Director - Continuous Improvement

THE COMPANY
Galvion designs, develops, and manufactures ballistic helmets and dynamic power and data management solutions for the modern battlefield. We are a passionate, global, and fast-paced team collaborating with several strategic partners and are committed to enhancing the overall agility and survivability of the modern warfighter and tactical operator.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Director of Continuous Improvement leads CI and Operational Excellence initiatives across all Manufacturing Operations and Corporate Business processes while working to optimize manufacturing & quality processes at all Galvion sites (United States, Canada, and Europe). This position requires analytical ability, but is also very hands-on, working directly on the manufacturing floor daily with the staff at the various sites. The majority of the continuous improvement actions will occur with the largest manufacturing site, Tactical Head Solutions (THS) in Newport, Vermont with additional manufacturing focus in Portsmouth, NH, Marlborough, MA, and Gdansk, Poland.

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING

People:

• Collaborate with site Leaders in functional areas of operations, manufacturing, engineering, and quality to identify and prioritize improvement opportunities.
• Ability to assemble resources provided by various functional areas to achieve obvious and measured continuous improvement results.
• Manage cross-functional teams to achieve quantified improvement results with respect to financial savings, time savings, labor savings, material savings, scrap savings, and other KPI improvements.
• Drive actions at the project, PDCA, and Just-do-it levels of scope.
• Build and promote a culture of continuous improvement across all sites requiring participation and feedback from all levels of site staff.
• Plan and deliver necessary training required to meet site and corporate Continuous Improvement objectives.

Process:

• Plan and Implement six sigma analysis techniques to achieve repeatability goals
• Plan and Implement Lean Visual Workplace techniques to achieve obvious and measurable improvements in flow, material identification, job status, inventory control, and work requirements.
• Work closely with manufacturing and engineering leadership to develop and implement improvement projects for existing operations processes and for new product releases.
• Develop and maintain a site staff training plan including green belt and other structured methods of achieving verifiable improvement results (e.g. kaizen, PDCA, JDI, safety, visual workplace, standard work, etc.).
• Complete improvements in a fast-acting, get-to-implementation manner backed up by a structured plan that includes a timeline of expected results and ongoing monitoring of the improvement.
• Also review and streamline the back office processes (finance, HR, sales) specifically considering the cross-functional transactions across all of Galvion.

Performance:

• Successfully achieve quantified improvements in alignment with site, and corporate business goals.
• Maintain a mix of weekly improvement actions including project milestone completions, 5S improvements, PDCA actions, just-do-it actions, and visual workplace improvements to drive quick, visible change on the production floor.
• Show a positive view of continuous improvement and support of the site staff.
• Create, maintain, and report measured KPI improvement monthly and quarterly.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEED

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent engineering degree and 5 years managing company continuous improvement that includes leading and implementing the continuous improvement program in an manufacturing environment.
• Experience in using LEAN/WCM Manufacturing Methods to achieve positive, measurable results.
• Experience implementing six sigma techniques in a manufacturing environment to achieve positive, measurable results.

• Proficient in computer skills Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, & Outlook).

• Ability to manage multiple projects and prioritize in a dynamic environment.
• A positive, can-do, customer-oriented attitude is necessary.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Motivated and creative problem solver.
• Green Belt or blackbelt certification is required.

Galvion provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Galvion complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.