Sr Manager Operational Excellence

About Kennametal

With over 85 years as an industrial technology leader, Kennametal Inc. delivers productivity to customers through materials science, tooling and wear‑resistant solutions. Customers across aerospace and defense, earthworks, energy, general engineering and transportation turn to Kennametal to help them manufacture with precision and efficiency. Learn more  Follow @Kennametal:
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Location – Open to candidates located near Kennametal manufacturing facilities. Potential locations include Asheboro, NC;
Solon, OH;
Orwell, OH;
Rogers, AR;
Huntsville, AL;
Or La Vergne, TN.

Travel – Role will require travel up to 50%.

The Sr. Operational Excellence Manager is responsible for managing the activities of plant operational excellence personnel and leading continuous improvement initiatives at multiple sites/ plants in the region. The role implements strategies, frameworks and methodologies to enhance operational efficiency, streamline processes and optimise performance on a multi‑plant scale, collaborating with site management and cross‑functional teams to identify improvement opportunities, establish and share best practices, and foster a culture of operational excellence.

• Develop the lean competences of sites in the region and help sites to become autonomous in continuous improvement management.
• Support the Plant/Site Managers, Production Managers and Plant / Site OpEx Managers to understand the lean strategies and apply the lean tools.
• Support the production supervisors to understand the importance of respecting the standards and their improvement role.
• Ensure that the Plant/Site OpEx Managers network is fulfilled at the right level for success.
• Manage the Plant / Site OpEx Managers network of the region: annual professional competences appraisal, contribution & validation to recruitment, definition of training plan, validation of annual appraisal and manage detection/growing of local lean potentials. Organise network meetings and On‑Job Training.
• Organise cross‑site sharing of good practices within the product family or region.

• Deploy Global Lean Strategies and the associated standards, methodologies and tools in the responsible sites/plants in the region.
• Work closely with regional manufacturing directors/Plant/Site Managers and Plant / Site OpEx Managers to define lean priorities, action plans and approaches.
• Ensure that lean rules are taken into account in new projects at the right time.
• Validate the Sites lean deployment plan vs Global directives & instructions, and Sites Priorities, including smart factory (industrial 4.0/digital tools) development, and support their deployment.
• Help the Plant / Site Managers identify opportunities for SQDCIP improvement.
• Deploy and follow Global initiatives within the region.
• Check through a regular presence on every Site of the region that Sites are working on appropriate priorities.
• Act as agent of the regional lean culture change.

• Make timely diagnosis of lean methodologies and tools and practice On‑Job Training on the sites.
• Collaborate with site‑level OpEx Managers to drive Kaizen workshop execution and monitor progress.
• Coach Plant operation teams (Plant/Site Managers, Production Managers, Plant / Site OpEx Managers, Production Supervisors, etc.) to deliver training sessions, workshops and coaching to enhance Lean knowledge and skills within the region.
• Ensure consistency in approach, share best practices and facilitate knowledge transfer among different locations, promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement across all sites.
• Coach Plant / Site Managers, Plant, Production, OpEx, Production & Supply Chain support functions on lean processes implementation.
• Check regularly in depth the proper deployment of lean roadmaps and ensure close follow‑up of progress plans.

• Participate in the definition of lean budget guidelines.
• Establish performance metrics and monitor progress towards improvement goals; analyse data and performance reports from each site to identify trends, areas of concern…