Lean Excellence Leader - Plant Floor Optimization

International Paper; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

International Paper is seeking a Lean Excellence Manager to build and sustain Lean practices at a US manufacturing facility. You will work with plant leadership, supervisors, and operators to establish daily management, address issues, and drive continuous improvement.

This role is based at a specific plant within IP's U.S. network; you will be on the plant floor, coaching teams, applying Lean tools, and helping deploy the Lean operating system across the organization.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 2 years of experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience identifying problems, taking action, and improving performance.
• Ability to build relationships and influence others without formal authority.
• Strong follow-through and persistence to resolve issues.
• Ability to use data to understand issues and make recommendations.
• Self-directed, action-oriented approach.
• Ability to communicate with operators, supervisors, and plant leaders.
• Willingness to work 100% in a manufacturing environment.

Responsibilities

• Establish and sustain daily management practices, including tiered meetings and visual management.
• Spend significant time on the plant floor with teams to identify performance issues and take action.
• Use data and structured problem solving to identify root causes and improve speed-to-fix.
• Drive follow-through on open actions to sustain improvements.
• Coach teams to strengthen problem-solving and continuous improvement capability.
• Apply Lean tools such as 5S, Kaizen, Standard Work, Visual Management, SMED and Value Stream Mapping.
• Partner with the Plant Manager and Lean Excellence leadership to deploy Lean and improve safety, quality, delivery, cost and engagement.
• Capture and share effective practices as the Lean system expands IP.

Skills

Manufacturing experience

Problem identification

Influence others

Data-driven decision making

Effective communication

Plant-floor presence

Education

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

Tools

5S

Kaizen

Visual Management

SMED

Value Stream Mapping

Job description

International Paper is seeking a Lean Excellence Manager to build and sustain Lean practices at a US manufacturing facility. You will work with plant leadership, supervisors, and operators to establish daily management, address issues, and drive continuous improvement.

This role is based at a specific plant within IP's U.S. network; you will be on the plant floor, coaching teams, applying Lean tools, and helping deploy the Lean operating system across the organization.