Lead Operations. Drive Performance. Shape the Future of Manufacturing.

At GE Appliances, a Haier company, we believe great manufacturing starts with great leadership. We're looking for a Senior Manager, Manufacturing Operations to lead a high-performing production area and drive excellence across safety, quality, delivery, cost, and team culture.

In this critical leadership role, you'll be responsible for the daily execution and long-term success of a manufacturing operation, leading cross-functional teams, advancing Lean initiatives, developing future leaders, and delivering operational results that directly impact our business. If you're passionate about continuous improvement, people development, and creating world-class manufacturing environments, we'd love to hear from you.
Position
Senior Manager, Manufacturing Operations 6 Door Line
Location
USA, Louisville, KY

How You'll Create Possibilities

Manufacturing Operations:

• Oversee end-to-end operations for a manufacturing area, ensuring strong performance in safety, quality, delivery, cost and culture.

• Develop the annual operational plan and align area metrics with overall plant objectives. Allocate resources to meet targets.

• Lead and support salaried and hourly production employees within a manufacturing area.

• Use production line boards to track performance, identify issues and drive problem resolution across shifts.

• Maintain a solid understanding of plant operations and follow escalation processes to resolve abnormalities and implement corrective actions.

• Drive adherence to Lean manufacturing practices, standardized work and the site escalation process.

• Track department metrics, manage budgets and deliver daily report-outs during production meetings.

• Establish a consistent operating rhythm including daily meetings with Area Business Leader and Team Leaders.

• Ensure standardized work is implemented, followed and regularly reviewed for stability and compliance.

• Coach Area Business Leaders, Process Improvement Engineers and Team Leaders on standardized work, job instruction methods and effective training practices.

• Maintain 5S standards across the entire manufacturing area.

Continuous Improvement:

• Champion the Appliance Production System and embed continuous improvement into daily operations.

• Lead teams to aggressively identify factory inefficiencies, conduct root cause analysis and implement sustainable solutions.

• Engage cross-functional escalation teams, including Lean resources, to address and resolve issues quickly and effectively.

• Identify and eliminate waste through both short-term countermeasures and long-term improvement initiatives.

• Serve as a second-level responder in the escalation process for operational issues.

• Lead regular reviews of open issues, assign ownership, track actions to closure and communicate updates to stakeholders.

• Drive kaizen events and ensure resulting countermeasures are implemented and sustained.

• Oversee work area rebalancing through tools such as Yamazumi charts.

Leadership:

• Provide hands-on leadership for an integrated, cross-functional manufacturing team.

• Set clear goals for team members and support performance through coaching, feedback, and development opportunities.

• Participate in performance reviews and partner with HR on talent development and succession planning.

• Manage employee relations issues including investigations and disciplinary actions in partnership with HR, ensuring proper documentation and consistency.

• Recruit and allocate resources to meet operational needs.

• Develop and mentor emerging leaders within the organization.

• Ensure fair and consistent application of policies, work rules and workplace processes.

Quality:

• Ensure all products within the manufacturing area meet specifications and are produced defect-free.

• Enforce compliance with the Manufacturing Control Plan and all quality standards.

• Monitor daily quality data and escalate or resolve defects promptly.

• Ensure standardized work incorporates quality requirements to meet design intent and build in quality at the source.

• Collaborate with engineering, quality and production teams to resolve line issues and prevent repeat defects.

• Review scrap data and lead efforts to reduce scrap and prevent recurrence.

• Partner with Plant Quality and engineering teams to improve key quality metrics such as First Pass Yield, Overall Yield and Service Call Rate.

Safety:

• Own overall safety performance and metrics for the manufacturing area.

• Foster a strong safety culture through behavior-based observations, audits, safety meetings and adherence to 5S practices.

• Enforce compliance with all safety rules and procedures while ensuring timely completion of accident investigations, safety contacts and safe start requirements.

• Review and approve all accident investigations, ensuring root cause identification and corrective actions are implemented.

• Maintain and drive closure of the safety action item list, including corrective actions from near misses, accidents and ergonomic assessments.

What You'll Bring to Our Team

Requirements:

• 7+ years of leadership experience in manufacturing, supplier management, and project implementation, with technical expertise across supply chain functions such as warehousing, distribution, materials, quality, procurement or fulfillment.

Preferred:

• BS/BA degree, ideally in engineering, supply chain management or business.

• Supply Chain Development Program graduate.

• Experience implementing Lean Manufacturing and driving continuous improvement using Lean, DMAIC, workout or similar methodologies.

• Black Belt or Master Black Belt certification.

• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence at all levels.

• Demonstrated ability to teach, facilitate meetings, coach teams, give constructive feedback and listen effectively.

• Ability to identify, analyze and solve complex problems across cross-functional teams.

• Track record of achieving business goals, leading change and delivering measurable results through analytical methods and disciplined execution.

Working Conditions:

• You will work in both an office and manufacturing environment.