Director of Operational Excellence & Lean Transformation

Silgan Containers Mfg Corp; Brookfield Center (CT); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision, prescription

Life insurance

Disability benefits

401(k) with company match

Paid vacation and holidays

Tuition reimbursement

Professional development opportunities

Leadership opportunity

Job summary

Silgan Containers is seeking a Director of Continuous Improvement to establish and lead enterprise-wide CI from Brookfield, WI. This role will develop Lean training, lead the CI Steering Committee, and partner with plant and senior leaders to improve safety, quality, cost, throughput, and overall performance.

You will manage CI Specialists, drive a culture of disciplined problem solving, and deliver measurable, sustainable results across the manufacturing network.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive operations leadership experience.
• Experience leading Lean implementation teams across a multi-plant manufacturing organization.
• Demonstrated success developing and implementing Lean principles, systems, and processes that produce sustainable operational improvements.
• Hands-on experience applying CI tools in a high-speed manufacturing environment.
• Experience leading people and multiple cross-functional teams while managing concurrent projects, milestones, and deliverables.
• Strong problem-solving, project leadership, coaching, facilitation, and change management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with employees and leaders from the manufacturing floor through the executive level.
• Ability to travel approximately 30% to Silgan Containers manufacturing locations.

Responsibilities

• Build the CI systems, capabilities, and leadership routines that support a culture of continuous improvement across Silgan manufacturing locations.
• Establish and lead a CI organization focused on improving operations across a multi-plant network.
• Develop, implement, and track the organization's multi-year CI strategy and roadmap.
• Lead the Continuous Improvement Steering Committee and partner with senior management on CI priorities, progress, and results.
• Lead, coach, and develop CI Specialists who provide direct support to plants.
• Apply Lean methods including 5S, Visual Factory, TPM, Kaizen events, SMED, and Value Stream Mapping.
• Provide hands-on leadership for multiple concurrent improvement projects through disciplined execution.
• Advance Silgan's operational excellence system with stronger process discipline and standard work.
• Identify and deliver cost savings, throughput improvements, waste reduction, and process optimization opportunities.
• Develop dashboards, tracking tools, reporting processes, and governance to measure progress against CI goals.
• Create and manage Lean training materials and support capability building across the organization.
• Communicate CI performance, project status, risks, and results to plant leaders and senior management.
• Travel to manufacturing sites to lead CI activities, approx. 30%.

Skills

Lean manufacturing

Continuous Improvement

Operational excellence

Six Sigma

Project leadership

Change management

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

Education

Lean Six Sigma certification

Job description

Silgan Containers is seeking a Director of Continuous Improvement to establish and lead enterprise-wide CI from Brookfield, WI. This role will develop Lean training, lead the CI Steering Committee, and partner with plant and senior leaders to improve safety, quality, cost, throughput, and overall performance.

You will manage CI Specialists, drive a culture of disciplined problem solving, and deliver measurable, sustainable results across the manufacturing network.