Situation Overview
Founded in the late 1940’s, and very much the industry pioneer, our client has grown into one of the largest and best known purveyors of complex architectural building products in North America. The company consistently outpaces its competition with innovative and trusted brands and patented designs available across a broad distribution network of building-supply (Home Depot) and specialty dealers and retailers, and both residential and industrial construction contractors.

The company is wholly-owned by one of the world’s largest independent manufacturers and distributors of architectural building products and systems, and has just begun to transform its culture with LEAN principles and practices as based on the Toyota Production System, across all U.S. plants.

We’re searching for a new General Manager (plant operations management, full manufacturing P&L) for the company’s largest and most complex manufacturing unit, located in the Newark, NJ metro area. The GM will be responsible for planning and execution of all plant activities, including cultural transformation focused on engagement, responsibility and accountability in all areas of the company’s business. LEAN change leadership will play a critical role in the GM’s success.

Are you the right person to lead this successful, dynamic business to unparalleled customer satisfaction and profitable growth? Can you build an outstanding professional and personal future by earning recognition and reward from transforming this organization into a world-class LEAN Enterprise?

Why You Want this Position
•Imprint your creativity and passion on a great organization, in an environment where: associates are safe, engaged and sharing in success; perfect orders get to customers fast; business objectives and operational execution truly align with voice of the customer; “stronger together” purpose creates competitive advantage; the resulting organization is clearly the easiest and best to do business with.
•Make an immediate, highly-visible impact by leading change for long-term, sustainable Lean operations and culture transformation.
•Work in a place where success is defined not only by performance and results, but also by truly living company values of safety, integrity, teamwork, innovation, excellence, individual dignity and corporate citizenship.
•Enjoy personal recognition for your achievements, and build your future with excellent professional growth opportunities.

Principal Responsibilities
The General Manager will drive leadership and execution of all plant operations, ensuring plant is aligned with overall corporate business objectives, has flexibility and capacity to support customer demand, and effectively balances and leverages fixed cost structure with optimal variable resources. Utilizing effective organizational planning and development leadership, the General Manager will transform how the organization deploys assets, both human and physical resources, to deliver targeted results for engagement, accountability, productivity, continuous improvement, growth and profitability. Direct reports include Plant Manager and functional managers of: shipping; maintenance; purchasing; human resources; scheduling; quality; safety; continuous improvement. Position reports to VP Operations & Supply Chain.

In somewhat more specific detail, the Plant GM will:

• Provide exceptional leadership to accomplish strategic annual business and tactical objectives in an empowered, team-based environment.
• Drive breakthrough operational performance improvements utilizing principles and practices of LEAN, while ensuring customer satisfaction with high quality products delivered on-time.
• Direct and coordinate budgets and forecasts to provide funding for new or continuing operations, special projects, growth initiatives, thereby maximizing ROI and increased productivity.
• Build, develop and lead functional teams and value streams to meet business objectives including: delivering the perfect order; creating an environment and culture of safety; and attaining stretch metrics in areas such as quality, delivery and cost reduction.
• Ensure organization’s development and continuous improvement of technical and management capabilities/skills in direct reports, addressing individual development needs and performance issues, building an environment of high employee satisfaction and morale.
• Foster customer value and focus, coordinating and delivering operational support for business development and customer relationship building, and effectively represent the business unit in various interactions with all stakeholders and the local community.

What You Bring to the Table
We require a minimum of BS/BA degree; engineering, manufacturing, or related field preferred. We need to see a strong track record of progressively more responsible hands-on manufacturing experience in a complex, discrete assembly manufacturing environment, with at least 5-6 years in a senior manufacturing/operations leadership role. You must have:
• Demonstrated leadership in maintaining the highest levels of integrity and ethics in business and personal practices.
• Proven success in hands-on P&L management of large plant (say 500+ associates, perhaps $100 million+ revenue), or multi-site operations.
• Consistent track record of execution (results, accountability), successfully delivering year over year performance improvement.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving and interpersonal skills.
• Leadership experience in culturally diverse union team based manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated success implementing LEAN manufacturing principles, practices and techniques – the ability to drive a sustainable LEAN cultural transformation.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and organize manufacturing operations and effectively resolve manufacturing issues.
• Experienced in strategic planning, budgeting, and timely decision-making.

Please connect directly with Adam Zak, Adam Zak Executive Search, who has been retained to conduct this executive search +1 (847) 304-5300

Please respond to resume@LeanRecruiter.com  This position description has been posted at http://LeanJobsBlog.com. Our main Web site is http://LeanRecruiter.com You can also connect with Adam at http://twitter.com/LeanThinker or http://LinkedIn.com/in/adamzak

The Best E-Commerce Company on Earth

Introducing an Amazing Opportunity 

Our client is one of the largest e-commerce organizations on Earth, striving each and every day to be Earth’s most customer-centric company for consumers, sellers, and enterprises.  Organized into two principal business segments, North America and International, this enterprise has time-and-again demonstrated its dedication to sustained long-term growth and profitability – simply by paying extraordinary attention to its customers. Even since that very first day it opened its doors for business.

By serving consumers through retail websites, selling millions of unique products with laser-like focus on selection, price, and convenience.  By constantly striving to improve operating efficiencies to continuously lower prices for customers. By delivering evermore easy-to-use functionality, fast and reliable fulfillment, and outrageously great customer service.  That’s our client.

The company also offers programs which enable independent sellers to sell their products via company websites or their own branded websites, offering that same level of unparalleled order fulfillment execution services.  And, finally, our client also serves developers and enterprises of all sizes through its web services operations, which provide access to technology infrastructure enabling virtually any type of business on Earth.

So, it should perhaps go without saying, but our client is absolutely at the leading edge of today’s global e-commerce environment, and their businesses are intensely competitive, rapidly evolving, and an immense amount of fun to be a part of.

Can I interest you in taking a closer look?

Position Overview

The Director, Global Lean Six Sigma Operational Excellence is responsible for implementing our client’s comprehensive business improvement system. Which we’ll call BIS for now, even though there’s a top-secret internal name to be revealed later.  And, for enabling the company’s world-wide operations to significantly benefit from productivity gains derived from Lean Six Sigma Operational Excellence.

The role is highly visible and assumes primary responsibility for implementing continuous improvement across all business functions and all business units of the company. Reporting to the SVP of Worldwide Operations, the Director will exercise considerable judgment to identify and execute strategic continuous improvement plans and tactical project implementation and completion processes.

Key Responsibilities 

The Director, Global Lean Six Sigma Operational Excellence will  facilitate and guide the application of BIS methods to process improvements with world-class quality levels in an organization experiencing constantly exploding growth.  As well, the Director will need to motivate and lead others to succeed under the challenging conditions of an extremely deadline-driven environment.  These include a team of Lean Senseis who will conceive, develop and integrate the innovative solutions and programs necessary to achieve these improvement targets.

Working closely with our client’s technology teams, this position also will merge highly sophisticated company systems with Lean Six Sigma principles.  The Director will need to be comfortable and savvy around leading-edge technology and adept at leveraging company capabilities in order to maximize the positive influence and impact of the BIS.

In somewhat more detail, our Director will:

• Partner with senior business leaders to develop and lead the continuous improvement strategy world-wide, across multiple sites.
• Drive the creation of focused standard work productivity and quality initiatives specific to the needs of the business teams and regions to meet and exceed business plans.
• Define and deploy the appropriate metrics to measure both productivity and process quality, providing meaningful feedback to the operations.
• Provide both strategic and tactical leadership regarding continuous improvement project selection, scope, definition and performance, to ensure alignment with business (Hoshin) strategy.
• Mentor and guide operations business teams in their ability to develop and execute daily, weekly & monthly action plans that increase quality, inventory accuracy and customer service.
• Instill long-term sustainability of the BIS by making its principles, policies, practices and language an integral component of standard work across global operations and by developing formal BIS education/training vehicles across the board to site champions, managers and company associates.
• Drive continuous improvement culture change through collaboration and communication regarding best practices knowledge sharing, internal and external benchmarking, talent development and overall, a visibly passionate and vocal advocacy for hands-on Lean leadership.

What You Bring to the Table

• Intimate knowledge of Lean principles, practices and techniques, combined with expertise in deploying Six Sigma tools, and the ability to champion standard work based on Lean Six Sigma principles
• Ten or more years of successful leadership experience in project management and facilitation of large cross-functional teams in business operations and technology process improvement areas
• Proven experience in leading large cross functional site transformations
• Demonstrated expertise in  deploying transactional Lean, manufacturing Lean, variation reduction, and design for six sigma methodologies
• Demonstrated experience and proficiency in effective communication of goals and strategies across multiple leadership levels of an organization
• Solid expertise in budget management,  strong understanding  key financial metrics, and proficiency with statistical analysis tools and processes
• Minimum of BS/BA in technical (math, engineering, science) curriculum
• MBA, other advanced degree preferred

About Those Personal Qualities

We expect that our successful candidate will bring a number of important personal characteristics to this critical role, among them:  a strong sense of urgency and personal commitment; decisiveness, self-confidence, a sixth sense for understanding, motivating and influencing others; the ability to handle constantly shifting priorities; a talent for sorting out the truly important from the merely urgent; and, highly-refined sense of good judgment applied in fast-paced environments, occasionally under stressful working circumstances.

In Closing

The position is based in Seattle, WA, the “Emerald City”. You should anticipate significant domestic and international travel in this position, most likely at the 50-60% range, but this will obviously vary over time based on the demands of the business and your own decisions.

Compensation consists of an excellent base salary and incentive bonus plan, and will of course depend on what you bring to the table.  As the company’s philosophy is very much focused on long-term success and profitability, as opposed to simply “making the numbers every quarter,” you should expect a significant financial reward in the form of long-term equity-based (stock) incentives. Relocation assistance provided as appropriate to your situation.

Please connect directly with Adam Zak, CEO of Adam Zak Executive Search, who has been retained to conduct this exceptionally interesting executive search +1 (847) 304-5300, via resume@LeanRecruiter.com, or by following the other email link just over to the right…

Based in the Western United States, the company  designs and builds unique, custom solutions which are specifically engineered to individual customer order (high-mix, low-volume) and sold through multiple channels in the defense/military, aerospace, and industrial markets.  Primary operations are located in a major Mountain State metro area and the company also serves some of its international customers from a secondary European plant. Our client is owned by a U.S.-based private equity firm and is very well-positioned for substantial growth over the coming years.

The company’s seasoned management team believes strongly in Lean manufacturing which is at the core of the company’s operating philosophy. During the past three years our client has implemented continuous improvement principles and practices with strong support from all levels of the organization. Substantial progress has been made. However, in order to support the opportunity for market growth, the company still needs to address persistent service level issues in its manufacturing operations, and must also improve throughput capacity to meet rising demand volumes.

Reporting directly to the company’s President, the VP Operations will serve as strategic and tactical business partner and change agent on the company’s top leadership team. The VP Operations will participate in establishing (and delivering on) the organization’s strategic plans and critical success factors.

Why You Want this Position

• Create an immediate, significant and highly-visible impact on the operations of a dynamic and rapidly evolving private industrial manufacturing company.
• Imprint your creativity and passion on an already-world-class business by taking hands-on leadership role to improve strategy and tactical execution to support business requirements and results.
• Drive the organization’s LEAN cultural transformation across all areas of operations based on your well-developed Toyota Production System (or derivative business system) experience.
• Enjoy personal recognition for your achievements, and excellent financial rewards including equity participation in the company’s success.

Key Responsibilities

The VP Operations is responsible for all day-to-day operating functions including production control (scheduling and material), manufacturing engineering, production, quality, tool shop, maintenance and procurement. The VP  will lead these activities through department managers via effective planning, staffing, training, budgeting and prioritizing throughout the organization. Key peers include vice presidents of sales, engineering and finance, who form the core of the executive leadership team.

Factors which will be critical to the success of the person in this position :

• Demonstrated track record in sustaining high service (on time delivery) and quality levels in a job shop mixed-mode manufacturing environment.
• Direct experience in the successful execution of the production control function including deployment and utilization of advanced ERP and scheduling.
• Previous sustained success in driving continuous improvement in a high variety / low volume manufacturing environment.
• Expertise in improving product engineering/planning,  and process definition handoff to manufacturing. 

What You Bring to the Table

Strategic thinking and execution, with the experience and judgment to plan and accomplish operating objectives, within a job shop mixed-mode manufacturing environment, supported by…

• Minimum of 10 years progressive, successful operations leadership, including direct management of both manufacturing and materials functions.
• Extensive LEAN and/or Toyota Production System implementation experience.
• Direct experience implementing advanced scheduling ERP in a job shop environment.
• Excellent organizational, multi-tasking time management, problem-solving, communications and analytical skills.
• Strong interpersonal and people management skills; strong team orientation; unrelenting work ethic; passion for leadership required to influence, drive and sustain culture change.
• BS/BA degree in manufacturing or industrial engineering.

More 

Competitive executive compensation package includes base salary, incentive performance bonus, relocation assistance, and participation in executive equity pool distribution. 

Please connect directly with Adam Zak, Adam Zak Executive Search, who has been retained to conduct this executive search +1 (847) 304-5300

Please respond at  resume@LeanRecruiter.com     This position description has been posted at http://LeanJobsBlog.com.  Our main Web site is http://LeanRecruiter.com   You can also connect with Adam at http://twitter.com/LeanThinker or http://LinkedIn.com/in/adamzak…

Our client is a small (under $100 MM) multi-national manufacturer of specialty metal products.  This is a confidential search, so we’ll just call them widgets for now  –  unique, individually-precision-manufactured (formed, shaped, coated, assembled…)  to custom order  –  widgets.  Our new hands-on Vice President will run all company operations which bring these widgets to life.

Because of continually increasing customer demand, and the complex nature of these widgets, our new VP will need to optimally integrate ERP/MRP with Lean so as to most effectively drive the actual daily production schedule, using the ERP system.  And so our key qualifying requirement for this new VP is simple: you must explicitly demonstrate that you have done this at least once before. Under similar conditions, in a similar environment.  Experience under scenarios where long lead times, building to forecast, or visual pull systems are the norm will not be relevant or transferrable.

For the ideal candidate we offer:  a highly visible, key impact role with a profitable, growing business, and outstanding compensation package which includes equity participation in the company’s success. Please read on for additional detail.  Full position description located here…

Education Manager, LEI, Cambridge, MA

Organization Background
The Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. founded by James P. Womack in 1997, is a nonprofit education, publishing, research, and

Jim Womack

conference organization. Compared with traditional “think” tanks, we are a “do” tank. We carefully develop hypotheses about lean thinking and experiment to see which approaches work best in the real world. We then write about and teach what we discover, providing new methods for organizational transformation.

We have a very simple objective at LEI. We try to describe in plain language the fundamental ideas of lean thinking. We have derived these from Toyota, which derived many of them in turn from Henry Ford’s breakthroughs at Highland Park early in the 20th Century.

We diffuse these ideas through our website lean.org, books, workbooks, workshops, training packages, learning events at customer sites, and Lean Summits. Also, we conduct research projects and support other lean initiatives such as the Lean Education Academic Network, the Lean Global Network, and the Healthcare Value Network.

Great Location
We are located in the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, MA, one of the most rapidly developing districts of the city. Our office building is in close proximity to public transportation, MIT, shops, and restaurants. It has a great open-office environment, state-of the art gym, and a parking lot right next to the building.

Outstanding Team
We are a small but very effective team of 14 who accomplish a lot because we consistently apply PDCA thinking to everything we do. We work together on most of our projects to ensure the delivery of maximum value to our customers.

Why YOU should be here!
By joining our team, you become a member of the flagship for the global Lean Community and will work side-by-side with LEI’s founder Jim Womack and our CEO John Shook, world-renowned writers, Lean Thinkers, and sensei, recognized for their invaluable contribution in advancing lean thinking around the world.

LEI faculty are another great source of learning and inspiration. All our instructors have years of experience implementing lean in all sorts of organizations, and every meeting with them leads to learning something new.

Through our workshops, events and website, you will be exposed to hundreds of companies and organizations all around the globe, and will be able to make a positive impact helping them improve their processes and develop their management teams. Everything you’ll do will matter a lot!

Finally, as part of the LEI family, you’ll be constantly contributing to shaping our strategy while doing your daily work in a very positive, collaborative, and high-energy environment.

Position
The Education value stream within LEI is one of three core lines of business, along with Learning Materials, and Lean Summits and Conferences. Our Education business consists of open enrollment workshops which we offer across North America (8-9 sessions a year), workshops that we conduct in our office in Cambridge, MA, and customized learning events at customer facilities.

Until now, all types of workshops have been handled by 2 people – Director of Education and Education Coordinator. However, due to the rapid expansion of our connections with individual organizations seeking help on many different levels – from a one-time delivery of our workshops at their sites to the development of complex, highly customized, long-term learning processes, sometimes on a global scale – we decided to add another member to our Education Team to run this line of business.

As Education Manager, you will be responsible for all aspects of our in-house education business focusing on the development of long-term relationships with customers. It will allow LEI to provide effective learning support to our customers while gathering information for research projects that are used to develop new education programs, publications, case studies, etc.

Education Manager will:
• Be the first point of contact for any individual or organization seeking help with on-site training;
• Work with LEI faculty to identify the needs of prospective customers and make recommendations on the learning content/format that best suits the needs of each individual customer;
• Write proposals and prepare other documentation needed to support every project;
• Work with LEI faculty to edit or create materials for each project;
• Be responsible for printing & shipping materials to customer sites, as well as handle all other logistics issues relative to this line of business;
• Attend at least one workshop at a customer site per quarter to observe the process first-hand, get customer feedback, and identify areas for improvement;
• Conduct reflection sessions – in person or over the phone – with every customer and make process improvements as needed;

In addition to the responsibilities associated with the execution of onsite learning programs, the Education Manager will:

• Work closely with Director of Education and Education Coordinator on the identification of process improvement opportunities in other lines of Education business;
• Participate in the development of annual business plans for his/her line of business and the entire Education value stream;
• Attend at least two sessions of public workshops and one major LEI event annually in order to continuously develop relationships with customers and LEI faculty, and better understand the overall LEI business.

What You Bring to the Table as a Candidate

A successful candidate must offer:

• Excellent understanding of the key principles of lean and some experience applying them in any kind of an organization.
• Experience in teaching lean workshops and/or providing coaching support. Knowledge of LEI workshops and programs is a major plus.
• Deep experience in working with customers (external or internal), including executive and senior management, to understand their needs and expectations, develop curricula and effectively organize learning events;
• Solid knowledge of instructional design and expertise to assist LEI Faculty with workshop material development;
• Strong project management experience and the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines;
• Great ability and desire to work collaboratively with other members of the LEI team;
• Passion for continuous improvement of all processes and practices within his/her area of responsibility.
• Flexibility to travel 25-30% of the time.

Compensation
Competitive salary is commensurate with the candidate’s experience and skills. LEI offers a great benefit package, including medical and dental insurance, company contributions to a 401K plan, financial support for individual training and development, etc.

Contact
Please contact LEI Director of Education Olga Flory with your questions or to submit your qualifications: E-mail: oflory@lean.org Tel: 617-871-2946

Or, you can also connect with Adam Zak, CEO, Adam Zak Executive Search at 847.304.5300, or az@LeanRecruiter.com

Adam Zak. Lean Executive Search. Your bridge to exceptional Lean executive leadership talent. Your connection to outstanding Lean executive career opportunity.