THE COMPANY

Our client is a boat seating and interiors manufacturer.

THE POSITION

In accordance with top-down commitment from the leadership team, the VP of Operations will be responsible for day-to-day oversight of manufacturing operations. Additionally, this role will be tasked with establishing a high-performance work culture using Lean manufacturing / TPS principles. This is a critical phase for the operational culture of the organization and it’s important that good Lean disciplines, values and habits are hardwired before the production scaling speeds up.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Manage work priorities and timelines and allocate resources to assure assigned plant goals and timelines are met. This includes planning, production operations and establishing priorities and sequences for orders.
• Drives and sustains a culture of safety excellence across the facility.
• Coordinate manufacturing activities to ensure on-time production and quality of orders meet specifications.
• Lead and develop a strong daily management process with factory team to deliver on operational KPIs and business financials. Lead, coach and train employees toward Lean manufacturing concepts and foster an environment for an empowered, high-performance plant.
• Strong floor presence.
• Make recommendations to improve productivity, quality and efficiency of operations.
• Make hiring decisions, training and developing a team while holding people accountable when necessary.
• Drives a consistent approach to problem-solving, poke-yokes, work instructions and other visible management tools to ensure associates have proper education and compliance / audit ability.
• Models the concepts of operational excellence and transforms the facility and culture into a state-of-the-art site that supports our recruitment and retention efforts.

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical or industrial engineering or a similar technical field preferred.
• Fifteen years of work experience and at least five years of experience leading operations teams in discrete manufacturing environments.
• Experience in start-up environments; capable of being nimble and wearing multiple hats.
• Experience working / scheduling in a low-volume / high-mix environment.
• Strong orientation toward Lean thinking and a TPS-based production culture/environment.
• Must have had roles with P&L responsibility and working knowledge of budgets and financial statements.