VP Operational Excellence

Refresco Careers•Tampa, FL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Refresco is the leading global independent beverage solutions provider, serving national and international retailers as well as Global, National and Emerging (GNE) brands. Our products are distributed worldwide from our production sites in Europe, North America, and Australia. We are a solutions-based, innovative company that seeks out new challenges. This role is for a Vice President of Operational Excellence reporting to the Vice President of Operations North America. The position is responsible for setting and leading the North American strategy for operational excellence, operational transformation, maintenance excellence, and operations workforce capability development. This role drives operational performance, leads transformation initiatives, and ensures alignment between business strategy and operational execution. It blends leadership, process optimization, equipment reliability, and change management to improve efficiency, quality, and profitability across the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Business, or related field required.
15+ years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing, operations, or transformation.
Proven experience leading multi-site or regional operational excellence and transformation initiatives.
Strong background in Lean, TPM, Continuous Improvement, and Maintenance Excellence.
Deep expertise in operational excellence, Lean, TPM, and continuous improvement methodologies.
Strong understanding of maintenance, reliability, and asset management best practices.
Proven ability to lead enterprise-wide transformation initiatives with measurable impact.
Strong financial acumen, including cost optimization and ROI analysis.
Advanced data analysis and performance management capabilities.
Expertise in change management and organizational transformation.
Exceptional stakeholder management and executive communication skills.
Ability to manage complex, multi-site operations and competing priorities.
Demonstrated ability to diagnose business problems and prioritize the highest-impact opportunities.
Proven track record building sustainable operating systems vs one-time improvements.
Strong emotional intelligence with the ability to influence, coach, and drive behavior change across all levels.
Ability to balance standardization and flexibility in a multi-site manufacturing environment.
Experience embedding autonomous maintenance and operator ownership model.

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred.
Experience in food & beverage, FMCG, or similar manufacturing environments preferred.
Demonstrated success building high-performing teams and driving cultural transformation.

Responsibilities

Lead the development, deployment, and governance of the North American Operational Excellence and Transformation strategy aligned with corporate objectives.
Establish and manage a multi-year transformation roadmap integrating Continuous Improvement, Maintenance Excellence, and Training initiatives.
Drive enterprise-wide adoption of standardized systems, tools, and processes across all facilities.
Partner with executive leadership to align transformation priorities with business strategy and financial goals.
Provide strategic leadership and direction to the leaders of Maintenance Excellence, Operational Excellence, and Manufacturing Training.
Ensure alignment and integration across functions to deliver end-to-end operational performance improvements.
Build strong leadership capability and succession pipelines within each function.
Ensure all improvement initiatives are grounded in clearly defined business problems and measurable outcomes.
Differentiate strategies by plant maturity, capability, and performance gaps rather than applying uniform solutions across all sites.
Lead structured problem-solving processes to identify root causes and prioritize high-impact opportunities.
Balance standardization with flexibility to enable site-specific optimization.
Drive a disciplined approach to initiative selection, focusing on value creation, speed, and sustainability.
Build problem-solving capability at all levels, from plant leadership to frontline associates.
Oversee and strengthen the Refresco Manufacturing System (RMS) ensuring consistent implementation across all sites and performance management is embedded in daily management systems.
Champion Lean, TPM, and continuous improvement methodologies to drive safety, quality, delivery, and cost improvements.
Ensure standardization of KPIs, tools, and processes to enable sustainable results and benchmarking across plants.
Leverage Kaizen events, coaching and training to eliminate waste, improve flow, and run better through sustained process improvement.
Move the organization from project-based improvement to habitual, leader-led continuous improvement.
Oversee the North American Maintenance Excellence strategy and roadmap execution.
Ensure implementation of best-in-class asset management, reliability, and maintenance practices to improve OEE and reduce downtime.
Drive integration of predictive and preventive maintenance programs supported by CMMS/EAM systems.
Align maintenance strategies with operational and financial performance targets.
Drive a zero-breakdown mindset across all facilities, shifting from reactive to proactive and predictive maintenance.
Champion Autonomous Maintenance (AM) as a core pillar of operational excellence, ensuring clear ownership at the line level.
Ensure strong integration between maintenance, operations, and training to sustain equipment reliability improvements.
Focus on long-term system health vs short-term fix.
Establish enterprise-wide manufacturing training and capability-building strategies aligned with operational excellence priorities.
Ensure deployment of standardized training systems and programs across all manufacturing sites.
Partner with HR and operations leadership to accelerate time-to-competency and improve workforce effectiveness.
Oversee development of technical training and continuous improvement capability programs.
Shift training from compliance-based activity to capability-building systems that enable performance improvement.
Ensure training is directly linked to operational outcomes, including reliability, efficiency, and quality.
Standardize critical training frameworks while allowing flexibility for site-specific needs.
Build clear pathways to accelerate employee time-to-competence and mastery.
Conduct comprehensive evaluations of North American operations to identify inefficiencies and opportunities.
Establish governance frameworks to prioritize, track, and execute transformation initiatives.
Ensure clear accountability, milestones, and benefit realization across all major initiatives.
Provide executive-level reporting on progress, risks, and outcomes.
Drive disciplined program management and cross-functional alignment.
Establish enterprise-wide KPIs and dashboards to monitor operational and transformation performance.
Ensure data-driven decision-making across all levels of the organization.
Leverage analytics to identify opportunities, track improvements, and sustain gains.
Drive visibility and transparency of performance across all sites.
Lead large-scale change management initiatives to embed a culture of operational excellence.
Foster a high-performance, accountable, and continuous improvement culture.
Drive leadership engagement and frontline adoption of new processes and standards.
Build organizational capability through coaching, training, and mentorship.