Kennametal

Sr Manager Operational Excellence

Kennametal$100K — $130K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in STEM or Industrial Engineering preferred
  • 6-Sigma Greenbelt or Black Belt certification is a plus
  • Minimum of 10 years of experience in manufacturing, quality, engineering, lean/6-sigma, or supply chain
  • Strong leadership, communication, teaching, and coaching skills
  • Practical knowledge of Lean tools including 5S, OEE, and VSM

Responsibilities

  • Develop lean competencies at regional sites to promote autonomy in continuous improvement
  • Deploy global Lean strategies and methodologies across assigned plants
  • Conduct on-the-job training and timely diagnoses of Lean methodologies
  • Facilitate Kaizen workshops and monitor their execution in collaboration with site-level managers
  • Establish performance metrics for continuous improvement and report progress to senior management

Benefits

  • Opportunity for professional development and growth
  • Collaborative work environment across multiple locations
  • Lead initiatives that foster a culture of operational excellence
  • Engagement with cross-functional teams
  • Travel opportunities within the region to support operational excellence initiatives
Full Job Description
Sr. Operational Excellence Manager

Location - Can be based in Bedford, Pa, Asheboro, NC, or Orwell, OH

Travel - Role will require travel up to 50%

The Sr. Operational Excellence Manager, the role is to manage the activities of plant operational excellence personnel and lead continuous improvement initiatives within the multi-sites/plants in your region. You will be responsible for implementing strategies, frameworks, and methodologies to enhance operational efficiency, streamline processes, and optimize performance on a multiple plants scale. You will collaborate with site management and cross-functional teams to identify improvement opportunities, establish and share best practices, and foster a culture of operational excellence.
Sr. OpEX Manage role is to lead by example in Lean standards and Kaizen principle.

Key Responsibilities

LEAN NETWORK COMPETENCES
  • Develop the lean competences of sites of the region and help sites to become autonomous in continuous improvement management.

LEAN STRATEGIES
  • Deploy Global Lean Strategies and the associated standards, methodologies, and tools in the responsible sites/plants in region.
  • Work closely with regional manufacturing directors/Plant/Site Managers, and Plant / Site OpEX Managers to define lean priorities, action plans and approaches.

LEAN GENBA ACTIVITIES
  • Make timely diagnosis of lean methodologies and tools and practice On Job Training on his/her sites.
  • Collaborate with site-level Opex Managers to drive Kaizen workshop execution and monitor progress.
  • Coach Plant operation teams: Plant/Site Managers, Production Managers, Plant / Site OpEX Managers, Production Supervisors et al to deliver training sessions, workshops, and coaching to enhance Lean knowledge and skills within the region.
  • Ensure consistency in approach, share best practices, and facilitate knowledge transfer among different locations, promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement across all sites.

LEAN RESULTS
  • Participate in the definition of lean budget guidelines.
  • Establishes performance metrics and monitors progress towards improvement goals. Able to analyze data and performance reports from each site to identify trends, areas of concern, and opportunities for improvement.
  • Report performance updates to senior management and provide insights for decision-making.

LEAN CONTRIBUTION
  • Standardization and best practice sharing: He/she promotes standardization of OpEx practices and processes across the region. He/she facilitates the sharing of best practices, success stories, and lessons learned among different sites. He/she develops and maintain a repository of tools, templates, and guidelines to support continuous improvement efforts.
  • Change management and stakeholder engagement: Implementing Lean or OpEx initiatives at a regional/multi-plants level, requires effective change management and stakeholder engagement. Able to collaborate with site leadership, functional heads, and employees at various levels to gain buy-in, address resistance, and ensure successful adoption of Lean practices. He/she communicates the benefits and impact of improvement initiatives and provide guidance throughout the change process.

SITE SUPPORT DURING OPERATION CRISIS
  • Support crisis site with task force working group

LEAN NETWORK COMPETENCES
  • Support the Plant/Site Managers, Production Managers and Plant / Site OpEX Managers to understand the lean strategies and apply the lean tools.
  • Support the production supervisors to understand the importance of the respect of the standards and their improvement role.
  • Ensure that Plant/Site OpEX Managers network is fulfilled at right level for success.
  • Manage the Plant / Site OpEX Managers network of the region: annual professional competences appraisal, contribution & validation to recruitment, definition of training plan, validation of annual appraisal and manage detection/growing of local lean potentials. Organize network meeting and On Job
  • Training.
    Organize the cross sites sharing of good practices within the product family or region.

LEAN STRATEGIES
  • Ensure that lean rules are taken into account in new projects at right time.
  • Validate the Sites lean deployment plan vs Global directives & instructions, and Sites Priorities, including smart factory (industrial 4.0/digital tools) development, and support their deployment.
  • Help the Plant / Site Managers identify opportunities for SQDCIP improvement.
  • Deploy and follow Global initiatives within his/her region.
  • Check through a regular presence on every Site of his/her region that Sites are working on appropriate priorities.
  • Agent of region lean culture change.

LEAN GENBA ACTIVITIES
  • Coach Plant / Site Managers : Plant, Production, OpEX, Production & Supply Chain support functions on lean processes implementation.
  • Check regularly genba in depth the proper deployment of lean roadmaps and ensure a close follow up of progress plans.

LEAN RESULTS
  • Challenge the budget, lean related financial indicators of sites in budget preparation phase.
  • Validate, challenge & follow Direct Labor and OEE improvement actions.
  • Ensure a regional lean reporting, KOS metrics correct.
  • Lean mission report within 3 working days after site visit, share with site and regional management visit summary and quarterly focus alignment.

LEAN CONTRIBUTION
  • Contribute to the improvement of Global lean standards & tools and external benchmarking.
  • Participate to global lean workshops , Committees & Working group.
  • Contribute in selected Global lean initiatives upon request.

SITE SUPPORT DURING OPERATION CRISIS
  • Troubleshooting and help building progress roadmaps for sites when in crisis.
  • Critical workshop, task force team driver.


Requirements
  • Bachelors degree required, prefer STEM or Industrial Engineering area of study
  • 6-Sigma greenbelt or black belt is plus
  • At least 10 years with demonstrated success in manufacturing, quality, engineering, lean/6-sigma, and /or supply chain experience. Knowledge and practice experience of the following tools:
    1. Strong leadership, communication, teaching, and coaching skills.
    2. 5S and visual controls.
    3. Standard work
    4. OEE and time study.
    5. Muda Hunting
    6. Pull system/ Kanban.
    7. SMED.
    8. TPM.
    9. VSM

About Kennametal

Kennametal is a leading manufacturer of industrial tools and components. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Kennametal's products are used in a wide range of industries, including aerospace, automotive, and energy. The company is committed to sustainability and has set ambitious goals to reduce its environmental impact and promote social responsibility. Kennametal is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and is a component of the S&P 500 index.
Learn more about Kennametal
Size
8,635 employees
Market Cap
$1.9 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$8.4 million
Founded
1938
5 Year Trend
-0.5%
Revenue
$1.7 billion
NASDAQ

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