Imagine how your ideas and expertise can change a patient’s life. Our Global Supply Chain (GSC) team plays a central part in ensuring our products are delivered to patients with structural heart disease. You’ll partner cross-functionally in a manufacturing plant, delivering creative solutions to complex challenges all while expanding your impact on the medical device industry. Whether your work includes strategic inventory reduction, Lean line  transformations, engineering yield improvements, or any of our other supply chain opportunities, you will be making a meaningful contribution to our team and to patients all over the world.

Make a meaningful difference to patients around the world. At Edwards Lifesciences, our Manufacturing plants create the devices that transform patients’ lives. As part of our team, your leadership in continuous improvement will help us turn innovative improvement ideas into reality. Your purpose-driven work will help leave lasting and positive impacts on patient lives.

The Draper Plant is searching for a strategic leader responsible for driving continuous improvement across all operational aspects of the facility, utilizing Edwards Production System (EPS) and Lean / Six Sigma methodologies, to optimize productivity, quality, cost reduction, and safety, fostering a culture of innovation and employee engagement to achieve world-class performance and meet organizational goals.

 
How you’ll make an impact:

• Lead the coordination, deployment and implementation of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma and Project Management from conception to completion within the Draper Delivery Systems Manufacturing facility. 

• Develop and implement a comprehensive Business Excellence and Project management strategy aligned with manufacturing site objectives, Edwards Production System, and site KPIs.  Partner with Operations, Quality, Planning, Facilities, and EHS to ensure world class systems are developed and deployed. Manage the Business Excellence and Project Management organization including developing site strategy, deployment road maps, leading site objective setting, directing staff activities, coaching/developing staff, and ensuring site-wide change management for new initiatives.

• Drive lean events (VSM, Kaizen, Lean line transformations, etc.); update knowledge and applications of Lean tools, 6S, Six Sigma and Project Management.

• Plan, establish, and execute strategy, deployment plans, overall training, execution, and follow through of all lean events and six sigma actions. Develop training programs for plant population to be constantly educated in all Lean, Six Sigma and Project Management related knowledge.

• Determine the appropriate plant metrics (tier metrics, etc.) and act as the plant metrics champion.  Track key performance metrics, report metrics periodically and work with cross-functional teams to analyze data for trends and opportunities for improvement.

• Lead the plants strategic planning and objective setting using Hoshin Kanri or other methodologies to ensure focus on goal alignment with GSC and objective cascade within the plant.  

• Develop a robust talent development and succession planning in alignment with functional growth strategies across the BEX organization.

• Participate in Plant Leadership staff meetings, Operations meetings, and any other forums to assist in the plant wide strategy and execution of Business Excellence and Project Management strategy and activities.

What you’ll need:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or scientific. 

• Proven expertise in Business Excellence, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma, successfully leading manufacturing plant transformations.  

• Proven leadership experience managing and guiding a technical engineering team.

• Demonstrated tracked record in manufacturing management in a regulated environment.

What else we look for: 

• Six Sigma Black Belt Certified. 

• Expert understanding and experience in managing manufacturing, continuous flow, value added concepts and requirements including Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen, Standard Work and Visual Management.

• Expert understanding of related aspects of processes and/or systems (pull systems, balanced line design, theory of constraints, bottleneck optimization, etc.).

• Proven expertise in leading large-scale operational improvement initiatives in a manufacturing environment.  

• Proven successful project management and leadership skills.

• Excellent problem-solving, organizational, analytical and critical thinking skills including high discretion/judgment in decision making.

• Ability to develop and integrate metrics into the projects and operations that clearly demonstrate the value of manufacturing to the business and work with digital team to gather automatically where possible.

• Demonstrated ability to direct teams and provide coaching and feedback, including responsibility for all employee actions including hire/fire authority and partnering with HR on all aspects of employee relations.