Global Continuous Improvement Leader

3M•Remote - Minnesota, MN

1d•$221,591 - $270,834•Remote

About The Position

This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career. As a Global Continuous Improvement Leader, you will have the opportunity to tap into your curiosity and collaborate with some of the most innovative people around the world. You will make an impact by working with business groups, area operations, divisions, Plant Operations VPs, Plant Directors, global support centers (GSC)/enterprise customer operation (ECO) and finance leadership teams in understanding short and long-term strategic direction, operating plans and improvement objectives and ensuring alignment/development of Continuous Improvement (CI) methodologies/approaches, driving operational and financial improvement, supporting development of learning materials and methods, and building Case Studies and steering Deep Dives. The goal is to both improve performance directly and to leverage-scale-spread lessons learned to accelerate velocity of improvement across the organization. You will develop/coordinate site, multi-site improvements plans and Area level strategies, and ensure that CI is integrated into the Area Plant Operations “Operating System”. You will work across all Areas to design and deploy the 3M Plant Operating System to act as a solid foundation for sustained continuous improvement. You will ensure implementation/application of appropriate CI principles/standards for 3M CI program. You will build upon existing Improvement processes, plant operating system, training, applying systems thinking and capabilities to ensure integration of all improvement methodologies into an effective CI approach. You will leverage and deploy the Kaizen Workshop approach as the primary driver of Improvement and CI Skills building; including owning, leading and steering Shingijutsu Kaizen events, global Continuous Improvement Kaizen events, guiding local kaizen events, and ensuring effective Daily Management for Improvement in our operations, to ensure CI continues beyond the Kaizen workshop. You will develop CI skills across all levels of the organization by creating and steering leaders along a specific learning journey for CI capabilities. Primarily through “experienced based” learning, structured reflection, habit building, and building learning back into leadership “standard work” that specifically drives Continuous Improvement. For example, ensuring leaders learn through experience how to see opportunity (Business Case and link between the performance KPIs and financials), learning how to shape an Improvement Approach, learning how to leverage standard work as a foundation for accelerated and sustained CI.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or higher (completed and verified prior to start) from an accredited institution
Twenty (20) years of experience in manufacturing and/or operations management in a private, public, government or military environment
Ten (10) years of hands on experience using Toyota Production System (TPS) (e.g. Lean, Kaizen and Lean Six Sigma methodologies) in a private, public, government or military environment
Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status).

Nice To Haves

Experience working with executives/leaders and personally leading organizations, deployments and improvement at the regional, division and/or area level.
Experience building, planning and executing improvement strategies at Business, Division and/or Area levels.
International experience is required (multi continent experience is highly desired)
Experience with a wide array of improvement methodologies (Projects, Kaizen events, daily management, systems thinking) and use of improvement methodologies/approach to drive both operational and financial objectives
Understanding of and experience improving 3M core manufacturing technologies (e.g. continuous flow, chemicals, coaters, makers, converting technology)
Experience and skills in accelerating the development leaders/leadership thinking and CI capability at all levels (supervisors, managers, senior leaders) across multiple disciplines (technology, business, operations, functions, finance, etc)
Led a manufacturing operation and/or business (i.e. responsible for income statement, ledger and balance sheet improvement).
Master's degree in Science or Engineering
Experience implementing and deploying office and factory solutions in multiple cultures (e.g. China, Europe, Latin America and North America)
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and/or Black Belt certification
Ability to influence behavior of both office and factory employees
Ability to communicate from front line employee to senior executives
Natural learner, curious, analytical, and being able to engage teams from varying functions and levels of the organization

Responsibilities

Leading breakthrough Global CI Kaizen Events (business, manufacturing, transactional, finance and supply chain) to drive (10-30%) improvements (ref Labor productivity (output/labor hr), Yield, manufacturing expense, Inventory, lead time, OEE) and ensuring improvements are operationalized and flow into income statement, ledger and balance sheet level improvements
Designing and deploying the Plant Operating/Execution System, in partnership with all Areas, and introducing 'Operating Mechanism' thinking/approach, to guide proper tier meetings (i.e. idea generation) as part of 3M Continuous Improvement process
Building CI skills and capabilities across all levels of the organization primarily through experiential learning (learning by doing; engaging every level to be active in Kaizen)
Documenting Best-in-3M improvements/performance into internal 3M Case Studies and Deep Dives
Leveraging Best-in-3M case studies to accelerate improvement and learning across 3M
Supporting 3M wide CI cohort strategy(ies) whose deliverables include effectiveness of cohorts, quality of engagement of participants and acceleration of knowledge transfer.
Improving understanding/use/effectiveness of ERP systems for planning, procurement, materials management, order fulfillment, etc.
Ensuring appropriate use of CI improvement methods (projects, kaizen events, daily management, problem solving, etc to drive the desired business case improvement
Building the brand of 3M Continuous Improvement through the quantity of high quality, high impact solutions implemented and documented (Case Studies and Deep Dives)
Establishing partnerships with leadership teams to accelerate performance improvement and improve organization wide improvement capabilities: Integrate Manufacturing Technology and Digital teams into the CI process
Expand financial acumen of CI leaders at all levels, improving alignment of CI with financial metrics and supporting finance in their development/application of CI
Partner with HR to leverage corporate initiatives improving the capabilities fundamental to Continuous Improvement (e.g. Growth Mindset, Science of Decision Making, Speed of Trust).
Understanding connection of (and driving improvement through connection of): Information flows with material flows, across office and production environments, (connected) facilities/operations and Operations vs Business vs Division to drive performance improvement.
Operational improvements (e.g. service, speed, capacity, yield, machine productivity, labor productivity, safety, quality, OEE, etc) and financials (Revenue, Cost, Cash)
Strategy, financial metrics, operational metrics, projects and daily management.
Leading from the front: Uses real examples, case studies and experience to guide Region/division/area leaders, Plant Operations VPs, Plant Directors, Plant Leadership Teams and improvement teams.
Provides top executives/operating committees with timely information and recommendations.
Engages leaders and employees in the ownership/pursuit of continuous improvement as a core responsibility of all 3Mers
Develops CI Skills across all levels of the organization.
Encourages internal and external self-reflection, comparisons and understanding of beyond Best-in-3M capabilities (and what good looks like), operational and enterprise excellence
Responsibilities of this position include that corporate policies, procedures and security standards are complied with while performing assigned duties.
Safety is a core value at 3M. All employees are expected to contribute to a strong Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) culture by following safety policies, identifying hazards, and engaging in continuous improvement.