IWS (BME) Manager

Bridgestone Americas, Inc.; Oxford (NC); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. seeks an IWS (BME) Manager at the Oxford facility to lead the manufacturing excellence journey and strengthen operational capabilities. You will work with site leadership to shape transformation, accelerate loss elimination, and build sustainable performance through people and systems.

The role emphasizes coaching, capability building, and a 6–18 month Master Plan alignment to deliver measurable business results and a culture of continuous learning on the shop floor.

Qualifications

• Experience in manufacturing operations with hands-on production or line assignments.
• Strong knowledge of Integrated Work Systems and manufacturing excellence methodologies.
• Experience with PDCA, VSM, standardized work, and daily management systems.
• Ability to coach, influence, and challenge plant leadership teams.
• Strong analytical, communication, and organizational development skills.
• English language proficiency; ability to connect strategic priorities with operations.

Responsibilities

• Lead, guide and advance the site's BME journey and master plan progression.
• Identify and eliminate losses to deliver CBN results and performance stability.
• Coach teams to remove barriers and accelerate capability development.
• Develop and maintain a Master Plan for the next 6–18 months with site leadership.
• Promote standardized processes, best practices, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Ensure continuity of the pillar network staffing and leadership alignment.

Skills

Manufacturing ops

IWS knowledge

Problem-solving

Leadership coaching

Analytical skills

English fluency

Tools

PDCA

VSM

Standardized Work

Daily management systems

Job description

Company Overview

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM), headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and Bridgestone Europe, Middle East and Africa (BSEMEA), headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, operate collectively as a “Bridgestone West” strategic region. This region services the strategic business needs of teams across the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa. BSAM and BSEMEA are subsidiaries of Bridgestone Corporation, globally headquartered in Japan. Bridgestone and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market a wide range of Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand products and solutions to address the needs of a broad range of customers and industries.

Job Category

Quality

Position Summary

We’re looking for an IWS (BME) Manager to help lead our manufacturing excellence journey at our Oxford facility.

Are you passionate about transforming manufacturing operations, developing leaders, and building a culture of continuous improvement?

At Bridgestone, we believe operational excellence goes beyond processes, tools, and performance metrics. It’s about empowering people, eliminating losses, and building sustainable capabilities that drive lasting results.

This is an opportunity for an experienced manufacturing professional who enjoys tackling complex operational challenges, influencing leadership teams, and turning improvement strategies into measurable business results.

Your Opportunity to Make an Impact

As our IWS (BME) Manager, you’ll play a pivotal role in implementing Integrated Work Systems (IWS) and strengthening operational capabilities across the plant.

Working closely with site leadership, you’ll help shape the site’s transformation roadmap, accelerate loss elimination, and develop the people and systems needed to deliver sustainable performance.

Your success won’t simply be measured by implementing tools. It will be measured by the capabilities you build, the leaders you develop, and the results you help the organization achieve.

What You’ll Be Driving:

Lead Manufacturing Transformation

• Guide the site’s BME (Bridgestone Manufacturing Excellence) journey and support progression through implementation phases.
• Translate business priorities into actionable improvement initiatives.
• Partner with site leadership to develop and execute a forward‑looking BME Master Plan.

Deliver Operational Excellence

• Identify and eliminate operational losses that affect business performance.
• Strengthen problem‑solving capabilities and daily management systems.
• Promote standardized processes, sustainable improvements, and best‑practice sharing.

Develop Leaders and Build Capabilities

• Coach plant leadership teams and pillar leaders to accelerate organizational development.
• Help teams identify barriers, challenge existing approaches, and take ownership of improvement opportunities.
• Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.

Shape the Future

• Anticipate the capabilities the organization will need over the next 6–18 months.
• Support organizational readiness for future phases of manufacturing excellence.
• Connect people, processes, and performance to drive long‑term operational stability.

What You’ll Bring

We’re looking for a professional who combines strong manufacturing experience with the ability to influence, coach, and inspire others.

Key qualifications:

• Solid experience in manufacturing operations, including hands‑on production or line assignments.
• Strong knowledge of Integrated Work Systems and manufacturing excellence methodologies.
• Experience with structured problem‑solving tools such as PDCA, VSM, standardized work, and daily management systems.
• Demonstrated ability to coach, influence, and challenge plant leadership teams.
• Strong analytical, communication, and organizational development skills.
• Credibility on the shop floor and the ability to connect strategic priorities with operational realities.

Experience with IWS pillar deployment, phase assessments, leadership envisioning, and master planning will be especially valuable.

Above all, we’re looking for someone who can turn operational challenges into opportunities for people and business growth.

Responsibilities

• Orchestrate the IWS journey of the site to enable site phase progression
• Assures IWS activities have a connection to loss elimination that will deliver required CBN results
• Coach to find solutions and eliminating barriers to drive capability
• Looks ahead for what capabilities will be needed in the next 6 to 18 months, works closely with the Site Leader to ensure the Master Plan is on track, intervenes as required by involving the appropriate people to ensure continuous progress
• Provides publicity/promotion, general education and other communication that increase IWS understanding and accelerate progress across the site/organization
• Assessor of integrated activity implementation and standards calibrator with leadership team.
• Participates in all phase assessments to provide a calibrated and objective viewpoint
• Works closely with the IC to ensure the site is receiving effective guidance/coaching and leads on best‑class systems/tools for reapplication
• Develop capability in leadership teams
• Diagnose activities and identify technical know-how and organization behaviors that are barriers to implementation.
• Provide feedback to leadership teams that cause them to take action.
• Spend time in self‑development of skills.
• Work closely with Pillar Teams to assure standard application of their pillar capabilities
• Support site leader in selecting the right pillar leader
• Ensure continuity of staffing of the pillar network

Minimum Qualifications

• Good understanding of intent and working of each pillar or in-depth skills in two pillars
• Minimum of level 3 qualification in problem‑solving tools (IPS, UPS, PDCA, OPM, Standardized Work, VSM), Leadership Envisioning, and DDS including RTT DMS’s.
• Consulting skills (developing relationships, diagnosis, feedback, and enrolling leadership team to take action)
• Able to influence plant managers and plant leadership teams, and Directors as required
• Ability to teach, coach and develop others while having on‑the‑floor credibility with people doing the work.
• Capable to define and deliver the IWS masterplan
• Willing to stay in the role a minimum of 3 years.
• Able to speak English either as a primary or secondary language.
• Has a minimum operations experience and the skills of at least the phase of where the plant or facility is currently working.
• Experience in various line assignments in manufacturing.

At Bridgestone, you are Free to Be

We believe people can only provide superior service and quality to others when they feel safe bringing their chosen version of themselves to work. We believe in championing all perspectives, individuals and teams because we understand the importance of seeing the world and our business through many different lenses. So, show us what you are made of, because who you are is what we need.

What we offer

At Bridgestone, what really matters is to foster co‑creation opportunities and empowering you to be creative and curious to make mobility safer, more efficient, and more sustainable for future generations. Whatever role you fill, when you represent Bridgestone, you are a valued teammate, and part of our larger mission to “Serve Society with Superior Quality”, for that, we offer you more than just a competitive compensation; we will provide you:

• A supportive and engaging onboarding experience to ensure a smooth transition into our team.
• The opportunity to develop and grow, through training and regular mentorship.
• Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
• A truly global, dynamic and challenging work environment.
• Agility and work/life effectiveness and your long‑term well‑being.
• An effective and inclusive team.

Bridgestone is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. It is our policy to consider all individuals for employment based on their unique merit and without regard to age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

Employment Eligibility

If hired, a Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification must be completed at the start of employment. Temporary work authorization or the need for sponsorship may disqualify you from employment.