About This Role
Continuous improvement is at the heart of this role, leading and sustaining operational excellence at Rochester Cable. The manager embeds Lean thinking, disciplined problem solving, employee engagement, and leader development into daily work. This hands-on leader partners with various departments to improve safety, quality, delivery, productivity, equipment reliability, material flow, and cost performance.
Responsibilities
- Lead facility-wide deployment and sustainment of Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement practices
- Establish and improve 5S, visual controls, standard work, process mapping, Value Stream Mapping, Total Productive Maintenance, and Leader Standard Work
- Facilitate tiered accountability routines that create clear escalation, ownership, committed actions, and follow-through
- Plan and facilitate Kaizen events and cross-functional improvement projects focused on safety, quality, delivery, productivity, flow, and cost
- Use PDCA and process audits to confirm that new methods work as designed and remain sustained
- Maintain a consistent daily presence in Gemba across shifts, including regular contact with operators, supervisors, and support functions
- Listen to employees, understand process barriers, solicit improvement ideas, and help teams implement practical solutions
- Build credibility with shop-floor leaders by serving as a responsive support resource and reliably closing commitments
- Promote a blameless, fact-based environment focused on process inputs, learning, accountability, and prevention
- Coach employees and leaders so Lean tools become the way work is managed, not a separate program
- Spend significant time on the manufacturing floor and work across shift boundaries when business needs require
- Lead and coach structured root-cause analysis using 5 Why, 8D, Fishbone diagrams, FMEA, and related methods
- Support Stop-the-Line and escalation processes for safety, quality, equipment, and delivery risks
- Partner with Quality and Operations to prioritize chronic losses, implement corrective and preventive actions, and verify effectiveness
- Maintain visibility of problem-solving actions and metrics through approved tracking systems and management routines
- Support process and compliance audits, including setup-sheet adherence, calibration status, job alerts, CUI handling, and other defined process controls
- Implement and optimize Kanban, supermarket, point-of-use material, and replenishment systems
- Improve next-job readiness, changeover performance, production flow, work-in-process control, and schedule responsiveness
- Collaborate with Supply Chain and Production to map processes, eliminate handoff gaps, and strengthen material and information flow
