Continuous Improvement Manager

A. O. Smith Corporation•Haltom City, TX

38d•Hybrid

About The Position

The CI Manager leads the implementation and execution of Lean and Continuous Improvement initiatives across the North America Water Treatment (NAWT) Small Sites network. This role delivers measurable improvements to safety, quality, productivity, and customer experience by partnering with site leaders and frontline teams to simplify work, reduce waste, standardize critical processes and build sustainable continuous improvement capability. The position has two primary areas of focus: Improving day-to-day operations of water treatment equipment assembly plants and optimizing professional water treatment dealership service operations. Sites supported by this role include: Atlantic Filter – West Palm Beach, FL; Clean Water Center & Clean Water Testing – Appleton, WI; Clean Water Center – Oconomowoc, WI; Impact Water Products – Ontario, CA; Water Tec – Tucson, AZ; Water Tec – Las Vegas, NV. This role requires up to 25% travel.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Operations, Engineering, or related field.
3 + years of CI related work experience.
Intermediate knowledge of Lean tools and Continuous Improvement methodologies.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment.
Demonstrated problem-solving and analytical skills.
Willingness to learn and apply new CI tools and methodologies.

Nice To Haves

1-2 Years of supervisory experience or project management, preferred
Experience in process mapping software (e.g. Visio, Miro).
Lean or Six-Sigma Training (e.g. Through Shingo/AME/SME/ASQ)

Responsibilities

Own the Small Sites CI roadmap across traditional OEM assembly and dealer service operations prioritizing opportunities and projects based on business impact.
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders across the small sites to improve productivity, build best practices and standard work, among other strategic operational gains to replicate across the network.
Work directly with local CI site leads to build a continuous learning environment and coach CI best practices and behaviors.
Guide structured problem solving, including 8-Step Problem Solving methodology, RCA, A3 development and/or other CI methodologies.
Serve as the central communication point between the small site network’s operations, dealer services, and leadership team.
Lead the implementation of CI tools across the small site network, in direct partnership with local CI leads.
Collect and analyze operational data to identify improvement opportunities.
Support daily management systems and monitor KPIs for continuous performance tracking.
Provide coaching and mentoring to teams on basic CI techniques.
Assist in developing process improvements and standardization initiatives.
Collaborate with the larger NAWT and Corporate CI community of practice.
Report progress and key findings to small site leadership.