Project Manager of Lean Excellence

Position Title: 

Project Manager of Lean Excellence

Pay Rate: 

$137,400 - $185,000

Multiple factors, including Individual experience, skills and abilities will determine where an employee is ultimately placed in the pay range.

Category/Shift: 

Salaried Full-Time 

Physical Location: 

Remote 

or

6400 Poplar Avenue

Memphis, TN

The Job You Will Perform: 

The Project Manager of Lean Excellence will propagate scalable operational improvement across the Containerboard business through lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, and disciplined execution. The Lean Leader will serve as a hands-on change agent, partnering with mill teams to deploy lean tools and methodologies, lead Kaizen events, and embed standard work and problem-solving capabilities into daily operations. 

The ideal candidate will have significant and relevant direct manufacturing experience using and leading continuous improvement tools, systems, and methodologies. The candidate must be a proven shop floor leader who is comfortable influencing others, coaching teams, and delivering measurable gains in safety, quality, delivery and cost. 

Key Responsibilities

• Implement lean tools such as 5S, Kaizen, Standard Work, Visual Management, SMED and Value Stream Mapping

• Drive waste elimination, process flow optimization, and variation reduction

• Facilitate structured problem solving using A3, DMAIC, 5-Why, RCFA, and similar methodologies

• Deliver measurable improvements in safety, quality, delivery, and cost

Process Optimization & Execution

• Use data to identify gaps in performance versus best practices and work with the mill team to execute an improvement plan

• Document best practices and share improvements to leverage results

• Understand and apply financial drivers and key performance indicators

Culture & Capability Building

• Assist with implementing and managing systems that will sustain improvement efforts

• Lead and coach CI events / kaizen through hands-on participation

• Assist with developing and effectively delivering training materials in multiple formats to ensure team members throughout the organization are trained in CI concepts and philosophy

• Evaluate and drive opportunities for appropriate CI and lean tool applications

• Provide support, assistance, and communication to the mill leadership teams regarding CI initiatives

This position will require 75-90% travel

The Qualifications, Skills and Knowledge You Will Bring: 

• Bachelor's degree preferred in business, engineering, operations management, or related field

• Minimum 5 years of manufacturing experience with proven change leadership skills 

• Demonstrated success utilizing and deploying lean tools

• Strong analytical, facilitation, coaching and change leadership skills

• Ability to influence without formal authority across multiple functions

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office