Production Unit Leader

thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc. is a world class manufacturer of suspension solutions headquartered in Hamilton, Ohio USA. thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America supplies products to a wide range of Original Equipment Automotive Manufacturers as well as Aftermarket and Motorsports customers. Our Aftermarket operations are based out of Poway, CA and our Motorsports operations are based out of Mooresville, NC.

For decades, the name BILSTEIN has been synonymous with high tech in suspension design, driving comfort, and safety. In order to expand this position BILSTEIN became a division of thyssenkrupp Technologies AG in 1988, and a wholly owned subsidiary in 2005. This partnership has enabled us to continue the BILSTEIN tradition of excellence.

Summary

The Production Unit Leader (PUL) is responsible for leading the manufacturing, technical, and support functions of an assigned production unit within the Hamilton Plant. The role oversees a three-shift operation through direct supervision of one supervisor per shift, ensuring alignment across all shifts and consistency in execution. This role has overall responsibility for internal quality within the unit to include compliance with all IATF and customer requirements, ensures all customer orders are produced on time, is responsible for ensuring the unit reaches target metric goals, takes complete ownership in creating and fostering an engaged work environment that is built on trust, mutual respect, open/transparent communication, empowerment, accountability and engagement while ensuring all occupational, safety and health regulations are met.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Maintains a safe working environment by complying with all safety and environmental policies in the workplace.
• Manages the day-to-day operations within the production unit. Develops the culture within the unit focusing on employee safety, quality, on time delivery, continuous improvement and teamwork.
• Works primarily during standard business hours but is flexible to adjust hours to connect with off-shift supervisors and teams as needed.
• Coaches the team on understanding the performance metrics (Parts per operator hour, labor $ per part) and ensures the teams on all shifts make decisions affecting these KPIs in a positive manner.
• Communicates and collaborates with the scheduling team daily to align on and develop operations plans considering schedule, labor, priorities etc. that meet and exceed KPI targets.
• Drives and sustains 6S culture within the production unit
• Functionally leads maintenance, internal quality, manufacturing engineering / technicians, and operational excellence related to production.
• Works directly with Quality to assure all quality measures and requirements are in place
• Recruits, hires, trains and develops staff. Provides direction to and development of employees through coaching, the administration of performance management and the creation and implementation of development plans.
• Supports efforts to implement succession planning for targeted key functional positions.
• Works directly with manufacturing engineering and maintenance on equipment availability, and corrective and preventative maintenance execution.
• Leads daily S2QDC (Safety, Sustainability, Quality, Delivery, Cost) meetings to align all shifts on priorities, communicate key updates, and drive accountability toward targets.
• Develops budgets and coordinates spending on cost centers
• Ensures all document management standards (Process Flows, FMEA, Control Plans, WI's) are met throughout the unit.
• Supports new product launches
• Collaborates with other Production Units to optimize performance by sharing resources.
• Works with cross functional teams to assure timely production support.
• Plans and maintains an overview over machine capacities.
• Fosters engineering studies and analyses existing manufacturing processes to improve process capability, reliability, problem solve, or to improve product quality and cost.
• Leads continuous improvement activities
• Proactively identifies opportunities for productivity gains and implements improvements in manufacturing processes.
• Develops a project management approach to solve manufacturing deficiencies
• Supports planning and implementation of workplace layouts and work instructions to optimize process flow and efficiency.
• Facilitates cross-functional problem-solving sessions

Qualifications & Experience

• Substantial manufacturing background with proven experience in manufacturing and production management, setup and cycle time reduction, labor efficiency improvements, continuous improvement and materials management.
• Strong business acumen and working knowledge of business operations with a focused attention on details and well developed organizational and communication skills.
• Demonstrated experience developing budgets and managing financial performance.
• Strong, proven effective hands-on leadership experience that gains trust and loyalty from subordinates and possesses and displays integrity and ethics that are beyond reproach. Proven ability to build strong business relationships at all levels throughout an organization. Highly organized with ability to work independently as well as part of a team.
• Exhibits integrity through fair and ethical behaviors in all activities; maintains accountability for performance.
• Expert knowledge and use of Microsoft Office Products (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint).
• Makes decisions and commits to a course of action with appropriate information; weighs and manages risk in decision making.
• Effectively leads teams and inspires others to achieve goals through innovation, quality and excellence.
• Has the ability to ensure teams follow the correct procedures, policies and documentation requirements.
• Ability to guide the team through the development, testing and implementation stages and review the completed work effectively.
• Proven leadership skills team building, collaborating, presentation skills, strategic and innovative thinker and self-starter with a high energy level.
• Experience with hot forming, welding, and/or industrial painting processes is a plus.

Education:

• • Bachelor's degree in Industrial or Mfg. Engineering, Industrial Management, Operations or related technical or business degree.

The [above] is intended to describe the general content of and requirements for the performance of this job. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities, or requirements. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Bilstein has great benefits to offer!

• A state-of-the-art OE manufacturing plant with a strong focus on safety and cleanliness.
• Multiple competitive Health, Dental & Vision Coverage options.
• 401K matching program.
• Paid time off + 13 paid holidays.
• Paid volunteer hours.
• Tuition reimbursement program.
• Gym reimbursement.
• Company-paid short-term disability and life insurance.
• Internal growth opportunities.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Discounted BILSTEIN products.

We only accept online applications submitted through the 'Apply Now' button on this job posting. You can find all current job openings on our career site at: https://jobs.thyssenkrupp.com/en Thank you for your interest in joining our team!

Notices:

If you are an applicant with a California residency, please click on the following link: California Job Applicant Notice of Collection

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