Manager, Plant Engineering, Operational Excellence, Manufacturing

Manager, Plant Engineering, Operational Excellence, Manufacturing

Location: Sumter, SC

Relocation Offered: YES

Competitive Salary [about $168K] Bonus, Full Benefits, World Class Corporation

The Plant Engineering Manager provides strategic and operational leadership of the site engineering function (Automation, Process Engineering), while embedding Excellence as core operating system.

Preferred: Six Sigma certification - Experience with High Speed Automated Manufacturing Excellence or similar Lean operating system

This role drives world-class performance across Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost (SQDC) through:

• Deployment of Excellence principles (Lean, CI, Zero Loss mindset)
• Development of high-performing technical teams
• Execution of site strategy deployment and Cost-to-Win (CtW) initiatives in collaboration with Site Excellence Manager

• Member of Site Leadership Team / extended LT
• Leads managers, engineers, and technical specialists
• Accountable for multi-year engineering strategy aligned to site master plan
• Equipment reliability & OEE, Cost structure and capital efficiency
• Engineering capability and bench strength
• Operates with broad influence across manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and Excellence teams

• Lead engineering input into Strategy Deployment (SDD) and site master plan
• Cascade KPIs aligned to SQDC priorities across engineering teams
• Align engineering roadmap to Excellence roadmap and maturity expectations
• Ensure integration of:
  • Asset strategy
  • Automation & digital roadmap
  • Reliability and maintenance excellence
• Champion projects around Zero Loss mindset across engineering domains (safety, quality, downtime, cost)
• Lead elimination of losses through:
  • Root cause problem-solving
  • Kaizen and focused improvement initiatives
• Own engineering contribution to Cost-to-Win (CtW) portfolio
• Standard work, visual management / Tier management, Problem-solving (7-step / A3)

• Partnering to establish and execute site-wide asset care strategy
• Ensure engineering resources to support:
  • High equipment uptime and reliability, effective preventive and predictive maintenance
  • Optimal spare parts and lifecycle management
  • Drive engineering improvements that enhance OEE, capacity utilization, cost efficiency

• Partner with Excellence leaders to:
  • Deploy Factory Blueprint standards
  • Build component-based excellence (FI, Quality, Maintenance, etc.)
• Focused Improvement teams, Kaizen events, Loss landscape analysis
• Ensure engineering teams actively contribute to:
  • Tier Management routines
  • Visual performance tracking
  • Continuous improvement cadence

• Build and lead a high-performing engineering organization
• Develop talent aligned to skills matrices and capability strategy
• Coach leaders and teams on:
  • Succession planning
  • Technical pipeline and bench strength
  • Development of future JG4/JG5 leaders

• Partner with:
  • Manufacturing (MU Leaders, Ops Managers), Quality & Validation
  • Supply Chain & Planning, EHS
• Provide engineering leadership in:
  • New product introductions (NPI)
  • Capacity expansion and capital projects
  • Regulatory and compliance activities

• Ensure adherence to:
  • Quality Systems and policies
  • Regulatory requirements
  • Engineering and maintenance standards
• Standard work within engineering, Governance processes aligned to Excellence

• Demonstrates servant leadership and Gemba mindset
• Drives culture of accountability and continuous improvement
• Promotes:
  • Problem finding before problem solving
  • Data transparency
  • Daily management discipline
• Leads change effectively and influences at all levels
• Builds a culture where associates are engaged in identifying and eliminating waste
• Continuous improvement is embedded in daily work

• Delivery: OEE, downtime reduction;
  Cost: maintenance cost, CtW delivery
• Excellence: maturity assessment progression

– Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or related)

• 7–10+ years of engineering/manufacturing experience
• 3–5+ years leadership experience managing managers or technical teams
• Strong knowledge of:
  • Lean / Continuous Improvement
  • Reliability / Asset Care systems
  • Manufacturing processes

Six Sigma certification – Experience with High Speed Automated Manufacturing Excellence or similar Lean operating system