Senior Director Operations

We are Generac, a leading energy technology company committed to powering a smarter world.

Over the 60 plus years of Generac’s history, we’ve been dedicated to energy innovation. From creating the home standby generator market category, to our current evolution into an energy technology solutions company, we continue to push new boundaries.

Our Director of Operations is in charge of leading the operations of a multi-shift manufacturing plant and raw material warehouse campus. They work with a diverse team of direct and dotted line reports to ensure the success of the Generac Manufacturing System (GMS), which is based on lean principles and methods. Their primary responsibility is to oversee a safe work environment, foster a positive culture, and improve the overall customer experience by focusing on quality, speed, and ease. Additionally, they are responsible for maximizing profitable growth, increasing productivity, and improving KPI performance on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. They also create and execute long-term plans to ensure the continued success and growth of the company.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead the facility in daily operations and lean continuous improvement activities. Emphasize the creation of continuous flow, making information and material flow using pull systems, and managing for daily improvement using visual factory and daily problem solving.
• Create the systems and processes for employee safety and engagement, industry leading customer experience (quality, speed, each), and productivity and cash by ensuring that standardized work/processes are created and followed, and problems are identified, prioritized, solved, and kept from recurring.
• Utilize PDCA process in conjunction with the MDI process to deliver metric results in safety, people, quality, delivery, cost, and cash. Develop a visual facility that ensures problems do not remain hidden. Perform Leader Standard Work and layered audits to deliver consistent execution of processes and procedures.
• Manage and strengthen talent, engagement and culture.
• Create a culture that stops to fix and prevent problems in order to get quality right the first time.
• Instill and maintain a positive, can-do, team atmosphere within the facility.
• Hold regular team communication, ensure urgency, transparency and accountability, and coordinate support services needed outside the team.
• Ensure leaders provide effective training & cross-training for the employees, including backups from other areas, to assure a continuous smooth-running
• facility.
• Develop and execute plans that ensure optimized and improving performance: long range capacity plans (facility and capital equipment), technology plans, & people plans and tactical continuous improvement roadmap and project/kaizen management.
  
  
  

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Business, Supply Chain, or related field OR equivalent experience
• 3 years’ experience operating with lean principles and techniques (Toyota Production System, Lean Enterprise Institute, Shingo Institute, Danaher Business System, or equivalent) to improve results year after year
• 5 years leadership experience managing teams to deliver results in a discrete, industrial or consumer capital goods manufacturing environment
  
  
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Masters Degree in Engineering, Business or Supply Chain
• 6 years of demonstrated implementation experience in and results from Lean principles and methods
• Lean, Operations or Supply Chain Certifications
• Experience implementing automated manufacturing processes and systems
• Experience improving operations equipment reliability and productivity through Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
• Experience implementing Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES/MOM), and Industry 4.0 / Smart Factory
• Experience with SAP or equivalent ERP system
• Demonstrated experience in lean Flow principles, Kanban, and plan for every part (PFEP)
• Demonstrated experience in leadership with a diversity of team skills
• Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
• Demonstrated problem-solving ability, including the ability to identify creative and effective solutions and the ability to ask the right questions, help frame logical conclusions
• Demonstrated coaching and mentoring ability
• Knowledge of Lean Manufacturing and Continuous improvement methodologies
  
  
  

Physical Demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear; and use hands to manipulate objects or controls. The employee is regularly required to stand and walk. On occasion the incumbent may be required to stoop, bend or reach above the shoulders. The employee must occasionally lift up to 25 - 50 pounds. Specific conditions of this job are typical of frequent and continuous computer-based work requiring periods of sitting, close vision and ability to adjust focus. Occasional travel.

“We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.”