Your responsibilities
Summary:
The Operational Excellence Engineer identifies, develops, and implements initiatives that improve organizational performance across facilities in the USA, Mexico, and Brazil. This role supports safety, sustainability, quality, delivery, cost, and people development by establishing common continuous improvement standards, core tools, and performance-management practices. The engineer leads and supports cross-functional and cross-plant improvement efforts, advances Lean and Six Sigma implementation, tracks key performance indicators, and helps facilities share and sustain best practices.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
- Supports facilities across the USA, Mexico, and Brazil as a regional resource for Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement priorities.
- Implements solutions aligned with organizational and regional strategic goals, drives completion of action plans, executes projects, and shares best practices across the extended organization.
- Establishes, documents, deploys, and maintains common standards, methods, and core tools for continuous improvement across supported facilities.
- Leads and supports Lean and Six Sigma implementation, including structured problem solving, waste reduction, variation reduction, process capability improvement, and sustainment of results.
- Analyzes short- and long-term process trends, production output, labor efficiency, quality, delivery, cost, and other operational data to identify and prioritize improvement opportunities.
- Develops and manages operational breakthroughs in performance by leveraging industry best practices, key innovations, and proven improvement methods.
- Defines, aligns, and tracks key performance indicators and develops consistent methods for performance review, escalation, and follow-up across plants.
- Facilitates cross-plant standardization by identifying best practices, coordinating implementation, and verifying adoption and sustained results.
- Regularly leads and facilitates cross-functional workshops, kaizen events, problem-solving activities, and continuous improvement reviews with plant and regional stakeholders.
- Conducts or supports audits of 5S, idea generation, standard work, problem-solving, and other Lean or Continuous Improvement systems to confirm understanding, effectiveness, and sustainment.
- Applies statistics, data analysis, time studies, and other analytical methods to support data-driven decisions and improve productivity and KPI performance.
- Develops business cases and validates benefits for improvement investments, including cost savings, productivity gains, risk reduction, and other measurable outcomes.
- Builds capability by coaching, teaching, and supporting employees and leaders of all supported sites in the effective use of Operational Excellence, Lean, Six Sigma, and Continuous Improvement tools.
- Proactively addresses stakeholder needs, identifies and initiates high-value projects, ensures activities comply with organizational standards and policies, and performs other duties and responsibilities as assigned.
Your profile
Qualifications & Experience:
- Experience applying Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, and Six Sigma methods in manufacturing or related operations.
- Six Sigma certification preferred; Lean certification or demonstrated equivalent experience is beneficial.
- Experience developing, standardizing, and deploying operational excellence systems, methods, tools, or governance across multiple facilities.
- Experience leading teams through improvement projects, structured problem solving, kaizen events, and change implementation.
- Strong skills in data analysis, statistics, KPI development, performance management, and manufacturing systems.
- Experience driving measurable improvements in a high-volume manufacturing environment.
- Ability to translate regional priorities into practical plant-level standards, action plans, and sustainable routines.
- Exceptional communication, facilitation, coaching, and presentation skills for audiences ranging from production operators to executive management.
- Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple projects, coordinate across functions and locations, and shift priorities to meet business needs.
- Ability to quickly build relationships and trust across cultures, functions, and facilities to influence change without direct authority.
- Successful track record of leveraging operational excellence tools to improve safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, or organizational capability.
- Highly organized and able to work independently, remotely, and as part of regional or cross-functional teams.
- Self-motivated, results-oriented, and willing to take initiative to identify and implement improvements.
- Ability to travel up to 50%, depending on project requirements, including travel within the USA and regular international travel to Mexico.
- Exhibits integrity through fair and ethical behavior, maintains accountability for performance, and demonstrates strong attention to detail.
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related field.
The [above] is intended to describe the general content of and requirements for the performance of this job. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities, or requirements. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Your benefits
Bilstein has great benefits to offer!
- A state-of-the-art OE manufacturing plant with a strong focus on safety and cleanliness.
- Multiple competitive Health, Dental & Vision Coverage options.
- 401K matching program.
- Paid time off + 13 paid holidays.
- Paid volunteer hours.
- Tuition reimbursement program.
- Gym reimbursement.
- Company-paid short-term disability and life insurance.
- Internal growth opportunities.
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
- Discounted BILSTEIN products.
Contact
We only accept online applications submitted through the 'Apply Now' button on this job posting. You can find all current job openings on our career site at: https://jobs.thyssenkrupp.com/en Thank you for your interest in joining our team!
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