Continuous Improvement Manager

AAF International offers the most comprehensive clean air solutions available across the globe. Selling under the American Air Filter and the AAF International brand names, AAF International has been an industry pioneer since 1921 with manufacturing operations in 22 countries and over 6000 employees globally. Our products are the industry benchmarks for quality and performance. Our applications include commercial, industrial and residential solutions from the filters used in your home to the most critical cleanroom and power generation applications.

We are a member of the Daikin Group, the world's largest air conditioning provider with $30 billion in revenue and over 98,000 employees worldwide. Founded in 1924, Daikin has grown into a diversified industrial manufacturing company offering solutions in clean, air, air conditioning, refrigeration, chemicals, oil hydraulics, defense systems and electronics.

Our culture of continuous improvement, safety and world class operations is driven by our people-centered management philosophy. This philosophy is built around mutual selection: that while AAF seeks top talent people to join and deliver on our team, we also want each team member to receive job satisfaction, growth & development, and continued happiness in being a long-term member of the AAF family. This is fueled by our belief in treating our people, our supply partners, our customers and our environment with the trust and respect we each require, and our passion to give back to our community for our success.

Read more about our philosophy at: http://www.daikin.com/about/corporate/philosophy/index.html

AAF International is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veteran.

We are an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, veteran status, uniform servicemember status, age, disability or any other legally recognized protected personal characteristics.

Position Objective:

The primary responsibility for the CI Manager is to lead and be the SME for Continuous Improvement in the plant. Responsible for guiding teams working towards the identification and achievement of improvement opportunities, administering plant improvement processes and working collaboratively internally and externally to the plant to drive improvement of all critical KPIs.

The CI Manager is also responsible for planning, facilitating, documenting, and sustaining Kaizen events, focusing on a specific area of improvement, resulting in significant improvements via PDS tools and engagement of all levels of the organization.

Key Accountabilities:

• Lead / manage identification of improvement projects that will result in the achievement of annual Budget / improvement goals.
• Maintain and ensure progress on Kaizen pipeline calendar of projects.
• Deliver operating profit impact of 3-5x annual salary.
• Lead improvement of the daily management process, including metrics and communication methods (Gemba boards, day by the hour, etc.)
• Lead the implementation of 6S and visual management initiatives throughout facility.
• Act as a change agent to drive Kaizen transformational activities throughout the plant.
• Champion employee engagement.
• Enhance employee's skill level to empower problem solving and improve processes.
• Facilitate and help develop future Kaizen leaders.
• Use SQDC and PDCA to track and measure Kaizen progress.
• Lead and support identification and application of best practices and operating standards.
• Support strategy development and deployment for strategic business priorities.
• Other duties deemed necessary by the Plant Manager and the Continuous Improvement Director.

Position Requirements:

1. Degreed engineer from an accredited four-year college or university; MBA desirable;
2. 5-10+ years' manufacturing experience, including experience managing projects applying lead tools and CI methods;
3. Prefer experience leading production teams;
4. In-depth knowledge of manufacturing processes, mechanics of plant equipment, and advanced computer skills (MS Office, BPCS, SAP);
5. In depth knowledge of lean tools and CI methods;
6. Skills to serve as a change agent;
7. Ability to challenge the status quo;
8. Ability to foster teamwork;
9. Strong leadership skills that include being a self-starter;
10. Ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment;
11. Strong (advanced) mathematical skills;
12. Communications: good reading, writing and verbal skills;
13. Must be able to work extra time and change schedules as needed to meet company requirements.