DIR OPERATIONS

Job Overview

Director Operations, Automotive JASEAN is a senior leadership role responsible for operational performance including Supply Chain, Procurement, Environmental Health and Safety, Manufacturing Engineering and TE Operating Advantage (TEOA). This role will define and execute comprehensive Operations strategy and drive Operational Excellence in a disciplined manner to ensure company and functional goals are achieved in line with business objectives. The related plants are located in Kakegawa Japan and Thailand. This role will build an engaged and high-performing organization and act as a key member of the leadership team.

The role is based in Kakegawa, Japan with Travel% around 25% subject to the business needs.
Domestic: Kawasaki HQ, Suppliers in Japan
Overseas: Thailand, China

Job Requirements

Strategy

• Combines knowledge of customer needs, business trends, and operations capabilities to develop comprehensive strategic plans that create a sustainable competitive advantage.
• Leverages the organization and works collaboratively to meet current requirements and future priorities.
• Ensures effective planning and execution throughout the S&OP process and drives improvement of the S&OP process. Leverages TEOA, develops an operational excellence manufacturing strategies to drive step change transformation in manufacturing, safety, efficiency, quality, and customer service.
• Manages all aspects of Gross Margin improvement including leading and driving material and conversion cost productivity, scrap reduction, inventory, and supply chain cost reduction, capital cost reduction.
• Manages capital cost budget and works regionally and globally to ensure proper utilization of capacity and minimization of capital cost.
• Oversees headcount strategies, planning and budgeting in collaboration with HR, ensures appropriate strategies to control labor cost and drive flexibility into operations to manage business cycles.

Execution

• Drives for results and meets commitments, creates a culture of accountability and performance.
• Collaborates cross functionally and with global and regional counterparts, Centers of Excellence, and business partners to deliver business results and build cost reduction pipelines.
• Establishes, cascades and monitors key metrics to understand if goals and change initiatives have been met, and improvements are effective.
• Optimizes and aligns organizational resources and structure to meet and/or exceed established targets KPI’s (e.g. TEOA, Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost). Ensures flexible, effective and balanced supplier contracts, engages and supports in negotiations.
• Ensures site environmental compliance, health and safety for all sites and employees.
• Drive organization structures and programs (e.g. footprint changes, migration/localization, consolidation, new product, process and equipment requirements) to meet business goals.
• Through deployment of TEOA, drives a lean culture that delivers continuous and breakthrough improvements.
• Manages constrained or critical resources (Labor, Capital, Supplier, etc.), makes tradeoffs, and delivers solutions to optimize short term & long-term performance.
• Drives S&OP planning process and manages market fluctuations by taking proactive countermeasures including, cost control, labor balancing, inventory optimization, insourcing and outsourcing to ensure business performance and customer satisfaction.

Talent

• Creates and invests in a robust succession plan at all levels.
• Effectively identifies, develops, and promotes hi-potential talent; acts as coach for hi-potential talent.
• Builds functional leadership, skills and capabilities to meet future business needs.
• Assess functional and technical capability gaps and implements actions to close gaps.
• Monitors Employee Engagement to drive actions to ensure a highly motivated team.
• Delivers plan with HR business partner to proactively manage, retention, headcount, performance reviews, promotion and recognition.
• Personally demonstrates and drives a culture of inclusion and diversity

Metrics

• Productivity: Conversion Cost, Material Productivity
• TEOA Star Level - Level of lean achievement
• Delivery: Ship-to-Request & Inventory Turns/Days-on-hand/$
• Quality: Customer Complaints, PPM, Cost of Poor Quality, Supplier quality (DLPM).
• EH&S: Environmental compliance, TRIR, Energy usage reduction
• Gross Margin

What your background should look like

Qualification

• Bachelor’s degree in operations management or related fields
• More than 15 years of relevant working experience including Plant Management, Supply Chain, Procurement, Quality, Process or Industrial Engineering, with a minimum of 10 years in management positions.
• Strong working knowledge and direct, hands-on experience implementing lean manufacturing in a manufacturing environment
• Multi-site management is preferred
• Multi-country experience is preferred
• Prior union and labor management experience is a plus
• Strong financial acumen, prior responsibility for financial (or Gross Margin) performance
• Technical skill set, able to comprehend and improve complex processes and products
• Proven ability to build effective teams and lead people experience
• CPIM (Certified in Planning & Inventory Management) preferred
• TPS (Toyota Production System), Kaizen certification preferred

Competency

• End to End Value Stream Ownership
• Lean Manufacturing & Continuous Improvement
• Strategic Thinking & Execution
• Financial Acumen
• Change Management & Talent Development
• Enterprise Mindset and Collaboration

Key Candidate Attribute

• High integrity, open and honest.
• Global and multi-cultural mindset, not constrained to convention or custom but respectful of it.
• Willing to speak up and offer input or opinion even if counter to others, willing to ask questions and seek out support.
• Proven track record of performance and promotion
• Results and execution oriented
• Approachable and collaborative, exemplifies teamwork
• Self-motivated, leads by example

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Competencies