Job Title: Operational Excellence Manager
Location: Galway, Ireland
Type: Full-time, Permanent
Salary: Competitive

About the Role:

A leading organisation in the manufacturing sector is seeking a dynamic and results-driven Operational Excellence Manager to join their Galway site. This exciting role offers a unique opportunity to embed a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence across all areas of the business. You will be instrumental in enhancing performance, driving strategic initiatives, and fostering an environment where innovation and efficiency thrive. If you are passionate about operational excellence, change management, and strategic leadership, this could be the ideal next step in your career.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Culture & Continuous Improvement:

• Lead the annual culture survey, engaging with focus groups to drive meaningful insights and incorporate key findings into the site’s “Delivering Excellence” strategy.
• Promote and sustain high-performance behavioural standards across the Galway organisation, supporting leadership training and ensuring a lasting impact on the company culture.

2. Strategy Development & Implementation:

• Manage the site’s “Delivering Excellence” strategy, ensuring inputs are gathered from all business areas, and that a robust prioritisation process is in place to select impactful projects.
• Regularly communicate progress to all stakeholders through structured quarterly reviews.

3. Driving System Thinking & Process Improvement:

• Champion strong systems-thinking throughout the organisation, guiding the improvement of key systems in business support areas using Value Stream Mapping and associated tools.
• Ensure that key systems, such as Galway’s Line Performance System (LPS), are world-class examples of operational excellence.

4. Production Unit Excellence:

• Collaborate with Production Unit Managers to embed a culture of Continuous Improvement in every aspect of production, with a focus on enhancing Lean/Operational Excellence competencies at all levels.
• Develop and maintain strategic roadmaps for each production unit, outlining their improvement strategies and tracking progress against key milestones.

5. Continuous Improvement Reviews:

• Lead timely CI reviews across production and business support areas, ensuring a balanced approach that focuses on direct engagement with frontline employees through “Go See” practices.

6. Benchmarking & External Assessments:

• Manage benchmarking visits to other sites, ensuring insights gained are documented and shared across the Galway site.
• Organise visits by suppliers and external organisations, capturing feedback to continuously improve operational excellence.
• Facilitate external assessments, using feedback to drive ongoing improvements in the company’s culture and systems.

Key Skills & Competencies:

• Leadership & Communication: Proven ability to lead teams, communicate effectively, and build strong relationships across all levels of the organisation.
• Operational Excellence & Lean Thinking: Expertise in Lean principles, systems thinking, and Value Stream Mapping.
• Change Management: Experience in driving cultural change and embedding a mindset of continuous improvement.
• Business Acumen & Strategy: Strong organisational awareness, with the ability to align operational improvements with business objectives and strategic goals.
• Manufacturing & Project Management: Extensive experience in line layout, flow optimisation, and capacity planning, alongside a track record of successful project management.
• Financial Acumen: Ability to link operational improvements with financial performance, ensuring maximum impact.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in manufacturing, Engineering, or a related field (master’s preferred).
• A minimum of 8-10+ years’ experience in an operations or manufacturing environment.
• 5+ years in a leadership role, with a strong background in driving operational excellence and managing large-scale projects.

 

How to Apply:

For further information on this Operational Excellence Manager role in Galway please contact Caroline Kingston on +353 868395531 or email caroline@hero.ie Check out all our open jobs on our HERO Recruitment website – https://www.hero.ie/.

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