working for lube distributors in the United States report making an average $68,500 in 2006, the survey shows. Managers of lube manufacturing plants, on the other hand, make substantially more, scooping up an average of almost $99,700 a year. In 2004, the average reported salaries for these positions were $70,300 and $94,800, respectively.

Whos in Charge?

Whether he or she works for a lube manufacturer or distributor, the typical plant manager responding to the 2006 Salary Survey is 50 years old. (Thats a bit more seasoned than the average response to the 2004 and 2002 surveys. In both those years the average age was 47.) Forty-five of the 2006 respondents say they work for lube blenders, and 35 for lube distributors. And 10 percent of the respondents this year are women.

In sheer number of years on the job, theres little difference between those working at lube manufacturing and distributing companies. Our 80 plant managers together have an average 20 years of work experience, and say they have been with their current employer for 13 years. Theyve also held their current job for a bit over seven years, on average.

The number of people they supervise does diverge however along manufacturing/distributing lines, with significantly larger staffing duties falling on the shoulders of those who work for lube blenders. Managers at lube manufacturing plants report supervising an average of 28 people (the median is 16), while those at distributorships typically handle a staff numbering 15 (median: 11).

Location Counts

Salaries for our 2006 respondents do not vary too widely among the geographic regions in the United States. A solid majority of the respondents say they work in the countrys middle, with 56 percent hailing from the Northcentral and the Southcentral regions. The Western states together account for roughly 15 percent of the respondents, and the rest are Easterners.

Median salaries for all plant managers range from $80,000 to $85,000 in most of the nation. Reported salaries in one region, the Northwest, are quite a bit lower, at a median $65,000 – but the responses from that region are heavily weighted toward managers at lube distributorships, and they match the national median of $65,000 for such jobs.

The highest median salaries reported, at $90,000, are generated in the Northcentral states, which include such manufacturing strongholds as Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. Responses from this region were heavily slanted towards lube manufacturing plant managers, who represent 70 percent of the surveys returned from this area and probably made the figures skew a bit higher as a result. But distributor plant managers dont do badly here either, with a median salary of $70,000 in the Northcentral region, versus the national median of $65,000.

Size and Payday

Roughly half the lube plant managers responding to the 2006 Salary Survey say they work for companies with 50 or fewer employees, including 12 percent who work for the smallest of companies (10 or fewer employees). One-third work for companies with work forces ranging from 51 to 500. And the rest – 16 percent – are with companies having more than 500 employees.

Like earlier surveys, this years responses show that as company size goes up, generally so does the pay given to plant managers, for both median and mean salaries.

Median salaries in 2006 progressed with lockstep regularity, from $60,000 a year for those at companies with 10 or fewer employees, to $95,000 reported at companies with 51 to 100 employees, and $122,500 paid at the top end, companies with 500-plus. The exception to this is managers at companies with 100 to 200 employees, where the reported median salary dipped back down to $60,000 a year. Here too, respondents with distributorships outnumbered those with manufacturers, by a ratio of 6-to-1.

Average salaries traveled the same curve, starting at $55,600 a year at small, 10-and-under companies, rising to $95,000 on average at companies with 51 to 100 hires, and then sinking back to $70,200 for those at companies with 100 to 200 employees. Average salaries for plant managers at the largest companies – over 500 workers – reached a healthy $114,000 as well.

Womans Work

For the first time, the Salary Survey sought to discern whether women in the lubricants industry differ significantly from men in both their work experience and their compensation. This year, 10 percent of the 2006 plant manager respondents identified themselves as women, versus only 4 percent to 7 percent in prior years. Like our male respondents, a bit more than half of the female respondents are managers at lube manufacturing plants, versus distributorships.

In terms of age and experience, women responding to the survey bring to the table similar assets as the men. Their average reported age is 49; for men, its 50. Both men and women have an average 20 years of relevant work experience. And both have been in their current jobs for about eight years.

One key divergence is that male plant managers report supervising an average 23 people. Women on average have fewer staff reporting to them, with just 17 people under their command.

Overall, while womens pay is slightly lower than that reported by their male counterparts, the gap is not huge. Women plant managers median annual salary is $75,000, while male plant managers median pay is $80,000. The top-earning plant managers, however, are male. The highest-paid male in our survey says he takes home $198,000 a year; the highest-paid female plant manager says shes paid $125,000. Both of these handsomely rewarded managers work for lube manufacturing plants, not distributors.

Something Extra

Seventy-six percent of lube manufacturing plant managers responding to the 2006 survey say they received a raise during the past year, compared with 72 percent in 2004. Managers with lube distributors were less likely to report having received a raise, with only 63 percent saying they did.

Two thirds of all plant managers – blenders and distributors alike – say they expect some kind of bonus for this year. The number saying they expect additional compensation in the form of equity, company stock or commission was much lower, with only 5 percent saying they will earn these kinds of rewards.

Thirty percent of plant managers responding to this years survey expect profit sharing; thats about the same share as in 2004 (31 percent). Lube distributor plant managers were twice as like to say they expect profit sharing as blend plant managers.