Also called: Print Operations Manager, Production Director
Runs a printing or packaging plant that turns out labels, magazines, boxes or signs.
You check the overnight run of cereal boxes, sort out a late job for a big customer and meet with maintenance about a press that keeps smearing. You juggle staffing, ink and paper costs, and the next equipment purchase worth millions.
Based on BLS industrial production manager wages; printing pays a bit below the overall average.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in graphic communications, printing management or business, plus years of plant experience.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Graphic Communications, Printing Management, Industrial Technology, Business Administration.
Growing about average (about 2% over 10 years). Production managers overall grow about average; packaging printing is healthier than publication printing.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI schedules presses and prices jobs; managing people, customers and a shrinking print market stays human.
Classes: Business class, Graphic design class, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-3051.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.