Vice President of Operation Transformations

Core Responsibilities

• Own Trystar’s end-to-end operations for the “factory of the future”
• Lead the design, deployment, and transformation of Trystar’s operations across functions and how they interact.
• Build enterprise transformation roadmap and process governance that improves flow across major value streams, reduces variation, and supports growth without adding complexity.
• Translate current processes into the business of the future and design what Trystar will look like in the future.
• Lead Manufacturing Engineering + Factory Automation as growth enablers
• Direct manufacturing engineering and automation strategies to increase capacity, improve labor productivity, reduce reliance on incremental headcount, and enable profitable growth.
• Own line design, workstation optimization, labor standards, time studies, line balancing, plant layout, capacity models, tooling strategy, capital prioritization, and launch readiness.
• Build and execute a practical automation roadmap that improves safety, quality, repeatability, throughput, and decision-making through connected data and smart factory capabilities.
• Own the operational drivers of Gross Margin.
• Be accountable for major operational drivers of gross margin, including direct material productivity, conversion cost, re-engineering for efficiency, and asset utilization.
• Lead cost-out programs and fact-based trade-offs that improve margin without sacrificing safety, quality, speed, scale, or delivery performance.
• Partner with Finance and operations leaders to convert operational transformation into sustained margin expansion and cash performance.
• Drive step-change performance in Delivery + Cycle Time + Flow
• Drive value stream transformations, simplify handoffs, eliminate waste, shorten cycle times, and reduce process variation across key operational steps.
• Improve visibility to bottlenecks and recovery actions across the network; build the mechanisms that prevent “heroics” and expediting as the operating norm.
• Build a rigorous metrics system that forces action (not reporting).
• Implement KPI governance that connects input metrics to customer-facing outcomes and financial performance.
• Establish dashboards and operating cadences that convert data into daily management, accountability, and fast decision-making.
• Strengthen cross-functional enablement (so Operations can execute)
• Improve the quality of information and handoffs flowing into Operations (customer requirements, engineering releases, priorities, material readiness, demand signals) so sites can execute with fewer disruptions.
• Improve cross-functional business processes outside Operations when they constrain execution—always with the mindset that Operations must receive what it needs to deliver for customers.
• Enable scalable growth and acquisition integration
• Build repeatable integration playbooks and operating standards that quickly align newly acquired sites and processes to Trystar ways of working.
• Partner on capacity/capability strategy, redundancy planning, and network initiatives that improve flexibility and resilience across sites.
• Build leaders, capability, and a culture that sustains the gains
• Develop and coach high-performing leaders and practitioners in manufacturing engineering, automation, process excellence, and transformation.
• Establish a culture where issues surface quickly, problem-solving happens at root cause, and the organization builds habits that stick.

  Qualifications

  • Minimum of 12 years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing, operations excellence, business process optimization, manufacturing engineering, industrial engineering, or a closely related field in custom / engineered industrial or electrical equipment manufacturing.
  • Proven experience leading multi-site or highly complex operations/process transformation efforts in a rapidly growing manufacturing environment; experience in a private equity-backed business is preferred.
  • Demonstrated success improving gross margin through operational levers such as sourcing, labor productivity, process redesign, throughput, quality, automation, logistics, and inventory management.
  • Strong track record leading Manufacturing Engineering and Automation functions, including line design, labor standards, plant layout, capacity planning, capital projects, controls/automation, and smart factory or Industry 4.0 initiatives.
  • Hands-on experience implementing Lean, Six Sigma, daily management, visual management, value stream mapping, root cause problem solving, standard work, and transformational systems that scale.
  • Demonstrated ability to improve First Pass Yield / throughput, reduce cycle times, shorten lead times, and improve on-time delivery in make-to-order, configure-to-order, or engineered-to-order environments.
  • Strong business and financial acumen, including the ability to connect operational drivers to gross margin, EBITDA, working capital, and cash flow.
  • Experience building and leading high-performing teams, upgrading talent, coaching leaders, and creating accountability through clear metrics and operating rhythms.
  • Bachelor’s degree in Industrial, Mechanical, Manufacturing, Electrical, or related Engineering discipline required; advanced degree and/or Lean/Six Sigma certification preferred.