About this role
POSITION : Operation Excellence Manager
SHIFT : Monday - Friday, 8:00 am-5:00 pm
PAY RATE : $103,807 - $115,000+ (DOE) + Full Benefit Package
LOCATION : Fargo, ND
SUMMARY OF RESPONSIBILITIES
The Operations Excellence Manager leads continuous improvement and manufacturing engineering across TrueNorth Steel manufacturing sites. This role directs Continuous Improvement Leaders and Manufacturing Engineers to deliver practical solutions that improve margins, quality, productivity, throughput, capacity utilization, and return on capital investments.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS
- Embrace and demonstrate the qualities of the TrueNorth Steel Game Changer definition.
- Lead the operational excellence strategy and translate organization approved priorities into actionable improvement plans.
- Establish accountable ownership for product-line operating systems, process development, approved standards, KPI creation, Management of Change, cross-site deployment, and sustainment activities.
- Hire, lead, coach, and develop Continuous Improvement Leaders and Manufacturing Engineers; establish clear expectations, priorities, decision rights, development plans, and accountability for results.
- Partner with Operations leaders to identify material overages, process bottlenecks, labor-productivity opportunities, workflow constraints, capacity limitations, material-handling waste, and technology needs.
- Prioritize improvement work using strategic vision, safety, customer impact, product-margin improvement opportunity, cost of poor quality reductions, throughput increases, operational risk, headcount needs, and site readiness.
- Partner with Finance to establish benefit-calculation methods and validate realized labor, material, quality, working-capital, return-on-investment, capital-payback, and product-margin improvements.
- Ensure Continuous Improvement Leaders maintain product-line roadmaps, facilitate structured problem solving, define future-state processes, coordinate adoption plans, and complete project effectiveness reviews.
- Ensure Manufacturing Engineers remain focused on technical execution, including automation, robotics, tooling and fixture design, process and equipment layouts, manufacturing methods, time studies, capacity analysis, bottleneck elimination, equipment justification, and capital implementation.
- Ensure successful improvements are converted into approved operating standards, work instructions, training, process controls, KPI expectations, audit requirements, and cross-site deployment plans.
- Partner with Quality Assurance to use nonconformance, corrective-action, rework, scrap, warranty, audit, and process-capability data to target recurring systemic losses and verify improvement effectiveness.
- Partner with Safety to ensure new equipment, technical changes, workflows, and improvement initiatives meet safety requirements and follow the Management of Change process.
- Maintain a working understanding of TrueNorth Steel product lines, fabrication and welding processes, site capabilities, operational constraints, customer requirements, and emerging manufacturing technologies.
- Travel to manufacturing sites, suppliers, and equipment partners as required, anticipated up to 30% of the time.
- Prompt and dependable attendance.
- Other duties as assigned.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND QUALITIES
- Strong knowledge of Lean manufacturing, structured problem solving, process governance, Management of Change, standard work, value-stream improvement, and sustainment systems.
- Demonstrated ability to lead manufacturing engineers and continuous improvement in a multi-site manufacturing environment.
- Preferred working knowledge of steel fabrication, welding, automation, robotics, tooling, production equipment, facility layouts, capacity analysis, and capital-project implementation.
- Financial acumen sufficient to connect operational performance to margin, cost of poor quality, labor productivity, throughput, ROI, and capital payback.
- Ability to influence cross-functional leaders without direct authority while preserving Operations accountability for daily execution.
- Excellent analytical, project-management, coaching, facilitation, written, verbal, and executive-communication skills.
- Ability to prioritize competing opportunities, allocate technical resources, close execution gaps, and maintain accountability for outcomes.
- Proficiency with spreadsheets, presentations, project-tracking systems, reporting tools, CAD or engineering applications, and manufacturing data systems.
EDUCATION AND WORK EXPERIENCE
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing, Business Administration, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience.
- Minimum 7 years of progressive experience in manufacturing engineering, operational excellence, continuous improvement, or manufacturing operations, including leadership responsibility.
- Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional improvement portfolios, engineers or technical professionals, and multi-site standardization.
- Demonstrated experience developing business cases, implementing manufacturing technology or capital projects, and validating operational or financial benefits.
- Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, project-management, or change-management certification preferred.