Continuous Improvement Manager

Methode Electronics • Rolling Meadows, IL

7d

About The Position

The Continuous Improvement Manager owns the site improvement roadmap and deploys a lean operating system aligned with business priorities. The role establishes daily-management routines and KPI frameworks, leads improvement projects across manufacturing and supporting functions, and uses ERP data to identify waste and validate results. It also builds business cases and tracks savings, partners with Engineering on capital and technology projects, develops improvement capability across the organization, and integrates continuous improvement with quality, safety, and compliance requirements.

Requirements

• Qualify as a U.S. Person under ITAR (22 CFR § 120.62), such as a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or other qualifying protected individual; the position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.
• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Operations Management, or a closely related discipline.
• At least 8 years of manufacturing experience, including at least 3 years leading continuous-improvement or operational-excellence programs.
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent demonstrated expertise, with a track record of measurable, sustained throughput, quality, and cost results.
• Deep working knowledge of lean tools and systems, including value-stream mapping, standard work, SMED, 5S, visual and tiered management, kaizen, and structured problem-solving.
• Strong analytical skills, fluency in ERP-based manufacturing data, and ability to build analyses that drive decisions.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in a high-mix, low-volume or job-shop operation.
• Busbar, power-distribution, or copper/aluminum fabrication background; familiarity with plating and other special processes.
• AS9100 and/or NADCAP experience.
• Epicor or comparable ERP and MES implementation experience.
• Experience with strategy deployment (hoshin kanri) and building a continuous-improvement function or lean operating system from the ground up.
• Experience in a metal-fabrication, machining, or electromechanical assembly environment.

Responsibilities

• Own the site continuous-improvement roadmap and align the improvement pipeline to business priorities through strategy deployment and annual and quarterly planning with the leadership team.
• Design, deploy, and sustain the lean operating system, including tiered daily management, visual management, standard work, leader standard work, and gemba routines.
• Define and maintain the plant KPI framework for safety, quality, delivery, cost, throughput, on-time delivery, first-pass yield, and cost of poor quality, ensuring metrics drive action at every tier.
• Plan, facilitate, and follow up on kaizen events, value-stream mapping, and rapid improvement workshops across the busbar value stream and supporting functions.
• Lead structured problem-solving using DMAIC, A3, and 8D on high-impact site losses, focusing early efforts on constraints to flow.
• Drive high-mix, low-volume-appropriate flow improvements, including setup and changeover reduction, WIP and queue-time reduction, cell design, pull and replenishment, and scheduling discipline.
• Use Epicor labor, move, and job data to quantify active versus queue time, identify waste, and validate that improvements are sustained.
• Extend lean practices into quoting, order entry, planning, purchasing, and quality processes.
• Build business cases for improvement initiatives and track and report validated hard and soft savings in partnership with Finance.
• Partner with Engineering on capital, automation, and MES and analytics projects to ensure they address the right problems and deliver expected returns.
• Build organizational continuous-improvement capability by delivering lean and problem-solving training.
• Coach supervisors and managers to lead improvement in their areas and foster an engaged culture in which operators identify and solve problems.
• Integrate continuous improvement with AS9100 and NADCAP requirements; ensure process changes are controlled, documented, and validated, and support audits and corrective actions.
• Lead 5S and workplace organization and partner with EHS to embed safety and ergonomics into improvement work.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, hearing, life, and disability insurance.
• Educational assistance.
• Paid time off benefits.
• Voluntary accident, hospital indemnity, and pet insurance coverage.
• Discount programs for certain technology, automotive, and home appliance products.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Company 401(k) plan with a company contribution.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager