Continuous Improvement Mgr

nVenia, a member of the Duravant family of operating companies, is a manufacturer and supplier of integrated solutions and packaging equipment machinery. With over 300 years of combined experience, our long-standing brands of Arpac, Fischbein, Hamer and Ohlson serve end customers in the consumer-packaged goods, food and beverage, industrial, and other markets.

nVenia is committed to a culture that promotes long term career satisfaction and provides an opportunity for personal and professional growth. We succeed by operating within our core values of Integrity, Teamwork, Respect, Sense of Urgency and Winning Spirit. At nVenia, we offer an excellent total rewards package that includes:

• Competitive compensation
• Comprehensive benefits package designed to support our employees’ health, well-being, and financial security
• Work/life programs designed to provide a safe, secure, and balanced environment
• Education and training programs to develop and grow a high-performance workforce
• Performance-based rewards

POSITION SUMMARY

nVenia is hiring a Continuous Improvement Manager, to drive improvements throughout the organization.  Responsibilities include leading continuous improvement projects and teams, advancing cost reduction initiatives, implementing best methods for manufacturing, resolving production problems and developing/executing processes to enhance our manufacturing methodology.  Reduction of waste and inefficiencies to decrease lead times and increase quality and gross profit is the overall objective of the Continuous Improvement Manager.  

This is a hands-on working manager position with the Continuous Improvement Manager developing and executing continuous improvement initiatives.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and lead Continuous Improvement initiatives.      
  • Create a culture that fosters continuous improvement, excellence and accountability.
  • Ensure teams have the skills, tools and structure to support company needs.
• Actively promote a culture of Continuous Improvement.

• Actively develops, manages and executes the “Continuous Improvement Roadmap” and ensures alignment with larger group and company strategies. This includes development and maintenance of a robust CI project funnel, effective facilitation of kaizen and “just do it” process improvement initiatives and engagement of site/group team members to accelerate improvement.
• Build foundational daily management processes and analytics. Provide training, establish process, expectations and deployment to establish rigor around daily management to maximize growth, revenue and operating profit.
• Take a “hands-on” approach to driving process improvements to ensure the organization is using the best practices related to its Operations. 
• Effectively leverage tools, such as JIT, kanban, visual metrics, flow optimization, standard operating procedures, 5S, kaizen, Toyota Production System (TPS), and SMED, to drive continuous improvement activities to advance overall operations.
• Improve productivity, efficiency, safety and throughput while eliminating waste.
• Analyze current product designs, manufacturing processes, test procedures, floor layout and material flow in order to develop new processes to improve production techniques that result in a more cost-efficient manufacturing process.
• Initiate and implement cost reduction programs.
• Lead cross-functional teams in continuous improvement activities, process redesign and waste elimination.
• Work with Engineering to drive the Design for Manufacturability on new designs.
• Create and conduct training throughout the organization to introduce lean / continuous improvement initiatives, processes and safety protocols.
• Review and recommend performance metrics and audits to drive continuous improvements.  

POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

• B.S. degree in Mechanical/Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering or equivalent
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in an industrial/manufacturing/quality/process improvement capacity
• Solid understanding and knowledge of the workflow in a machining and assembly operations.
• Proven track record in continuous improvement and lean manufacturing principles – Balanced experience in both dedicated Continuous improvement and Operational leadership roles a plus, including:  JIT, kanbans, visual metrics, flow optimization, standard operating procedures, 5S, kaizen, Toyota Production System (TPS), and SMED
• Demonstrated experience driving improvement through kaizen activities including but not limited to Standard Work, SMED, 3P, Material Pull, Problem Solving, and Transactional Process Improvement (TPI)
• Ability to mentor and facilitate lean culture with strong communication and influence skills to work with individuals and to train others across all levels of an organization.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: 

Frequently required to sit, stand, walk, talk or hear; uses hands to finger, handle, or touch objects or controls.  On occasion, may be required to climb and work in high places, stoop, bend or reach above the shoulders.   The incumbent must occasionally lift, push, or pull up to 50 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The position is an office-based position with frequent visits to the manufacturing area.  In the manufacturing area, employee may be exposed to moving mechanical parts and may occasionally be exposed to fumes and/or airborne particles.  The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate but at times loud. 

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential function.