Director, Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

API Delevan, Inc.; Rosemont (IL); On-site; USD 132,000 - 206,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision

401k with Matching

Life Insurance

Paid Time Off

Tuition Assistance

Job summary

Regal Rexnord is seeking a Directed Continuous Improvement leader to accelerate operational excellence across AMC manufacturing sites. You will translate strategic objectives into RBS roadmaps, coach leaders, and deploy CI tools to drive safety, quality, delivery, cost, and growth.

You will travel up to 75% and collaborate with site leadership to sustain, standardize, and improve daily management systems and performance metrics.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, marketing, operations, or a related field.
• Master’s degree preferred.
• 10+ years of continuous improvement, manufacturing or operations experience.
• Experience leading Lean/RBS transformation and maturity improvement across multiple sites, divisions, or business functions.
• Proven application of multiple CI tools, including 80/20, value stream mapping, 6S, flow, standard work, visual management, and structured problem solving.
• Black Belt in Lean/Continuous Improvement preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through others, influence senior leaders, and align cross-functional stakeholders around strategic improvement priorities.
• Experience developing CI/RBS talent, coaching leaders, and building organizational capability through formal training, Gemba coaching, and leader standard work.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with plant teams, peers, executives, and external stakeholders as needed.
• Ability to travel up to 75% of the time to support assigned plants and divisions, regionally and internationally.

Responsibilities

• Partner with site leadership teams to align operational strategies with division and enterprise objectives.
• Facilitate the development and execution of annual and multi-year operational strategies.
• Lead deployment of the Regal Business System across assigned facilities.
• Ensure site improvement priorities support commercial growth, profitability, customer service, and capacity requirements.
• Drive accountability for achievement of business objectives and key performance indicators.
• Drive a culture where performance gaps are addressed through structured problem solving.
• Partnering with division and segment leadership to prioritize improvement initiatives, recommend resource plans, and support staffing and talent decisions within the RBS/CI organization.
• Assess site maturity and develop roadmaps to advance RBS capabilities.
• Standardize the use of RBS tools and systems across sites.
• Conduct regular RBS assessments, audits, and gemba reviews.
• Ensure sustainability of improvements through standard work and leader accountability.
• Coach site leaders on RBS principles, lean leadership, and continuous improvement behaviors.
• Develop leadership capability in daily management, problem solving, visual management, and accountability systems.
• Facilitate workshops, training sessions, and leadership development activities at sites.
• Build organizational capability to achieve self-sustaining continuous improvement.
• Establish and improve visual management systems throughout manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and support functions.
• Drive implementation and effectiveness of tiered accountability processes.
• Ensure performance measures are visible, actionable, and aligned to business objectives.
• Improve management routines to accelerate issue identification and resolution.
• Develop problem-solving capabilities at all levels of the organization.
• Facilitate Kaizen events, Rapid Improvement Events, and cross-functional improvement projects.
• Coach teams in root cause analysis methodologies including A3, 5 Whys, Fishbone, and PDCA.
• Ensure countermeasures are implemented, verified, and sustained.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Change management

Problem solving

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, marketing, operations, or a related field

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

A3 problem solving

5 Whys

Fishbone diagram

PDCA

Job description

Regal Rexnord is seeking a Directed Continuous Improvement leader to accelerate operational excellence across AMC manufacturing sites. You will translate strategic objectives into RBS roadmaps, coach leaders, and deploy CI tools to drive safety, quality, delivery, cost, and growth.

You will travel up to 75% and collaborate with site leadership to sustain, standardize, and improve daily management systems and performance metrics.