Operational Excellence Manager

TSC is seeking an Operational Excellence Manager in Huntsville, AL. This position will support the Production Team. This position will be responsible for managing complex Department of Defense Production programs that are comprised of the of custom antenna arrays, RF digital and analog solutions, embedded software and firmware, wireless communications, and future production-potential opportunities related to munition technologies, weapon systems, ISR, and other similar DoD pursuits.

It is expected that the candidate will take ownership to develop and grow relationships within TSC production, other TSC divisions and government program offices, as well as public sector customers. The Operational Excellence Manager will work closely with product, program, and production management to effectively manage production orders and overall product success. As an Operational Excellence Manager, you will have responsibility for overall program execution while keeping all stakeholders - both internal and external - constantly informed on the progress of your project(s) and program(s). As an Operational Excellence Manager, you will be a key stakeholder for pricing efforts in conjunction with the corporate PMO and finance departments. Through successful program execution, the candidate will also bring in new business by positioning TSC to be the preferred partner for new programs with existing customers.

Responsibilities:

• A multi-skilled Operational Excellence Manager to direct and support all aspects of production work, especially on the bottlenecks of achieving production goals and bring production to the next level.
• Lead and mentor operations staff including production planners, material coordinators, and quality personnel
  • Overseeing suppliers, including surface mount assembly (SMT) CM's.
  • Evaluating, qualifying, and monitoring supplier performance against quality, delivery, and cost metrics.
  • Coordinate with CM's on capacity planning, production, scheduling and resource allocation to meet program deliverables
  • Coordinate first article inspections, pilot builds, and production qualification activities with CM partners
  • Coordinate material flow from procurement through CM assembly, test, and final delivery
  • Work closely with procurement team on component sourcing, vendor selection, and cost optimization
  • Oversee implementation of quality control plans, inspection protocols, and corrective action processes
  • Manage non-conformance resolution, material review board activities, and customer returns
• Implementing continuous improvement and lean manufacturing best practices, and training team members to foster an improvement-first manufacturing culture.
  • Lead resolution of ad hoc production issues based on urgency and importance.
  • Lead production process and system improvement change.
  • Champion regular CAPEX, cost reduction initiatives.
  • Internal employee development, such as six sigma curriculum and coaching.
  • Developing processes aligned with AS9100, ISO9001, MIL-STD, etc.
  • Maintain CUI and ITAR compliance for defense-related products, including proper classification, export controls, and data security.
  • Ensure compliance with AS9100 aerospace quality management system requirements.
• Developing a Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning (SIOP) process to enable accurate capacity planning, forecasting, and scheduling.
  • Work with other team members to align production and resource schedule (IMS), support all stages of production needs to reach smooth flow.
  • Master production schedule and forecast alignment with production, quality, supply chain and PMs etc. Meanwhile, improve resources leveling.
  • Manage inventory levels and material planning to support production schedules while minimizing carrying costs
  • Monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of resource utilization.
  • Implementing MRP in a medium-high mix electronics manufacturing environment.
  • Total preventative maintenance management.
  • Production AOP, WBS (work breakdown) and cascade down, and progress tracking.
  • Maintain production capacity package, including people, process, materials, flow, space, equipment etc.
• Developing and managing a team that is responsible for KPI setup & tracking, production data collection & analysis, continuous improvement efforts.
  • Lead production daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly reports which encompass metrics related to on-time delivery, cycle time, first-pass yield, and cost performance.
  • Lead production P&L analysis, financial indicator tracking at all stages of production process.
  • Smart Visual Factory system effectiveness, including ERP, MES, PLM, Database etc.
• Partner with engineering on Design for Manufacturing (DFM) reviews to ensure producibility of mixed-signal and RF products
• Take on additional responsibilities based on production needs.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in a technical field and 8+ years of experience in managing production, operation, engineering (industrial, manufacturing, test engineering, data engineer)/project/program team.
• US citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.
• In-depth understanding of electronics assembly processes including SMT, through-hole, cable fabrication, and box-build operations
• Familiarity with IPC standards (IPC-A-610, IPC-J-STD-001) for electronic assembly
• Successful experience of change management.
• Experience implementing actionable KPIs to optimize team structure and align team goals in a data-based and process-focused manner.
• Experienced implementing SIOP processes to enable production capacity analyses to scale an electronics manufacturing organization.
• Experience in a product transition environment, interfacing with engineering to transition development work to full rate production.
• Experience and knowledge of coordinating work with engineering, quality, supply chain, configuration management, procurement, program management and internal/external customers.
• Excellent communication skills to manage up, down and laterally.
• Highly proficient in all Microsoft, data analysis and scheduling tools.
• Self-motivated and a can-do attitude to drive change and results.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA from an accredited colleague
• Project management professional (PMP).
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification.
• Experience of leading Kaizen events and Six Sigma projects.
• Knowledge of cost accounting and P&L analysis.
• Production Lab management experience, including thermal chamber, vibration bed.
• Shipping/receiving and inventory management experience.
• Experience with MES (Aegis Factory Logix), ERP / MRP (Costpoint) and PLM (Teamcenter).
• Experience with starting up a new technical team.

This contractor and subcontractor shall abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 60-300.5(a) and 60-741.5(a). These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or for inquiring about, discussing, or disclosing information about compensation. Moreover, these regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.