Operational Excellence and Process Improvement Manager, Curtis Industries, West Boylston, MA

This position is a leadership role, and as such is expected to inspire team members, through CI initiatives, to greater levels of quality, productivity and engagement.  This will be accomplished in part by leading the design of the structure and creating the road map for the operational excellence model.

This role will set the facility direction for Continuous Improvement and foster the professional development of facility Leads, Supervisors, and Managers by being a proactive Change Agent that drives the CI culture, achieving outstanding results with ideal behaviors which are sustained and consistently displayed.

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies
(Duties are performed throughout every work day as necessary)

• Solid background in manufacturing operations including industrial machinery and equipment, assembly processes and material handling and related administrative functions
• Strong familiarity with ISO 9001 and QMS oversight.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office including Excel, Outlook, Word and PowerPoint and Access
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to communicate effectively and tactfully with individuals at all levels within and outside of the company
• Group facilitation and trainer/instructor skills
• Ability to learn and perform statistical analysis
• Analyze and apply basic financial principles for planned activities.
• The candidate should have a desire to gain exposure and interest in learning about the other unit operating functions such as Product Development, Engineering, Quality, Purchasing, Manufacturing, Sales, Finance, Human Resources, and Operations.
• Lead large scale and complex improvement projects within a Value Center and across Value Centers and effectively coordinate these projects with the organization leaders and other improvement project teams.
• Lead Projects identifying opportunities; defining and financially justifying projects; negotiating resources; launching project teams; using good project management skills to manage team activities; training and coaching of Lean Leader and Black Belt resources assigned to the team; leading teams to execute projects with the problem-solving methodology; tracking project status and results; anticipating and removing project barriers; and developing team members. 
• Implement progressive process change improvements that drive a high standard of excellence into every organization in the facility. This high standard of excellence will be achieved and sustained by embedding the principles of excellence into the culture.
• Coordinate the Kaizen Schedule, identify projects and activities, validate benefits, recommend resources and team members. Manage the kaizen roadmap (3-6 month schedule of events)
• Promote "Operational Excellence" through daily passion for continuous improvement and the constant elimination of waste.
• Identify implications of Lean project implementation (synergies and breakdowns).
• Manage the development and maintenance of methods and systems for measuring the degree to which the project goals, objectives and metrics are being met. Provide value center Champion with the results and take corrective project action as required to improve on results below targets.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor degree in Manufacturing/Industrial Engineering or Management is required. A Master’s degree is preferred.
• Minimum 7 PLUS years’ experience in a manufacturing environment with demonstrated success leading and successfully implementing highly visible and impactful projects associated with progressive change.
• Advanced training in Lean/Six Sigma, 5s, SMED, VSM, Kaizen and other continuous improvement methodologies. Must have experience implementing LEAN concepts and LEAN thinking.