Continuous Improvement Manager Job Rolling Meadows area,Illinois USA,Manufacturing / Production

Key Responsibilities

CI Strategy & Lean Operating System Own the site continuous-improvement roadmap; align the improvement pipeline to business priorities through strategy deployment and annual/quarterly planning with the leadership team.
Design, deploy, and sustain the lean operating system: tiered daily management, visual management, standard work, leader standard work, and gemba routines.
Define and maintain the plant KPI framework (safety, quality, delivery, cost, throughput, on-time delivery, first-pass yield, cost of poor quality) and ensure metrics drive action at every tier.

Improvement Execution

Plan, facilitate, and follow up on kaizen events, value-stream mapping, and rapid improvement workshops across the busbar value stream and supporting functions.
Lead structured problem-solving (DMAIC, A3, 8D) on the site’s highest-impact losses; focus early effort on the binding constraints to flow.
Drive HMLV-appropriate flow improvements: setup and changeover reduction (SMED), WIP and queue-time reduction, cell design, pull/replenishment, and scheduling discipline.
Use Epicor labor, move, and job data to quantify active-vs-queue time, identify waste, and validate that improvements hold.
Extend lean practices beyond production into quoting, order entry, planning, purchasing, and quality processes (transactional lean).

Financial Accountability

Build business cases for improvement initiatives; track and report validated hard and soft savings in partnership with Finance.
Partner with Engineering on capital, automation, and MES/analytics projects to ensure they solve the right problems and deliver expected returns.

People & Capability

Build CI capability across the organization: deliver lean and problem-solving training.
Coach supervisors and managers to lead improvement in their own areas; foster an engaged culture where operators identify and solve problems.

Quality, Safety & Compliance

Integrate CI with AS9100 and NADCAP requirements; ensure process changes are properly controlled, documented, and validated, and support audits and corrective actions.
Lead 5S and workplace organization; partner with EHS to embed safety and ergonomics into improvement work.

Required Qualifications

This facility is subject to ITAR regulations. Applicants must qualify as a “U.S. Person” under ITAR (22 CFR § 120.62), meaning a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or other qualifying protected individual. This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.
Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Operations Management, or a closely related discipline.
8+ years of manufacturing experience, including 3+ years leading continuous-improvement or operational-excellence programs, ideally in a metal-fabrication, machining, or electromechanical assembly environment.
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (or equivalent demonstrated expertise) with a track record of measurable, sustained throughput, quality, and cost results.
Deep working knowledge of lean tools and systems: value-stream mapping, standard work, SMED, 5S, visual and tiered management, kaizen, and structured problem-solving.
Strong analytical skills; fluent in ERP-based manufacturing data and comfortable building the analyses that drive decisions.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in a high-mix, low-volume or job-shop operation.
Busbar, power-distribution, or copper/aluminum fabrication background; familiarity with plating and other special processes.
AS9100 and/or NADCAP experience.
Epicor (or comparable ERP) and MES implementation experience.
Experience with strategy deployment (hoshin kanri) and building a CI function or lean operating system from the ground up.

Core Competencies