Operations Excellence Manager

Find Your Opportunity•Fargo, ND

About The Position

The Operations Excellence Manager leads continuous improvement and manufacturing engineering across TrueNorth Steel manufacturing sites. The role directs Continuous Improvement Leaders and Manufacturing Engineers to develop practical improvements in margins, quality, productivity, throughput, capacity utilization, and return on capital investments. The manager leads the operational excellence strategy and turns approved organizational priorities into improvement plans. The position establishes ownership and governance for product-line operating systems, process development, standards, KPIs, Management of Change, deployment across sites, and sustainment. It also hires, leads, coaches, and develops Continuous Improvement Leaders and Manufacturing Engineers, setting expectations, priorities, decision rights, development plans, and accountability. Working with Operations, Finance, Quality Assurance, and Safety, the manager identifies and prioritizes opportunities, validates operational and financial benefits, addresses systemic losses, and ensures technical changes and improvements meet safety and Management of Change requirements. Successful improvements are incorporated into operating standards, work instructions, training, process controls, KPI expectations, audits, and cross-site deployment plans. The role maintains a working understanding of TrueNorth Steel products, fabrication and welding processes, site capabilities, operational constraints, customer requirements, and emerging manufacturing technologies. Travel to manufacturing sites, suppliers, and equipment partners is anticipated up to 30% of the time. Prompt and dependable attendance is required; other duties may be assigned.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing, Business Administration, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience.
Minimum 7 years of progressive experience in manufacturing engineering, operational excellence, continuous improvement, or manufacturing operations, including leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional improvement portfolios, engineers or technical professionals, and multi-site standardization.
Demonstrated experience developing business cases, implementing manufacturing technology or capital projects, and validating operational or financial benefits.
Strong knowledge of Lean manufacturing, structured problem solving, process governance, Management of Change, standard work, value-stream improvement, and sustainment systems.
Demonstrated ability to lead manufacturing engineers and continuous improvement in a multi-site manufacturing environment.
Financial acumen sufficient to connect operational performance to margin, cost of poor quality, labor productivity, throughput, ROI, and capital payback.
Ability to influence cross-functional leaders without direct authority while preserving Operations accountability for daily execution.
Excellent analytical, project-management, coaching, facilitation, written, verbal, and executive-communication skills.
Ability to prioritize competing opportunities, allocate technical resources, close execution gaps, and maintain accountability for outcomes.
Proficiency with spreadsheets, presentations, project-tracking systems, reporting tools, CAD or engineering applications, and manufacturing data systems.
Ability to travel to manufacturing sites, suppliers, and equipment partners as required, anticipated up to 30% of the time.
Prompt and dependable attendance.

Nice To Haves

Working knowledge of steel fabrication, welding, automation, robotics, tooling, production equipment, facility layouts, capacity analysis, and capital-project implementation.
Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, project-management, or change-management certification.

Responsibilities

Embrace and demonstrate the qualities of the TrueNorth Steel Game Changer definition.
Lead the operational excellence strategy and translate approved organizational priorities into actionable improvement plans.
Establish accountable ownership for product-line operating systems, process development, approved standards, KPI creation, Management of Change, cross-site deployment, and sustainment.
Hire, lead, coach, and develop Continuous Improvement Leaders and Manufacturing Engineers, setting expectations, priorities, decision rights, development plans, and accountability.
Partner with Operations leaders to identify material overages, process bottlenecks, labor-productivity opportunities, workflow constraints, capacity limitations, material-handling waste, and technology needs.
Prioritize improvement work based on strategic vision, safety, customer impact, margin opportunity, cost of poor quality, throughput, operational risk, headcount needs, and site readiness.
Partner with Finance to establish benefit-calculation methods and validate realized labor, material, quality, working-capital, ROI, capital-payback, and product-margin improvements.
Ensure Continuous Improvement Leaders maintain product-line roadmaps, facilitate structured problem solving, define future-state processes, coordinate adoption plans, and complete project effectiveness reviews.
Ensure Manufacturing Engineers execute technical work involving automation, robotics, tooling and fixture design, process and equipment layouts, manufacturing methods, time studies, capacity analysis, bottleneck elimination, equipment justification, and capital implementation.
Ensure successful improvements are converted into approved operating standards, work instructions, training, process controls, KPI expectations, audit requirements, and cross-site deployment plans.
Partner with Quality Assurance to use nonconformance, corrective-action, rework, scrap, warranty, audit, and process-capability data to target recurring systemic losses and verify improvement effectiveness.
Partner with Safety to ensure new equipment, technical changes, workflows, and improvement initiatives meet safety requirements and follow the Management of Change process.
Maintain a working understanding of product lines, fabrication and welding processes, site capabilities, operational constraints, customer requirements, and emerging manufacturing technologies.
Travel to manufacturing sites, suppliers, and equipment partners as required, anticipated up to 30% of the time.
Maintain prompt and dependable attendance.
Perform other duties as assigned.