Sr Manager Operational Excellence

About Kennametal

With over 85 years as an industrial technology leader, Kennametal Inc. delivers productivity to customers through materials science, tooling and wear-resistant solutions. Customers across aerospace and defense, earthworks, energy, general engineering and transportation turn to Kennametal to help them manufacture with precision and efficiency. Learn more at kennametal.com. Follow @Kennametal: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Sr. Operational Excellence Manager

Location - Open to candidates located near Kennametal manufacturing facilities. Potential locations include Asheboro, NC; Solon, OH; Orwell, OH; Rogers, AR; Huntsville, AL; Or La Vergne, TN

Travel - Role will require travel up to 50%

 

The Sr. Operational Excellence Manager, the role is to manage the activities of plant operational excellence personnel and lead continuous improvement initiatives within the multi-sites/plants in your region.  You will be responsible for implementing strategies, frameworks, and methodologies to enhance operational efficiency, streamline processes, and optimize performance on a multiple plants scale. You will collaborate with site management and cross-functional teams to identify improvement opportunities, establish and share best practices, and foster a culture of operational excellence.
Sr. OpEX Manage role is to lead by example in Lean standards and Kaizen principle.

Key Responsibilities

LEAN NETWORK COMPETENCES

• Develop the lean competences of sites of the region and help sites to become autonomous in continuous improvement management.

LEAN STRATEGIES

• Deploy Global Lean Strategies and the associated standards, methodologies, and tools in the responsible sites/plants in region.
• Work closely with regional manufacturing directors/Plant/Site Managers, and Plant / Site OpEX Managers to define lean priorities, action plans and approaches.

LEAN GENBA ACTIVITIES

• Make timely diagnosis of lean methodologies and tools and practice On Job Training on his/her sites.
• Collaborate with site-level Opex Managers to drive Kaizen workshop execution and monitor progress.
• Coach Plant operation teams: Plant/Site Managers, Production Managers, Plant / Site OpEX Managers, Production Supervisors et al to deliver training sessions, workshops, and coaching to enhance Lean knowledge and skills within the region. 
• Ensure consistency in approach, share best practices, and facilitate knowledge transfer among different locations, promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement across all sites.

LEAN RESULTS

• Participate in the definition of lean budget guidelines.
• Establishes performance metrics and monitors progress towards improvement goals. Able to analyze data and performance reports from each site to identify trends, areas of concern, and opportunities for improvement.
• Report performance updates to senior management and provide insights for decision-making.

LEAN CONTRIBUTION

• Standardization and best practice sharing: He/she promotes standardization of OpEx practices and processes across the region. He/she facilitates the sharing of best practices, success stories, and lessons learned among different sites. He/she develops and maintain a repository of tools, templates, and guidelines to support continuous improvement efforts.
• Change management and stakeholder engagement: Implementing Lean or OpEx initiatives at a regional/multi-plants level, requires effective change management and stakeholder engagement. Able to collaborate with site leadership, functional heads, and employees at various levels to gain buy-in, address resistance, and ensure successful adoption of Lean practices. He/she communicates the benefits and impact of improvement initiatives and provide guidance throughout the change process.

SITE SUPPORT DURING OPERATION CRISIS

• Support crisis site with task force working group

LEAN NETWORK COMPETENCES

• Support the Plant/Site Managers, Production Managers and Plant / Site OpEX Managers to understand the lean strategies and apply the lean tools.
• Support the production supervisors to understand the importance of the respect of the standards and their improv