Operational Excellence & Manufacturing Development Manager
About the role
Purpose of the Role
The Manufacturing Development Manager is responsible for improving operational performance across established manufacturing operations by driving productivity, quality, delivery, cost, and process improvement initiatives.
The role works closely with site management, production teams, manufacturing engineering, supply chain, quality, and maintenance functions to identify improvement opportunities, implement best practices, and support the deployment of manufacturing standards.
The primary objective is to improve factory performance through practical operational improvements.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Performance Improvement
Identify and lead initiatives to improve Productivity, Throughput, Capacity utilization, Lead time, Cost efficiency, Delivery reliability
Support sites in removing operational bottlenecks and process constraints.
Facilitate performance improvement workshops and Kaizen activities.
Manufacturing Excellence
Support implementation of manufacturing standards and best practices.
Drive operational excellence initiatives.
Promote structured problem solving and root cause analysis.
Support deployment of Lean tools and continuous improvement methodologies.
Manufacturing Process Development
Analyze current manufacturing processes and identify improvement opportunities.
Work with manufacturing engineering and operations teams to improve: Process stability Flow efficiency Labor productivity Material flow
Support industrialization and manufacturing process optimization activities.
Digitalization and Data Utilization
Support adoption of existing manufacturing systems and digital tools.
Improve operational reporting and KPI visibility.
Utilize production data to identify performance gaps and improvement opportunities.
Participate in deployment of digital manufacturing initiatives when business cases are established.
Quality and Continuous Improvement
Drive initiatives to reduce waste, rework, and cost of poor quality.
Support corrective and preventive action processes.
Participate in quality improvement projects and process standardization efforts.
Capability Development
Support sites in sharing and implementing best practices.
Facilitate knowledge transfer between factories.
Contribute to manufacturing training and competence development activities.
Success Measures
Success will be measured through:
Productivity improvement
OEE improvement
Throughput increase
Manufacturing cost reduction
Lead time reduction
Delivery performance improvement
Cost of poor quality reduction
Safety performance
Completion and realization of improvement projects
Candidate Profile
Experience
10-15 years of experience in: Manufacturing Production Manufacturing engineering Operational excellence Industrial engineering Continuous improvement
Experience leading improvement projects in a factory environment.
Exposure to Lean manufacturing and performance management.
Competencies
Manufacturing operations
Lean and continuous improvement
Problem solving and root cause analysis
Data analysis and KPI management
Process optimization
Project management
Change management
Stakeholder collaboration
Leadership Characteristics
Hands-on and results-driven.
Strong analytical mindset.
Comfortable working directly with shop floor teams.
Pragmatic problem solver.
Focused on execution and measurable business results.
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