Operations Excellence Engineer

Description

The Operations Excellence Engineer is responsible for driving and standardizing continuous improvement initiatives across all U.S. manufacturing facilities. This role partners with site leadership to implement and sustain Lean methodologies, with a strong emphasis on standard work, SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Dies), and waste elimination.

Reporting directly to the COO, this position serves as a key change agent, deploying enterprise-wide operational excellence strategies that improve quality, delivery, and cost performance while ensuring consistency across sites.

Responsibilities

Enterprise Continuous Improvement Leadership

• Lead the deployment of Lean Manufacturing principles across all U.S. facilities

• Drive a consistent operational excellence framework across plants

• Identify and prioritize high-impact improvement opportunities aligned with business objectives

• Facilitate Kaizen events and structured problem-solving initiatives (A3, DMAIC)
Standard Work Development & Sustainment

• Establish, document, and deploy standard work across critical operations

• Partner with site teams to ensure adherence and sustainability of standard processes

• Audit and continuously improve standard work to drive consistency and repeatability

• Train plant leadership and operators on standard work principles and execution
SMED & Changeover Optimization

• Lead SMED initiatives to significantly reduce setup and changeover times

• Analyze current changeover processes and separate internal vs. external activities

• Implement best practices to improve equipment uptime, flexibility, and responsiveness

• Drive replication of successful SMED improvements across all facilities
Operational Performance & Metrics

• Develop and standardize key performance metrics (OEE, changeover time, scrap, throughput, lead time)

• Use data analytics to identify trends, gaps, and improvement opportunities

• Support sites in achieving measurable performance improvements
Process Optimization & Best Practice Deployment

• Drive cross-site standardization of best practices and processes

• Support facility layout, flow improvements, and capacity optimization efforts
Cross-Site Collaboration & Leadership

• Act as a liaison between corporate leadership and plant operations

• Influence and support plant leaders to adopt and sustain improvements

• Share best practices and lessons learned across all facilities

Training & Culture Development

• Train and coach employees at all levels on Lean tools and methodologies

• Build internal capability in standard work, SMED, and problem-solving

• Drive a culture of accountability, discipline, and continuous improvement

Requirements

• Ability to influence across multiple sites without direct authority

• Strong facilitation and coaching skills

• High level of ownership and accountability

• Strategic thinking with hands-on execution capability

• Excellent communication across all organizational levels

• Change management and cultural leadership

• Corporate role supporting all U.S. manufacturing facilities

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Travel required:

approximately 40-60% to plant locations

• Hands-on presence in plants to lead and sustain improvements

Education and Work Experience Required

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Industrial, Manufacturing, Mechanical, or related field)

• 5+ years of experience in manufacturing, operations, or continuous improvement

• Demonstrated success implementing Lean initiatives across multiple sites preferred, specifically in Standard Work, SMED, VSMs, etc

• Experience in medical device or regulated manufacturing strongly preferred

• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt

• Formal Lean or Toyota Production System training is a plus