Lean Manufacturing Engineer

Scope of Position:
Responsible for driving both foundational and transformational competencies within the Lean Organization and across the manufacturing plant.  These competencies include but are not limited to Value Steam Mapping, Visual Management, Work Standardization, Gemba Engagement, Kanban, SMED, 5S, Pull Systems, etc.  With these core competencies, this role will partner with Operations and the Lean Manufacturing Supervisor to improve plant performance in Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Morale, and Innovation.  The intent of this role is to decrease overall manufacturing cost, increase operational efficiencies, and drive waste from the production processes in conjunction with the strategy of the Lean Organization.      

Day to Day Responsibilities:

• Directly responsible for performing work in a safe manner and maintaining a safe work environment.  This individual will be responsible for observing safe work practices and being proactive at reporting and fixing any unsafe conditions.

• Continuously developing lean skills individually, as a part of the Lean Organization, and within the plant as a whole.  This individual will work to become a trained lean facilitator, able to facilitate Kaizen events at the plant directly linked to both the foundational and transformational competencies.     

• Planning and facilitating 3-4 Kaizen events per year.  This could include workshops focused on Value Stream Mapping, Kanban, SMED, 5S etc. with oversight and help from the Lean Organization.  This individual will be responsible for the follow-up after each event to ensure actions identified are being deployed across the site.

• Tracking cost savings per each Kaizen event and working with the appropriate resources to quantify and ultimately realize lean cost savings.  This will require partnership with both Engineering and Finance in order to complete.

• Supporting the site’s 5S program in conjunction with participation in routine Gemba performance audits with leadership.

• Owning one of the plant’s Value Stream Maps including both current state and future state upkeep, including routine reviews within the Lean Organization and cross-functionally with plant resources.

• Planning and implementing workplace flow/layout improvements in addition to analyzing new equipment installations, existing equipment movements, and equipment modifications in accordance with lean teachings and methodologies.

• Participating in engineering design reviews for new technology and existing modifications to equipment.  Additionally, being an active member of the ergonomics team in order to assist in assessments and provide lean feedback relative to workstation changes.

• Identifying and horizontally deploying benchmark opportunities at the division level and across the sister sites in partnership with the Lean Manufacturing Supervisor.  Travel expected from this is less than 10% in order to facilitate best practice migration.

Required Qualifications:

• BS Degree (Industrial Engineering Strongly Preferred)

• 2 to 5 Years of Lean Engineering Experience

• Demonstrated progressive roles in lean manufacturing coupled with the ability to articulate real lean tool application with demonstrated results.

• Ability to support the Lean Organization’s vision and strategy, in order to promote culture change while acting as an agent of change for lean thinking and methodologies.

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) with ability to present ideas, opinions, and data to gain understanding consensus, and support.

• Knowledge of manufacturing methods, systems, and production processes.

• Process/results oriented with organizational and attention-to-detail abilities.