Director of Continuous Improvement

The Director of Continuous Improvement (CI) is responsible for leading enterprise-wide operational excellence across Air Distribution Technologies Inc.  In a PE fast paced environment, they achieve results the right way.  They understand activities to do NOT equal results.  Must be highly focused on delivering superior results the right way.  They are a servant leader who leads by example “hands on” as the coach.  They build organizational capability through Lean leadership, building/teaching a process/ problem solving culture, and living data-driven decision making.  This leader is known for providing real tangible value to leadership, the field and team.  They will lead high value kaizens, improvement discoveries, and teach the organization how to deliver strengthen financial results. They will build a team that can quickly access data and deliver.  They will help create a culture of standardization through building an effective Management Operating Structure and the MOS to support and rapidly improve key leading KPI’s/Metrics like SQDCM and improving EBITDA.  They will build an engaged culture and develop strong CI talent at all levels.

What You’ll Do

• Hands -on/proven track record of leading highly impactful CI projects/kaizens enterprise-wide that consistently over delivered on targets and delivered financially validated results.


• Key driver of developing the Management Operating Structure MOS for business, standard metrics across the enterprise.


• Proven/highly effective change agent who has delivered results in a fluid turnaround environment.


• Strong TPS based lean toolkit, should have passed lean six sigma blackbelt exam and certification beyond that a plus.


• Proven track record of building REAL pipeline of projects and pipeline fills through brainstorming and VA/VE type events.


• Servant leader. Brings people with them by coaching and training.


• Will lead high value kaizens, and be lead coach to teach others “How to do it and sustain results”, and share best practices.


• Ensure consistent application of CI tools, best practices, and standard work to reduce variation and improve performance.


• Support NPI, Engineering, and ME teams to ensure new products and processes meet cost, quality, and manufacturability goals.


• Build CI capability through training, certification, mentoring, and hands-on coaching.


• Champion an inclusive, high-engagement culture centered on problem solving, learning, and continuous improvement.


• Develop strong succession pipelines and elevate leadership capability across all levels of the organization.


• Partner with Operations, Product Engineering, Quality, and Commercial leaders to align on performance goals and “Delighted Customers”.

What we look for

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Operations, or related field required; MBA preferred.


• Proven success leading CI or Lean transformation within multi-site, global manufacturing environments.


• Strong communicator with the ability to build vision, influence stakeholders, and lead enterprise-wide change.


• Demonstrated experience developing CI toolsets, performance systems, leader capability and creates pull for the team in the field because the team delivers value to the field.


• Expertise in leading/delivering superior results in a PE business turnaround environment.


• Experience leading large-scale operational excellence across the enterprise (all functions) that improved EBITDA and key KPI’s and sustained and improved year over year.


• Built and deployed highly effective MOS across the enterprise.


• Passed lean-six sigma black belt exam and is pursuing certification.


• Has built effective productivity pipelines, kaizen roadmaps and has been team coach on leading and delivering top level projects/productivity improvements/results year over year.


• Has extensive experience in deploying effective TPS and Danaher models as the MOS.


• Demonstrated expertise working with finance that VALIDATED projects and kaizens that delivered REAL results that are seen on the P&L as process/routine.


• Ability to travel up to 70%.

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