Continuous Improvement Manager

Big Tex Trailers; Batavia Township (OH); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

American Trailer World (ATW) seeks a Lean Director to lead lean strategy development across manufacturing, distribution, and transactional assets, driving safety, quality, profitability, and productivity while reducing waste.

You will mentor plant-level Lean Tool experts and teams, coach through Kaizen events, and establish Lean Daily Management and 5S to embed durable process discipline and measurable performance gains.

Qualifications

• 5-7 years of hands-on experience applying lean tools, training, mentoring & coaching at all levels.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (ME, IE, or other) preferred but with the right experience will consider other fields.
• Lean or Six Sigma certification preferred.
• MS Office proficiency (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook) at a minimum.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate development of Lean strategy for manufacturing, distribution, and transactional assets to meet safety, quality, profitability and productivity objectives.
• Lead, mentor, train, and coach all levels on Lean methodology and tools.

Skills

Results based Leadership

Influencing skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Tools

Toyota Production System

Lean Manufacturing

Value Stream Mapping

5S

PDCA

Root Cause Analysis

Job description

American Trailer World (“ATW”) is a leading diversified manufacturer, retailer and distributer of professional and consumer grade trailers, parts, and accessories in North America. ATW is North America’s largest vertically integrated trailer manufacturer, with an estimated market share of approximately 30% in the professional grade trailer industry. The company was formed through the combination of Big Tex and American Trailer Works in 2016. It conducts its operations and sells its products primarily through several well-recognized brands in the industry including Big Tex Trailers, CM Trailers, PJ Trailers, Carry-On Trailer, Trailer World, and RC Trailers. Its products are used in the agriculture, construction, landscaping, recreational, automotive, and general industrial markets.

ATW is owned by Bain Capital, a global private equity firm headquartered in Boston and with approximately $80 billion in assets under management.

Job Description

The Lean Director will support the ATW Organization in development & planning of Lean strategies and metrics. The Lean Director position will also provide support in selection, coaching, training, mentoring plant level Lean Tool experts that will facilitate future Kaizen events and drive Lean Transformation at the tactical level. This position provides support & training across various levels in the organization to clearly link opportunities and metrics to strategic objectives.

This position will require an experienced Lean Leader with manufacturing industry background that can facilitate and drive change in a fast paced and “ever changing” environment leveraging strong interpersonal skills. Key to success in this position is the ability to identify and drive operational improvements and cultural change at all levels utilizing a very “hands on” approach to create value and buy-in as one of the lead change facilitators for the Lean transformation across ATW.

Job Responsibilities:

• Facilitate development of Lean strategy for transactional, manufacturing and distribution assets to ensure all ATW facilities’ objectives are met in the areas of safety, quality, profitability, productivity, waste reduction and team excellence.
• This position will provide leadership / mentoring / training / coaching to all levels of the organization on the use and practice of Lean methodology and tools.
• This position will have responsibility for supporting, identifying, planning, and training/leading/mentoring through the execution of Lean transformation events targeted towards improving the plant’s performance on safety, quality, delivery, inventory, and productivity (SQDIP) as well as establishing a solid foundation around Lean Daily Management (LDM) & 5S in the workplace with process, metrics, and ownership defined at all levels.
• This position will require the ability to identify and analyze complex operational data from multiple disparate sources to produce actionable evidence of root cause or improvement opportunities.
• This position will focus on business performance improvements that yield zero accidents, defect free products, on demand and on time delivery, at the lowest cost by partnering with the organization’s process owners and champions to drive results.
• This position will act as a key driver of change within the organization, supporting management/cross functional decisions by communicating the organization-wide changes to employees and helping them to learn, understand, adjust and grow with the business’s Lean transformation.
• Expert proficiency in the use and implementation of Lean tools such as: Toyota Production System/Danaher Business System, Lean Manufacturing, Value Stream Mapping, Business Process Reengineering, Kaizen, TAKT, Kanbans/Pull/Material Systems, Single Piece Flow, 8 Wastes, 5S, Poka-Yoke, PDCA, Hoshin Kanri, Root Cause Analysis, Workshop Management, and KPI's.
• This is a key leadership as well as developmental role to grow within the organization. This role will be considered for future Management roles to include Supply Chain, Operations, Quality, Engineering, and Plant Manager roles. This position reports directly to the Vice-President of Operational Transformation.

Other Scope of Role:

• Travel could be up to 25%

Qualifications

• Minimum 5-7 years of hands‑on experience in applying lean tools, training, mentoring & coaching team members at all levels of the organization.
• Results based Leadership style skill set with strong impact and influencing skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (ME, IE, other) preferred but with the right amount of experience, will consider other fields of study.
• Lean or Six Sigma certified preferred
• Highly Proficient in MS Office Suite including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook at a minimum.