Operational Excellence Manager

SUMMARY:

The Operational Excellence Manager serves as a strategic link between Product Engineering, Process Engineering, Operations, and Continuous Improvement, with responsibility for improving product construction standards, manufacturing processes, and operational execution through sustained, long‑term initiatives. This role owns operational alignment to engineering intent, drives consistency in how products are built, and ensures product and process changes are implemented with discipline, documentation, and measurable results. Rather than event‑based improvement activity, the position focuses on durable plant‑level improvements that support quality, delivery, cost, and capacity objectives while operating across functional boundaries and reporting directly to the WB President.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Product Construction & Build Quality

• Own and drive improvements to product construction standards across WB product lines.
• Identify and resolve recurring construction defects, assembly inconsistencies, and sources of variation using root cause analysis.
• Evaluate product designs for manufacturability in partnership with Engineering, recommending changes that improve consistency and reduce CoPQ.
• Maintain construction standards, visual specifications, and work instructions aligned with engineering intent.
• Support ECOs by ensuring changes are communicated clearly, implemented consistently, and validated on the floor.

Process Engineering & Manufacturing Alignment

• Serve as the primary Operations liaison to Engineering, aligning manufacturing processes to current and future product designs.
• Partner with Process Engineering to translate value stream and process data into sustained improvements.
• Support long-term capacity, equipment, and technology planning with operational data and process capability input.
• Participate in new product introductions to assess readiness, tooling, and training requirements.
• Support ERP accuracy related to routings, operation times, and BOM consistency.

Sustained Process Improvement

• Lead multi-week or multi-month improvement initiatives focused on construction consistency, labor accuracy, and material flow.
• Conduct time studies and support labor standard and routing accuracy improvements.
• Track improvement initiatives from identification through implementation and verification.
• Coordinate with the Continuous Improvement Manager to ensure Kaizen outputs translate into lasting standard work.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Reporting

• Align improvement priorities across Operations, Engineering, CI, and leadership.
• Provide concise updates on improvement progress, risks, and outcomes in leadership forums.
• Support achievement of company objectives related to waste reduction, delivery performance, quality, and capacity growth.
• Partner with supervisors to ensure changes are communicated, trained, and operationally sustained.

Tooling, Materials & Documentation

• Support tooling standards and maintenance alignment with product quality outcomes.
• Provide input on material changes from a product construction and process standpoint.
• Own the maintenance of product construction and process documentation to ensure accuracy and traceability.

Safety & Compliance

• Ensure all product and process changes are reviewed for safety impact and comply with OSHA and company standards.
• Participate in safety reviews associated with equipment, tooling, or process changes.

Other Duties

• Perform other duties as assigned.

OBJECTIVES:

• Improve product construction consistency and reduce recurring defects through documented standards and sustained corrective actions.
• Deliver measurable reductions in waste, rework, and CoPQ aligned with annual objectives.
• Ensure approved process and product changes are implemented with updated documentation and training.
• Maintain visibility and accountability for operational excellence initiatives and results.

COMPETENCIES:

• Communicates Effectively: Communicates respectfully and effectively with customers, fellow workers, and management, including communicating proactively when encountering issues or challenges that may affect the timely completion of tasks or projects.
• Customer Focus: Continuously pays attention to customer (internal and/or external) needs and adapts as relationships evolve. A customer focus means being open minded, responsive, agile, and driving innovation.
• Collaborates: Works cooperatively with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives; Represents own interests while being fair to others and their areas; Partners with others to get work done; Credits others for their contributions and accomplishments; Gains trust and support of others.
• Job Knowledge: Has understanding and proficiency in job responsibilities, performs tasks efficiently, solves problems quickly, and makes informed decisions in addition to staying current with new technologies or developments within their field by seeking out training opportunities or continuing education courses.
• Safety: The ability to identify hazards and risks in your work environment. Leadership in safety compliance of all rules and procedures that are designed to protect you and others from harm. The ability to communicate and cooperate safely with your colleagues, managers, and other stakeholders. Demonstrated learning with a focus to improve safety by acquiring new knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enhance your safety performance and culture. The ability to exhibit safety leadership by influencing and inspiring others to adopt safe behaviors and attitudes.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Product Development, Operations Management, or related field required. Lean / Six Sigma preferred.

Experience and/or Training:

• 5–8 years of experience in manufacturing operations, process engineering, or product/manufacturing engineering.
• Experience improving product construction quality and process consistency.
• Experience working with ERP systems, BOMs, and routings.
• Proven ability to partner with Engineering and Operations on sustained improvements.

Technology/Tools:

• Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• ERP systems (Insight 20/20 or similar).
• Production data analysis and time study tools.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEMANDS:

Combination of office and production-floor work. Ability to stand, walk, bend, and use hand tools and computer work. Occasional lifting up to 50 lbs. Sitting for long periods of time, 6-8 hours per day. Walking, speaking, hearing seeing. Listen and observe the environment for hazard prevention.

WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

Indoor manufacturing and office environment with noise, dust, moving equipment, and variable temperatures. PPE required in designated areas.

EMPLOYER EXPECTATION

An individual in this position must be able to successfully perform the essential duties and responsibilities listed above. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions. This job description reflects typical requirements and conditions encountered while performing the role.

EMPLOYEE RESPONIBILITY:

Employees are expected to proactively perform the work described above and invest in their own growth, making themselves an asset to the organization.