Operational Excellence Manager

PPG Industries•Reybold, DE

3d•Onsite

About The Position

As the Operational Excellence Manager, Americas for PPG, you will be instrumental in fostering a culture of Operational Excellence across numerous manufacturing sites within your designated region. Collaborating with the Americas Continuous Improvement (CI) Director and various Plant Managers, your primary role will be to spearhead the implementation of Lean methodologies and Continuous Improvement strategies that are in line with PPG's overarching strategic objectives. Reporting directly to the Regional Operational Excellence leader, your efforts will be concentrated on driving significant operational enhancements, standardizing best practices across sites, and cultivating a sustainable culture through effective coaching and robust program management.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Chemical, Industrial, Mechanical) or a related field.
8 years' experience in improvement, Lean, and Operational Excellence within a manufacturing environment.
Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt required; Black Belt certification.
Expertise in Lean Manufacturing principles and Lean methodologies.
Experience driving cultural change and operational improvements at a regional or multi-site level.
Willingness to travel 25-35 % to assigned facilities within the region to provide on-site support and leadership.

Responsibilities

Support local plants with completion of Operational Excellence maturity assessments, developing roadmaps, and support implementation to promote improvement capabilities across sites.
Lead internal campaigns and programs to strengthen the use of Continuous Improvement tools and systems; facilitate the regional Continuous Improvement committee to monitor progress, validate savings, and guide accountability.
Provide hands-on support for CI project execution, workshops, and implementation of best practices aimed at increasing productivity, eliminating waste, reducing costs, and standardizing operations.
Work with local plants to analyze strategic goals and identify CI projects with measurable impact.
Manage the regional manufacturing CI project portfolio, which includes Kaizen, DMAIC, PDCA, and Just Do It projects.
Be comfortable extracting, consolidating, and analyzing operational data to support structured and performance improvement across manufacturing sites.
Navigate enterprise systems such as Oracle ERP and MES platforms to retrieve data on production, inventory, quality, and cost.
Translate that information into meaningful insights using tools such as Power BI and advanced Excel.
Implement regional OpEx training plan; deliver Lean tool training and improvement coaching to project leaders and local teams.
Be a mentor by guiding project leaders and teams in Lean methodologies and CI best practices.
Promote active participation of local staff in generating and implementing improvement ideas; facilitate communication between management and work teams to ensure agreement and engagement.