The Sr. Principal Leader, Operational Excellence, develops Operational Excellence (OE) tools and platforms to drive transformation across the site in Operations.

Responsible for driving and executing Continuous Improvement Culture in the plant. Owns Productivity Initiatives for the site and ensures site achieves annual PI targets. Provides OE capabilities and expertise on Lean/Six Sigma Principles to the site and works to increase capabilities throughout the plant.  Collaborates with  Center of Business Excellence in order to communicate benchmarking methodology and achieve facility goals.

The OE Lead partners with the plant’s entire team to ensure the effective roll-out of the OE program establishing a zero-loss manufacturing culture where everyone, every day, learns & improves something, delivering World Class sustainable performance. This position reports to the Director of Manufacturing.

As of the date of this posting, a good faith estimate of the current pay scale for this position is $ 245,000 to $ 265,000. This pay scale takes into account a wide range of business factors and may change over time. 

• Guide Operational Excellence roll-out; lead the cultural shift to managing through Pillars
• Provides leadership and subject matter expertise in the Continuous Improvements best practices.
• Coordinate and support plant pillar and platform leads (5S, Safety, Planned Maintenance, Focused Improvement, etc.)
• Engage all associates through hands-on mentoring, audits, etc.
• Monitor timeline and engage pillar leads and plant leadership to ensure successful completion
• Participate in pillar activities (e.g., Kaizen events)
• Lead the Reliability Improvement Plans; establish, as necessary, action plans; and follow-up meetings
• Instill a “hands-on,” systematic approach to problem solving (“Gemba”)
• Leads and engages team members to in improve systems, processes and procedures.
• Coaches teams in personal accountability, giving and receiving feedback, root cause analysis, problem solving, decision making, trade-off analysis, interpersonal communications and external interactions
• Troubleshoots problems and implements corrective actions through root cause analysis.
• Works closely with the Operations teams to create an Autonomous Maintenance work culture and run to centerline.
• Actively reinforces key CI concepts everyday through coaching and auditing across the organization.
• Facilitates and reacts to non-routine and crisis situations.
• Degree in Business Management, Organizational Development, Engineering or other related fields is preferred
• Seven + years manufacturing leadership experience
• Five + years experience in Continuous Improvement environment – TPM, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma and related process improvement systems.
• Five + years experience leading, guiding, and mentoring teams and individuals along with practical experience in understanding group dynamics and team development
• Five + years in facilitating cross-functional teams; overseeing root-cause analysis, data collection, and problem solving utilizing key TPM/ CI concepts such as “Why, Why/ How How”, Phenomena Thinking
• Strong working knowledge of production equipment and systems including maintenance activities.
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft programs including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Self-motivated and ability to work with minimal supervision.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Ability to manage and prioritize one’s own time consistent with the needs of the business
• Excellent communication skills including oral, written and listening.
• Ability to interpret a variety of technical information in mathematical and/or narrative form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

Education: Engineering Degree

Experience:    Experience in a manufacturing facility

• Demonstrated ability to envision, energize, engage, and enable a team through role-modeling and execution of plans
• Demonstrated ability to develop & mentor technicians to generate and complete action plans that drive root cause elimination of losses
• Able to achieve clear accountability and feedback to individuals at all levels
• Ability to demonstrate the use of integrated work system tools to deliver results (especially AM, PM, UPS, work process improvement, education and training, supply network operations and organization performance model, supports the zero loss and total employee ownership mentality
• Strong collaboration, communication skills across various operating departments within the site
• Quick & Versatile Learning: Learns quickly when facing new problems; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers
• Safety Focus: Possesses an uncompromising commitment to food safety for customers and overall safety for the organization and its employees
• Training: Commits to refresher trainings as needed
• Continuous improvement: Willingness to adapt to continuous improvement in all aspect of the job.
• Integrity: Performs role with integrity and inspires others
• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently a top performer; steadfastly pushes self and others for results
• Problem Solving: Uses logic to solve problems with effective solutions
• Humility: Can get things done quietly without unnecessary noise; quickly admits flaws and mistakes; is careful to make others comfortable; is authentic; helps others save face in difficult situations; maximizes the contribution of all; encourages the expression of viewpoints from all concerned; is modest and self-effacing; respects the views of others
• Respectful: Committed to maintaining a safe environment and operation for all employees