Summary

The Production Unit Leader (PUL) is responsible for leading the manufacturing, technical, and support functions of an assigned production unit within the Hamilton Plant. The role oversees a three-shift operation through direct supervision of one supervisor per shift, ensuring alignment across all shifts and consistency in execution. The Production Unit Leader has overall responsibility for internal quality within the unit to include compliance with all IATF and customer requirements, ensures all customer orders are produced on time, is responsible for ensuring the unit reaches target metric goals, takes complete ownership in creating and fostering an engaged work environment that is built on trust, mutual respect, open/transparent communication, empowerment, accountability and engagement while ensuring all occupational, safety and health regulations are met. In addition, this role leads production transfer and launch activities for assigned product lines, ensuring successful knowledge transfer, equipment integration, workforce development, and operational readiness from initial planning through full production stabilization.

Responsibilities

• Maintains a safe working environment by complying with all safety and environmental policies in the workplace.
• Manages the day-to-day operations within the production unit. Develops the culture within the unit focusing on employee safety, quality, on time delivery, continuous improvement and teamwork.
• Works primarily during standard business hours but maintains flexibility to occasionally adjust hours to connect with off-shift supervisors and teams as needed.
• Leads production transfer and industrialization activities for assigned product lines, including equipment relocation, process validation, workforce readiness, training plans, production ramp-up, and achievement of operational performance targets.
• Partners with Manufacturing Engineering, Maintenance, Quality, Logistics and Operations teams to ensure successful transition of products and equipment from existing manufacturing locations into Hamilton operations.
• Coaches the team on understanding the performance metrics (Parts per operator hour, labor $ per part) and ensures the teams on all shifts make decisions affecting these KPIs in a positive manner.
• Communicates and collaborates with the scheduling team daily to align on and develop operations plans
• Drives and sustains 6S culture within the production unit
• Functionally leads maintenance, internal quality, manufacturing engineering / technicians, and operational excellence related to production.
• Works directly with Quality and assigned staff to assure all quality measures and requirements are in place and followed within the unit.
• Recruits, hires, trains and develops staff. Provides direction to and development of employees through coaching, the administration of performance management and the creation and implementation of development plans.
• Supports efforts to implement succession planning
• Works directly with manufacturing engineering and maintenance on equipment availability, and corrective and preventative maintenance execution.
• Leads daily S2QDC (Safety, Sustainability, Quality, Delivery, Cost) meetings to align all shifts on priorities
• Develops budgets and coordinates spending on cost centers to stay within targets
• Ensures all document management standards are met throughout the unit.
• Supports new product launches
• Collaborates with other Production Units to optimize performance by sharing resources.
• Interfaces with cross functional personnel to assure timely production support.
• Plans and maintains an overview over machine capacities.

• Fosters engineering studies and analyses existing manufacturing processes to improve process capability, reliability, problem solve, or to improve product quality and cost.
• Leads continuous improvement activities of manufacturing processes
• Proactively identifies opportunities for productivity gains and implements improvements in manufacturing processes.
• Develops a project management approach to solve manufacturing deficiencies
• Supports planning and implementation of workplace layouts and work instructions
• Facilitates cross-functional problem-solving sessions

Qualifications & Experience

• Substantial manufacturing background with proven experience in manufacturing and production management, setup and cycle time reduction, labor efficiency improvements, continuous improvement and materials management.
• Strong business acumen and working knowledge of business operations with a focused attention on details and well developed organizational and communication skills.
• Demonstrated experience developing budgets and managing financial performance.
• Strong, proven effective “hands-on” leadership experience that gains trust and loyalty from subordinates and possesses and displays integrity and ethics that are beyond reproach. Proven ability to build strong business relationships at all levels throughout an organization. Highly organized with ability to work independently as well as part of a team.
• Exhibits integrity through fair and ethical behaviors in all activities; maintains accountability for performance.
• Expert knowledge and use of Microsoft Office Products (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint).
• Makes decisions and commits to a course of action with appropriate information; weighs and manages risk in decision making.
• Effectively leads teams and inspires others to achieve goals through innovation, quality and excellence.
• Has the ability to ensure teams follow the correct procedures, policies and documentation requirements.
• Ability to guide the team through the development, testing and implementation stages and review the completed work effectively.

Travel/Transition Requirements:

• Completes extended on-site training and knowledge transfer activities at manufacturing locations supporting assigned product lines. Documents best practices, process standards, lessons learned, and critical operating requirements to ensure a successful launch within the Hamilton facility.
• Travel requirements are expected to be significant during the production transfer and launch phase, including extended assignments in Terre Haute, IN. Following successful transfer and stabilization of steering production in Hamilton, travel requirements are expected to be minimal and limited to occasional support, training, benchmarking, or business-related activities.

Education:

• High school diploma or GED required.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, Business, or related field preferred.
• Equivalent combination of education, technical training, and manufacturing leadership experience will be considered.

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.

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.

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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