Technical Services - Sr. Continuous Improvement Manager

**This individual should be located near a major Midwest airport**

This high exposure position will support the Industrial Wood Division and will have interaction with Sales, Technical Services, Marketing, Technical, Quality, Operations, and Accounting teams to lead customer-facing continuous improvement projects. This role will be essential in providing data analytics to both identify new opportunities to bring efficiency to customers across the network and quantify the value created through our continuous improvement work. The incumbent will educate and coach Six Sigma methodologies within the Technical Service and Sales teams, mentor Six Sigma certification candidates, lead high impact Continuous Improvement projects, interface with customers, support Accelerated Root Cause investigations, and help identify key areas of opportunity for the business and its customers.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

1) Lead customer-facing Continuous Improvement (CI) projects

• Support sales and technical service teams to develop solutions for articulated and unarticulated business needs of strategic customers
• Apply advanced statistical techniques, Design of Experiments (DOE), Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), etc. to the evaluation and resolution of technical problems
• Support the Technical Service and Sales organization in executing CI projects at customers, support onboarding of new customers, and support major technology transitions at existing customers

2) Lead customer technical data analysis and insights

• Analyze data gathered by our Technical Service Team to identify insights that can create processing advantages (faster run rates, higher yield, fewer defects, etc.) at our customers
• Provide insights back to R&D organization to inform product refinement and new product development
• Collaborate with Quality team to identify opportunities to reduce complaints and improve the customer experience

3) Lead Six Sigma and Lean methodology adoption within the Technical Service & Sales teams

• Educate / mentor employees in the understanding of the DMAIC, and Lean methodology to enable more effective customer conversations
• Collaborate with L&OD and the Technical Training Manager to develop/adopt training materials for Technical Service
• Coach / mentor Green Belt candidates to ensure timely completion of projects and candidate certifications

4) Influence organization by initiating and driving change and process improvement; cultivate a culture and mindset of Continuous Improvement

MAJOR TASKS PERFORMED

• Lead Six Sigma and Lean projects for IWD Technical Service
• Identify and lead projects to improve IWD customer's performance
• Act independently to provide expert, hands-on implementation of Six Sigma / Lean methods and related tools to identify and capitalize on CI opportunities for the business
• Develop new methods or processes
• Lead division level projects and act as a project manager as needed
• Execute multiple site and business wide projects / programs concurrently
• Report / track regularly the progress, milestones, savings, and other key aspects of projects that are being led or mentored
• Interface with IWD sales teams to meet strategic customer business needs.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Engineering, Mathematics or other relevant degree.
• Black Belt Six Sigma trained, certificated is preferred.
• past Six Sigma project coaching
• Strong problem and analytical solving skills
• Strong communication / presentation skills
• Creation and utilization of effective measures
• 5 years of operations or technical experience to include experience in Six Sigma portfolio management is required
• Highly proficient with Minitab software or in other statistical software

People Skills

• Must be comfortable presenting findings and recommendations to leadership
• Must demonstrate proven leadership and effective change agent to implement strategic initiatives in an organization
• Must possess effective project management skills and ability to influence at all levels of organization
• Must possess effective verbal and written communication skills
• Must possess high-level business sense
• Must perform well in high-energy, team-oriented environments
• Must have a strong customer focus with the ability to create revenue opportunities

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:

• Motivating and directing others
• Timely, quality decision maker
• Strong customer focus
• Listening skills
• Manage vision and purpose
• Dealing with ambiguity
• Strong planner
• Interpersonal and political savvy
• Innovation / creativity management
• Travel Requirements: Up to 30% Domestic and International