Manufacturing Excellence Leader

IPEX Group • Pineville, LA

4d

About The Position

The Manufacturing Excellence Leader supports operational excellence initiatives in IPEX plants by driving divisional and plant KPIs and leading or supporting projects that improve the potential of staff, systems, equipment, machines, and site operations. The role provides leadership in implementing and sustaining corporate lean initiatives and 5S goals.

The position leads plant-level continuous improvement, including 5S, performance measurement and review systems, layered process audits, focused improvement programs, cost-savings reporting, and a Kaizen system. It also supports new product introductions, shares best practices across divisions, and helps resolve day-to-day operational issues through problem solving and root cause analysis.

The role works with plant departments and leaders to develop employee capabilities, remove barriers to shop-floor excellence, and foster a culture of change leadership. It supports health, safety, environmental, and quality expectations, tracks program progress, and communicates with plant and divisional leadership. The description assigns responsibility for executing manufacturing excellence goals across North America.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering or another related technical field.
• At least 3 years of experience leading operational transformation projects, with a focus on continuous improvement projects and demonstrated process improvement success.
• Computer skills, including all Microsoft Office applications.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Nice To Haves

• Project Management Certificate.
• Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma Certification.
• Knowledge and experience in manufacturing processes.

Responsibilities

• Lead implementation of 5S to the IPEX standard by designing systems, planning implementation, and working with each department.
• Develop KPIs and systems for communicating manufacturing performance throughout the plant.
• Collaborate with department managers to develop information sharing and reporting for shift handovers.
• Develop and lead daily management reviews.
• Develop and facilitate weekly and monthly management reviews.
• Develop and implement a Layered Process Audit system.
• Facilitate focused improvement programs to improve plant performance and lead cost-savings reporting.
• Lead a Kaizen system that gathers improvement ideas from colleagues and ensures selected ideas are implemented.
• Act as the plant lean champion and lead training in lean and continuous improvement techniques.
• Ensure global branding standards are met inside the plant.
• Lead the plant's new product introduction process, coordinate internal and external functions, and track internal actions for product launches.
• Share and implement divisional best practices in collaboration with manufacturing centres of excellence.
• Support day-to-day plant operations through problem solving, root cause analysis, and solutions to operational issues.
• Support division-wide projects and initiatives through ongoing liaison with key stakeholders.
• Help improve the plant's look and feel as a workplace for colleagues.
• Ensure adherence to organizational standards for health and safety, quality, ISO 14001, corporate policy, customer excellence, and business values during project delivery.
• Execute manufacturing excellence goals across North America to achieve performance, financial, and staff development objectives.
• Facilitate, assist, and develop shop-floor excellence operations and remove barriers to employees meeting measurable objectives.
• Deploy and participate in Gemba walks, coaching employees on 5S, standard work, visual management, M.D.I., continuous improvement, flow, problem solving, and other lean methods and processes.
• Help foster a culture of change leadership by attending to individual mindsets.
• Lead training and development of plant employees in lean tools.
• Track and report program progress and communicate with plant leadership.
• Support a Safety-First culture and deployment of Aliaxis divisional and global safety standards.
• Support implementation of the divisional HS&E strategy, ensure site accountability, and report progress, events, and initiatives to plant management and divisional leadership.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives with a quality assurance mindset.

What This Job Offers

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