Vocational Index

Career

Industrial production managers

Run the factory floor: output, quality, people and schedules.

$126,060
Median pay
+2.6%
Job growth, 2025–35
17,000
Openings a year
Bachelor's degree
Typical education
4 years
Typical time after high school

Here's what you actually need to know.

The work

What people in this job do

  • 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.

The outlook

How the forecast changed this year

2024–34 edition+1.9%2025–35 edition+2.6%
Projected 10-year growth in last year's and this year's BLS projections. 17,100 → 17,000 openings a year.

The deeper question

What kind of person does this path ask you to become?

What this work centers on

Persuasion & leadership
6.0
Information & systems
5.2
Objects & tools
4.0
Ideas & analysis
2.9
People & care
1.9
Creation & expression
1.4

O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.

The work

Do you want most of your days spent on persuasion & leadership, then information & systems?

Responsibility

Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?

“Set and monitor product standards, examining samples of raw products or directing testing during processing, to ensure finished products are of prescribed quality.”

Development

What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?

Monitoring, Critical Thinking, Speaking, Judgment and Decision Making.

Trade-offs

What does it ask of you in exchange?

4 years of education after high school (bachelor's degree), for a median of $126,060 a year and 17,000 openings nationally each year.

Paths in

Degrees that lead here

Paths across

Careers that use similar skills

  • General and Operations Managers$105,770 · +5.0%
  • Quality Control Systems Managers
  • Biomass Power Plant Managers
  • Biofuels Production Managers
  • Supply Chain Managers

Ask anything about this career.

“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.

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Sources

  1. BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  2. BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  3. O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  4. CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.