Our client is a global manufacturer of sophisticated, highly engineered components and assemblies. The company has nearly a dozen manufacturing facilities around the world, supplying quality products to automotive, capital equipment, oil and gas, healthcare, industrial automation, and related industries that require cutting edge technology. Our client is stable, profitable, and well positioned to continue their strong track record of growth. The firm has the potential for double digit growth over the coming years because of its product diversity and the proficiency of its versatile workforce. Our client is well regarded for its product development capabilities and expertise in targeting high growth markets with a demand for innovative products. The company achieves success where others fail because it is a forward thinking organization that addresses future market trends, effectively leveraging its engineering and manufacturing expertise to give customers exactly what they need.
Challenges:
To encourage and foster continued expansion and product diversification, our client seeks a Vice President & General Manager to lead the company’s largest business unit through its next growth phase. The firm has a number of rewarding prospects on the near horizon, but growth at the expense of profitability is not an option. The VP/GM must quickly add value in building and sustaining exceptional customer relationships. To further drive customer satisfaction and quality production, this key leader must elevate and streamline both engineering and manufacturing operations, with the goal of implementing a consistent lean manufacturing program across the business. Our client gravitates away from matrix organization, so the VP/GM must enhance and manage a cohesive, interdependent business unit that incorporates all sales, engineering, manufacturing, finance, quality, and human resources functions. The company targets competitive, high margin market segments, so the VP/GM must utilize the experience and insight of collaborative leadership to be proactive and decisive. The successful executive in this environment identifies objectives and outlines expectations, and seeks to empower his or her teams to work autonomously in order to achieve the company’s growth potential.
Opportunity:
Growth, diversity, and partnership are key themes with our client. As the Vice President & General Manager improves customer relations and increases market penetration, he or she will enjoy tremendous autonomy while growing a business unit where the sky is the limit. Building better relationships and engaging new customers requires a VP/GM who can listen, get to the root of an issue, and diplomatically offer an effective, mutually beneficial solution. With new market share and new product offerings come bigger challenges and bigger rewards. A diverse range of high quality products is a key advantage for our client. As such, the VP/GM must encourage and support ongoing product development initiatives to capitalize on new markets and new customer demands. To meet and exceed these customer and market goals, this executive leader must define and implement attainable measures to improve operational performance in manufacturing and engineering. The successful VP/GM will embrace and implant a culture of continuous improvement that starts with lean manufacturing. An individual who prefers to wear many hats and make a broad, high level impact on a growing organization will be a good fit in this role. Partnering with each member of the leadership team to collaborate, consult, and resolve every challenge will be critical to success. However, this entrepreneurially spirited company cannot sustain its upward trajectory without a VP/GM who is proactive and decisive, someone who is confident and mature enough to listen to others and know when, and how, to act. The candidate who combines a vision for growth in new product and market sectors while successfully enhancing the customer experience, developing diversified new products for high margin applications, and instituting a sustainable, culturally pervasive lean manufacturing program, will enjoy growing this business exponentially for years to come.
Job Scope:
- Lead sustainable improvement to achieve the highest standard of customer service.
- Drive and manage top line revenue growth opportunities and bottom line profitability improvements for the company’s largest business unit.
- Evaluate and implement the latest manufacturing concepts and tools.
- Identify and target new growth opportunities in adjacent markets.
- Emphasize and facilitate new product development.
- Achieve cost reduction through process improvement, reduction of in-plant rejections, and material movement and the cost deductions.
- Plan and institute management practices like TPM, 5S, and Lean-manufacturing systems to achieve targeted production with quality and delivery bottom line.
- Optimize utility of the existing resources, including personnel and capital equipment.
- Develop and administer employee management-training, appraising, and staff development.
Experience / Education Required:
- B.S or other technical degree in Production/Mechanical engineering or related field.
- Minimum 18-25 years of experience in components engineering/manufacturing or related industrial engineering/manufacturing.
- Production / mechanical engineering experience required.
- Extensive success in sales and customer-facing roles.
- Practical knowledge of KANBAN, 5S, SIX SIGMA, TPM, TQM and other manufacturing related tools.
- Track record of fostering a pervasive culture and practice of quality.
- Strong understanding of business financials required.
- Credible management, mentoring, and personal development experience of operations and technical leaders.
- Analytical, problem solving, and troubleshooting expertise.
- Strong leadership skills with a focus on strategic planning.
