Leader, Operational Excellence

About the Company

BW Packaging is driving performance at the intersection of people, technology, and customer care. As part of the privately held Barry‑Wehmiller family, we unite a global team of packaging experts with a clear purpose: People Who Care, Building Solutions that Perform. We take on our customers’ toughest challenges as our own—delivering innovative and enduring solutions that set the standard for value and performance. Our strength comes from our people and the power of our brands—trusted names in packaging known worldwide for engineering excellence, application expertise, and lifetime commitment to customer success. Truly Human Leadership guides our belief that exceptional business results and profound respect for people together provide the foundation of enduring success. Barry‑Wehmiller is a diversified global supplier of engineering consulting and manufacturing technology for the packaging, corrugating, sheeting and paper‑converting industries, a $3 billion organization with nearly 12,000 team members.

About the Role

The Operational Excellence Leader accelerates performance across manufacturing operations by driving continuous improvement in safety, quality, delivery, cost, and team‑member engagement. This role leads the deployment of Lean principles, structured problem solving, and disciplined performance management in alignment with the BW Way. The leader builds a culture of accountability, standard work, and sustainable results through hands‑on coaching and cross‑functional partnership.

Responsibilities

• Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement: Design, deploy, and sustain Lean manufacturing and Operational Excellence strategies; identify and prioritize improvement opportunities aligned with safety, quality, cost, delivery, and culture; facilitate Kaizen events, value‑stream mapping, and rapid improvement events; coach teams on A3, root‑cause analysis, PDCA, and DMAIC.
• Performance Management: Establish and maintain standard work for leaders and team members; implement daily management systems, visual controls, and tiered accountability meetings; partner with operations leaders to track KPIs and close performance gaps; ensure improvements are documented, standardized, and sustained.
• Leadership & Change Management: Act as trusted advisor and coach to operations and front‑line leaders; build continuous‑improvement capability at all levels; influence without authority and manage resistance to change; promote a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Partner with safety, quality, engineering, supply chain, people, and finance to drive end‑to‑end process improvements; support major initiatives such as capital investments, layout changes, capacity expansions, or automation; ensure improvements align with compliance, safety, and quality standards.
• Training & Capability Building: Develop and deliver training on Lean tools and Operational Excellence concepts; mentor continuous‑improvement champions and future leaders; create sustainability plans for long‑term adoption of improvements.
• Safety Leadership: Champion safety as a foundational element of Operational Excellence; work with EHS and operational leaders to proactively identify and eliminate safety risks; integrate safety into standard work, Kaizen events, value‑stream maps, and problem‑solving; promote proactive hazard identification, near‑miss reporting, and employee ownership of safety; support safety Gemba, incident investigations, and root‑cause analysis with a focus on systemic, preventive solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5–10 years of experience in manufacturing operations, continuous improvement, or operational excellence roles.
• Proven experience leading Lean or CI initiatives in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of Lean principles and tools.
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent certification.
• Experience supporting multi‑site operations.
• Background in high‑mix / low‑volume or regulated manufacturing environments.
• Experience integrating CI efforts with safety and quality systems.

Key Competencies

• Change leadership and influencing skills.
• Data‑driven decision‑making.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands‑on execution.
• High level of personal accountability and integrity.

Additional Information

Barry‑Wehmiller encourages applicants from all backgrounds to apply and will consider reasonable accommodations during the interview process. The organization is an equal‑opportunity employer (M/F/D/V) and uses E‑Verify. Applicants may be subject to pre‑employment screening, which can include drug screening, reference checks, employment verifications, background screening, and/or skills assessments.