Director of Manufacturing

Talis Group•Louisville, KY

17h•Onsite

About The Position

Talis Group’s client is a successful privately owned multi-site manufacturer with a record of steady growth and ambition to accelerate it. The company is looking for a Director of Manufacturing who believes that the foundation of Lean is developing people and who has the operating discipline to turn the belief into better safety, quality, delivery, cost and growth. The company is currently using many elements of TPS but have a long way to go – and that is exactly the opportunity. Their processes are relatively straightforward, making their plants an unusually good environment for a serious TPS practitioner. They need to strengthen standardized work, daily management, kaizen, flow and pull; develop operators and supervisors; and invest intelligently in automation. They have a lot to build. They want someone who finds that exciting.

Requirements

Bachelors Degree in engineering, business or related discipline, advanced degree or military experience a plus.
Roughly 10+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership at Plant Manager, or above.
A measurable record of Lean/TPS transformation.
Proven record of developing or promoting leaders from within.
Multi-site experience strongly preferred.
Must have experience with steel fabrication, metalworking, or related industry.

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 key 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 both 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.