The Operational Excellence Manager is a key organizational leader entrusted with developing, implementing, leading, driving, and growing the company’s Operational Excellence culture. The role is highly influencing of profitability through continuous improvement and transformation of the organizations key business processes. The Operational Excellence Manager must be innovative and additionally strive to reduce safety hazards, enhance quality, ensure on-time delivery, and reduce the cost and lead time of manufacturing and other business processes. The role requires strong communication, organization, data collection and analysis, problem solving skills, and a hands-on approach to facilitation of Kaizens and teaching teams using the application of applicable continuous improvement tools. This role will be instrumental in the development of a continuous improvement mindset and cultivating capabilities and capacity of others within the ARCH Medical manufacturing facilities.

Essential Responsibilities Include:

• Work across organization to identify areas for improvement and simplification
• Establish a standardized KPI’s methodology and benchmarks to track progress and savings
• Engage and influence organizational direction.
• Using 80/20 Thinking to identify, outline, and lead the highest impacting projects
• Work with leadership and cross-functional teams to identify, prioritize and develop standardized approaches for improvement that embrace local culture.
• Maintain visibility and support accountability for these tools.
• Drive cultural and process change throughout the greater enterprise, including office and field transactional processes as well as suppliers and customers.
• Facilitate, orchestrate, and work with Leadership/Engineering/Finance to approve major Capital Expenditure projects utilizing 3P methods and decision-making. Advocate and influence Lean thinking for process, product, and design manufacturability in New Product Development processes.
• Champion Lean Management Systems at all levels of the organization including increasingly robust employee engagement and GEMBA processes including problem escalation and process accountability.
• Develop and champion lean training, application, and knowledge enhancing programs from associate basics through executive leadership. This training and Gemba mentoring include lean tools inclusive but not limited to Value Stream Mapping, Standard Work, Visual Management, Identification of Waste, Daily Management / Gemba, Single-Minute-Exchange-of-Dies, Kanban, Total Productive Maintenance.

The candidate will present superior collaboration and communication skills, conflict management capabilities and strong executive presence/composure. He/she will demonstrate a strong process orientation and a track record of successfully improving an enterprise’s functions for effectiveness.

Additional traits and competencies that define the successful candidate are:

Leadership and personal impact

• Highly driven and influential
• Proven track record of results
• Evidence of leading large teams, rooted in a combination of a compelling vision and consistent execution.
• Thought leader driving organizational and business transformation aligned with enterprise strategies.

Ultimately, the successful candidate will bring a dynamic combination of experiences with the interpersonal and communications skills that afford him/her superior credibility and leadership. He/she will work across many peers and indirect subordinates across the organization, while engaged in a hands-on, proactive, creative, and disciplined manner. The candidate must demonstrate upside growth potential and aspire to increasingly responsible roles, potentially to senior or general business management over time.

The Experience

• BS or BA Degree in Engineering or Business, or equivalent business transformation, high impact experience
• Experience with 80/20 Principles and track record in transferring actions to drive business results
• 5+ years’ experience implementing lean or continuous improvement programs with demonstrated success through waste elimination, process improvement, and cost reduction
• Manufacturing or Operations experience required
• Strong knowledge and experience implementing specific lean / Toyota Production System tools
• Strong facilitation, communication, organizational, analytical, and mathematical skills
• Self-starter / action bias with desire and willingness to institute change and help others through change
• Capable of overcoming obstacles and completing assignments in a timely manner
• Positive attitude, good judgment, a strong sense of responsibility and ownership
• Willingness to work both strategically and tactically by being hands on in managing, leading, driving, finishing, following up projects.
• Superior training skills and experience with adult learning theory
• Superior mentoring, coaching, and influencing skills
• Ability to motivate individuals/teams to perform at high levels to meet/exceed goals
• Familiarity with various commercial processes and tools (i.e., order processing, manufacturing management, ERP)