Process Reliability Engineering/Operations Leader

William T Burnett & Co., has been in business for more than ninety years, having its beginning in Baltimore Maryland. We are the Non-Woven division located in Statesville N.C. We are seeking a decisive, forward-leaning Process Reliability Leader who will elevate operational performance through disciplined process improvement, rigorous standardization, and data-driven decision-making. This role is built for someone who sees inefficiency quickly, diagnoses root causes with clarity, and turns ambiguity into structured, repeatable processes that strengthen reliability across the entire operation. If you’re driven to eliminate variation, build order from chaos, and champion continuous improvement with conviction, this position will put your strengths to work.

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Key Responsibilities

Process Improvement & Continuous Improvement Leadership

• Lead enterprise-level process improvement initiatives that enhance reliability, reduce waste, and elevate operational consistency.
• Drive CI methodologies (Lean, PDCA, Kaizen, DMAIC) to assess current practices, identify gaps, and implement measurable improvements.
• Facilitate structured problem-solving events to remove obstacles, reduce variation, and stabilize production and service processes.
• Develop and maintain an improvement roadmap that ensures short-term wins and long-term capability building.

Standardized Procedures & Process Governance

• Create, refine, and deploy standardized procedures that strengthen operational consistency, safety, and reliability.
• Establish clear process controls, documentation, and workflows that define best practices and ensure disciplined execution across teams.
• Partner with cross-functional leaders to embed Standard Work into daily operations and ensure adoption through training, audits, and coaching.
• Maintain a continuous improvement mindset in all documentation—ensuring procedures evolve alongside process learnings and performance expectations.

Current State Analysis & Actionable Improvement Planning

• Conduct comprehensive current-state assessments using data, observation, and stakeholder interviews to reveal bottlenecks, inconsistencies, and sources of variation.
• Build actionable item lists with clear ownership, timelines, and measurable success criteria.
• Translate findings into prioritized improvement strategies that enhance reliability, throughput, quality, and cost performance.
• Monitor progress and ensure the successful implementation of improvement actions by removing roadblocks and maintaining accountability.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Influence

• Engage operations, engineering, maintenance, quality, and leadership teams to align on improvement objectives and drive coordinated execution.
• Coach teams on CI principles and standardized processes, fostering a culture of operational discipline and proactive problem-solving.
• Serve as a catalyst for change, challenging outdated practices and driving alignment toward process excellence.

Performance Tracking & Communication

• Build process performance dashboards and reliability metrics that give visibility into improvement trends and operational stability.
• Provide leadership with crisp, insight-rich updates on improvement activities, risks, wins, and performance indicators.
• Ensure lessons learned are captured, shared, and embedded into future practices to strengthen organizational learning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Industrial Management, or related field.
• Proven experience in process improvement, continuous improvement, operational excellence, or reliability leadership.
• Strong working knowledge of Lean, Six Sigma, and structured problem-solving methodologies.
• Demonstrated success in building standardized processes, documentation, and governance structures.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to convert qualitative and quantitative insights into decisive action.
• Skilled communicator capable of influencing across functions and levels.
• Disciplined, hands-on approach and willingness to deeply engage with frontline operations.