Lean Engineer

Corning is one of the world’s leading innovators in glass, ceramic, and materials science. From the depths of the ocean to the farthest reaches of space, our technologies push the boundaries of what’s possible. Join us.

The Optical Communications segment, a core part of our business, has evolved from manufacturing optical fiber and cable to providing comprehensive industry‑leading optical solutions across the broader communications industry.

We identify two main product groupings: carrier network and enterprise network. The carrier network product group focuses on optical‑based communications infrastructure for services such as video, data and voice communications. The enterprise network product group sells optical‑based communication networks to businesses, governments and individuals for their own use.

Requisition Number: 73667

Responsible for driving both foundational and transformational competencies within the Lean Organization and across the manufacturing plant. These competencies include, but are not limited to, Value Stream Mapping, Visual Management, Work Standardization, Gemba Engagement, Kanban, SMED, 5S, Pull Systems, etc. With these core competencies, this role will partner with Operations and the Lean Manufacturing Supervisor to improve plant performance in Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Morale, and Innovation.

The intent of this role is to decrease overall manufacturing cost, increase operational efficiencies, and drive waste from the production processes in conjunction with the strategy of the Lean Organization.

• Directly responsible for performing work in a safe manner and maintaining a safe work environment. This includes being responsible for their own safety, as well as that of others that may be at the facility, whether working, visiting, or a part of the Lean Organization. This individual will be responsible for observing safe work practices and being proactive at reporting and fixing any unsafe conditions.
• Continuously developing lean skills individually, as a part of the Lean Organization, and within the plant as a whole. This includes learning and occasionally teaching current lean principles/methodology in order to overcome obstacles and start establishing a lean culture at the plant. This individual will work to become a trained lean facilitator, able to facilitate Kaizen events at the plant directly linked to both the foundational and transformational competencies.
• Planning and facilitating Kaizen events. This could include workshops focused on Value Stream Mapping, Kanban, SMED, 5S etc. with oversight and help from the Lean Organization. Each workshop will have an agenda, deliverables defined and managed, and outcomes/next steps delivered to leadership. This individual will be responsible for the follow-up after each event to ensure actions identified are being deployed across the site.
• Tracking cost savings per each Kaizen event and working with the appropriate resources to quantify and ultimately realize lean cost savings. This will require partnership with both Engineering and Finance in order to complete.
• This individual will provide support as required to the plant’s iKaizen program in order to challenge the norm and try new and innovative ideas in order to promote lean thinking/methodology.
• Conduct value stream mapping exercises to identify, document, and execute opportunities for improvement in cycle time, capacity, and cost.
• Planning and implementing workplace flow/layout improvements in addition to analyzing new equipment installations, existing equipment movements, and equipment modifications in accordance with lean teachings and methodologies.
• Identifying and horizontally deploying benchmark opportunities at the division level and across the sister sites in partnership with the Lean Manufacturing Supervisor. Travel expected from this is less than 10% in order to facilitate best practice migration.

Less than 10% expected.

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Industrial Engineering preferred).

• Minimum of 2 years in manufacturing and/or engineering.