Director of Manufacturing

Talis Group•Louisville, KY

10d

About The Position

Talis Group’s client is a successful, privately owned, multi-site manufacturer with local sites, steady growth, and ambitions to accelerate that growth. The company seeks a Director of Manufacturing who views developing people as the foundation of Lean and can translate that belief into stronger safety, quality, delivery, cost, and growth results. The company uses many elements of the Toyota Production System (TPS), but has substantial opportunity to strengthen its practices. Its relatively straightforward processes provide an environment for a serious TPS practitioner to make an impact. Priorities include strengthening standardized work, daily management, kaizen, flow, and pull; developing operators and supervisors; and making intelligent investments in automation. The Director will lead manufacturing operations across multiple sites and functions, own key operating results, and build and sustain a Lean/TPS operating system. The role requires significant shop-floor presence to coach leaders, identify opportunities, address problems at their source, and drive accountability and measurable, sustainable improvement. The position offers a full benefits package and compensation of $200,000–$250,000.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, or a related discipline.
Roughly 10 or more years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience at Plant Manager level or above.
A measurable record of Lean/TPS transformation.
A proven record of developing or promoting leaders from within.
Experience with steel fabrication, metalworking, or a related industry is required.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or military experience is a plus.
Multi-site experience is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead a multi-site manufacturing organization across production, sourcing, scheduling, maintenance, quality, logistics, and shipping/receiving.
Develop people and build strong leaders at every level, from operators to supervisors and managers.
Spend significant time on the shop floor (gemba), coaching leaders, identifying opportunities, and driving accountability.
Own operating results including safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, inventory, and people development.
Build and sustain a Lean/TPS operating system using daily management, visual management, standardized work, leader standard work, structured problem solving, and Kaizen.
Identify and address problems at their source, using data and structured problem solving to drive sustainable improvements.
Improve manufacturing flow through value-stream optimization, pull systems, Kanban, and one-piece flow where appropriate.
Lead major improvement initiatives and daily continuous improvement efforts with measurable results.
Use operating data, financial information, and capital investment strategies to improve overall business performance.
Partner across functions to improve labor utilization, scheduling, machine uptime, quality, inventory accuracy, and product cost.
Invest intelligently in automation.