Operational Excellence Manager

Manage and lead continuous improvement and lean manufacturing efforts in a facility with 400 or less employees, spending the majority of your time on the production floor, and a focus on improving Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) for safety, quality, production, maintenance, efficiency, and service.

Day-to-Day Role:

• Provide continuous improvement leadership and support to drive KPI's for safety, quality, production, efficiency, and service.
• Act as a change agent for leading continuous improvement initiatives including development and delivery of training materials and programs.
• Facilitate regular improvement planning sessions to identify key strategic opportunities to achieve manufacturing strategic A3 goals and develop related action plans with measurable outcomes.
• Support and reinforce the effective application of the Daily Management System to validate that actions lead to desired performance improvements.
• Analyze observations and data to fully understand and categorize issues and areas for improvement.
• Develop, implement and support the effective application of best practices as Standard Work, Standard Operating Conditions and Standard Operating Procedures.
• Facilitate problem solving by leveraging/modeling continuous improvement methodologies to eliminate root causes and permanently reduce variance.
• Analyze lines for constraints and bottlenecks to achieve continuous flow.
• Advocate for the Voice of the Customer (VOC) via process capability and defect elimination.
• Conduct timing and point of loss yield studies to identify the loss Pareto.
• Perform data analysis and provide written reports that make problems and opportunities visible.
• Develop a detailed root cause analysis for each problem, where each root cause is validated through testing demonstrating that the condition or defect can be turned on or off.
• Develop countermeasures ranging from basic problem containment to system repair to equipment replacement.
• Generate and communicate implementation plans using Gantt charts and work breakdown structures and coordinate resources to staff implementation plans as necessary.
• Proactively seek and identify problems that need to be resolved and quantify the anticipated benefits of problem resolution.
• Manage and promote practices and processes intended to provide safe products that comply with appropriate laws and regulations, meet the company quality standards, and serve the needs of our customers.
• Lead by example to promote and encourage employees to strongly commit to safety and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices).
• Understand, support and follow management expectations in alignment with company values.

Core Skills and Qualifications:
The ideal candidate must possess all of the following:

• Bachelor's Degree in Operations, Engineering or other manufacturing related field with five (5) years of continuous improvement experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding and demonstrated experience in the areas of Continuous Improvement, Operational Excellence, Lean principals, statistics and data analysis.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills necessary in order to persuade and influence decision making of individuals, groups, or work teams.
• Experience using Microsoft Office, including the ability to create basic reports, documents, presentations and spreadsheets in MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint.
• Ability to apply improvement concepts to continuous, non-discreet, manufacturing processes.
• Ability to solve practical problems in situations where only limited standardization exists.
• Ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work load, and respond to changing business demands
• Ability to lead through influence rather than authority.
• Ability to learn and understand materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of products.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
• Experienced in optimizing the performance of one or more of the following:
  • Factory systems and line process inputs
  • Information flow
  • Raw materials flow, conveyance, blending, and drying systems
  • Continuous process operations
  • Quality systems for defect elimination
  • EHS systems for a safe working environment
  • Operational systems for waste elimination
  • People development for engagement and ownership

Preferred Skills and Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering or Industrial Engineering
• Paper converting, chemical/plastics processing and packaging industrial experience
• Lean manufacturing experience
• Lean / 6 Sigma Certification, American Society for Quality Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence or American Society for Quality Certified Quality Engineer
• Experience with the following methodologies and practices: FMEA, Kaizen, Lean tools, 5S, Visual Factory Aids, SMED concepts, VSM, VOC and Poke Yoke

Overview:Dart makes everyday products that give people the freedom to enjoy the food & drinks they love, wherever they are. From to-go containers and dinnerware to tamper-evident food packaging and even the red Solo cup, Dart products have been keeping people on the go and having fun for more than 50 years. Dart is a family-owned, family-focused company of 13,000 employees united by a shared set of values. Headquartered in Mason, MI, Dart has 30 locations in four countries.

Benefits: Dart Container full-time employees enjoy great benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401(k) with company matching contributions, paid vacation, paid holidays, short-term disability, tuition assistance, product discounts and more.

Dart Container is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are subject to a drug test (excluding THC*/marijuana/cannabis) and background check at the time of offer.

*THC testing ONLY when such testing is required by law.

Dart Container is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all candidates for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

https://www.dartcontainer.com/eeoaa/

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