Operational Excellence Manager

Your Opportunity as an Operational Excellence Manager

Responsible for coaching site pillar leaders and the entire plant organization towards the successful utilization of a High-Performance Organization (HPO), continuous improvement, and their tools and practices. These tools ensure the organization is designed to deliver the site plan through loss elimination and the engagement of all employees. This role drives consistent and effective use of pillar tools, effective communication across teams, and reapplication of company best practices and standards.

The Operational Excellence process is designed to have individuals with expertise in several areas to lead the overall implementation and progression.

1525 Industrial Rd, Emporia, KS 66801 (Hostess Manufacturing Plant)

100% on-site, AM Shift – Flexibility required. Willingness to work off shift (including nights, weekends, and/or holidays) and flow to the work as needed.

• Promote the continued implementation and integration of Operational Excellence throughout the Company
• Assist site leadership team in developing High-Performance Organization (HPO) systems and behaviors during planning, startup, and operation
• Coach plant leadership and pillars to build high performance capability at all levels of the organization
• Leverage existing resources to facilitate Operational Excellence implementation and create documented High-Performance Organizations
• Deliver the overall Operational Excellence Master Plan and timeline for the ongoing delivery of the compelling business needs
• Define and deliver Operational Excellence Phase Measures
• Help to ensure reliability systems are developed to be robust with safety and quality systems
• Assist in the development and coordination of the Operational Excellence strategy for the site
• Support operations leadership, supply chain leadership, and the site leaders in their implementation of Operational Excellence by providing coaching and direction on integration, improvement processes, specific scorecards results, and master plans
• Conduct audits and assessments to reinforce Operational Excellence phase progression
• Provide plant support for problem solving, improvement projects, and priority work as necessary
• Coach teams on sustaining improvements and system integration into daily work
• Ensure completion of organization performance modeling and health assessments
• Establish a glide path for HPO phase completion
• Stay in front of the site from a capability standpoint to continually drive progress and deliver business needs. Help develop new tools and capabilities in others

• A bachelor’s degree
• At least 3 years of operations experience in a manufacturing environment using continuous improvement tools (CI, SQMS, HPO, Operational Excellence, etc.) to deliver business results
• Prior success in implementing and sustaining improvements
• At least 3 years of experience in training and leading groups
• Ability to work with people at all levels of the organization

• An Engineering degree
• Continued education or certifications in Continuous Improvement (Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, Black Belt, etc.)
• Working knowledge of the intents and details for all CI pillars
• Previous experience leading a CI and/or Quality systems pillar (FI – Focused Improvement, etc.)
• Experience with plant or large project start up
• Food (pet or human) and/or beverage manufacturing experience

This job operates in a manufacturing environment. The noise level in the work environment and manufacturing sites can be high.

• Regularly required to talk and hear
• Frequently required to stand, walk, use hands and fingers to handle or feel, and reach with hands and arms
• Occasionally required to sit, climb or balance, and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl
• Able to lift objects up to 50 pounds frequently
• May push and pull heavy trash carts, dough carts, portable equipment, and catch pans
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus

We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status.