VP, Operational Excellence

JBT Marel•Chicago, IL

About The Position

The VP, Operational Excellence leads enterprise-wide relentless continuous improvement (RCI), manufacturing transformation, strategic planning, and health, safety, and environmental (HSE) governance across JBT Marel. The role establishes and supports daily management systems at business sites, promotes a pipeline of continuous-improvement and productivity projects, develops process-improvement strategies, and shares best practices across the supply chain operations network. It also implements 80/20 tools and key performance indicators through the JBT Marel Business System. The role works with operating units on manufacturing and facility transformations, including site consolidation or expansion, product transfers and outsourcing, centers of excellence, asset management, advanced manufacturing, sales and service footprint changes, and make-buy strategies. It develops business cases and execution plans with attention to cost, quality, delivery, capacity utilization, customer requirements, and changing geopolitical conditions. As part of the RCI effort, the position develops governance and tools for inventory management, capacity planning, standardized Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning (SIOP), master data management, and inventory pull systems. The role also establishes a global HSE framework across plants, operations, and field service, with consistent accountability and standards aligned with ISO 45001/14001. The HSE strategy is intended to improve safety culture and reduce incidents while supporting operational efficiency and sustainable business growth.

Responsibilities

Implement and support daily management at business sites, including visual boards for Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost (SQDC), and Inventory, to drive actions, KPI improvement, and prioritization.
Encourage a pipeline of active RCI and productivity cost-improvement projects, including VAVE operational and product dress-down efforts.
Develop and support continuous-improvement strategies using Lean, Six Sigma, and other methodologies; identify improvement opportunities and develop actionable project plans using tools such as A3s and 5S.
Develop and share best practices across businesses and operating units, and establish a forum to review and implement approved practices.
Implement 80/20 tools and use or enhance KPIs to drive operational excellence across businesses, operating units, and JBT Marel.
Develop and support plans for site consolidation or expansion, footprint optimization, lower-cost operations, and implementation of an assembly, test, and ship model for food-processing businesses as a type 3 operation.
Establish business cases for product transfers and outsourcing, and guide operating units in implementation while minimizing disruption and improving cost, quality, and delivery.
Support profitable growth of targeted manufacturing and warehouse distribution facilities, aiming for 75% capacity utilization, and support machining and fabrication centers of excellence for quick-turn service components.
Develop and implement asset-management strategies for equipment utilization and maintenance; publish equipment across the network, recommend its use or disposition, and consider advanced manufacturing technologies and equipment standardization.
Drive sales and service footprint changes based on a combined JBT Marel fact-pack to achieve yearly synergy targets, including facility consolidation, improved office use, property sales, and reduction of facility-leasing and dilapidation risks.
Support make-buy strategies with sourcing teams, using holistic regional and global assessments to guide outsourcing or investment in internal capabilities.
Develop and implement standardized inventory-management governance and tools, including inventory segmentation, dashboards, excess-and-obsolete disposition, escalation processes, and action plans, with the goal of improving turns, delivery, and service while reducing working capital year over year.
Build capacity-planning tools to assess capacity and utilization across the JBT Marel footprint and support manufacturing transformation strategies and progress monitoring.
Organize and support standardized SIOP processes at each business or operating unit, aligning supplier capacity, inventory, production, procurement, and planning with sales plans and market trends.
Ensure accurate and consistent supply-chain master data, govern additions of parts, customers, and suppliers, implement part normalization to eliminate duplicate SKUs, and include relevant logistics information such as HS/HTS codes, country of origin, and mill certification references.
Drive the shift from push to pull systems for product manufacturing, assembly, and component procurement.
Ensure HSE standards are integrated across plants, operations, and field service; define a global framework with clear minimum standards, accountability, and governance.
Drive adoption of safety standards and best practices, and establish HSE standards for PPE catalogs, safety procedures, and health procedures.
Ensure plants and sites comply with the global HSE framework aligned with ISO 45001/14001 system standards, and refresh safety culture to support incident reduction, efficiency, and leadership accountability.