Industrial Engineering & Digital Operations Excellence Manager
Location: Wendell, NC
Our client is hiring an Industrial Engineering & Digital Operations Excellence Manager to build and lead Industrial Engineering / Operational Excellence capability for a greenfield, assembly-line facility. Responsibilities include:
- Build and lead the site Industrial Engineering strategy for assembly operations, including line layout/design, workstation optimization, labor standards/time studies, and line balancing to increase throughput and stability
- Develop a continuous improvement roadmap for each value stream focused on Safety, Quality, On-Time Delivery, Inventory, and Productivity, deploying Lean tools such as 5S/6S, waste elimination, VSM, root cause analysis, Kanban, and visual management
- Establish and sustain a performance management system - daily/weekly operating rhythm, KPI governance, escalation and problem solving - that converts operational data into action and prevents digital initiatives from stalling at the pilot stage
- Own the Industry 4.0 / digital factory enablement roadmap, identifying and implementing high-impact opportunities for paperless execution, improved quality loops, and connected shop-floor insights
- Lead new product start-up and transfer readiness from an Industrial Engineering/OpEx perspective, including process readiness, standardized work and training, capacity planning, and launch stabilization
- Drive productivity and cost optimization programs through prioritized continuous improvement projects and justified capital investments, developing technology roadmaps for automation and digitalization programs
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline
- 5+ years of experience in Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or Operations Excellence, including leadership responsibility in a production environment
- Demonstrated experience implementing Lean methods and tools such as 5S/6S, waste (Muda) elimination, root cause/corrective actions, Yamazumi, Kanban, and Value Stream Mapping/Process Flow
Preferred:
- Automotive manufacturing experience