Herman Miller Looking for Operations Manager at Zeeland, MI Full Time

About this Opportunity
Our Operations Teams are responsible for all aspects of manufacturing high quality products in a timely manner to delight our customers. Operations team members play an important role in Herman Miller’s success and prepare us to help people do great things. All of our team members work in clean, bright environments that make use of Lean manufacturing principles. These teams share a passion for quality and hold safety as a number one priority.

As an Operations Manager, you’ll be responsible for leading, managing, and setting strategy for multiple Operations Work Team Leaders (WTLs) and their teams to achieve operational objectives in areas such as safety, quality, reliability, cost, continuous improvement, and employee morale. These objectives will align with and promote the achievement of the Operations and overall business strategy. Your results will be achieved through coaching, leading, and developing WTLs and their teams, as well as through effective planning, organizing, implementation, and execution.

What You’ll Do
You’ll have opportunities to speak up, solve problems, lead others, and be an owner every day as you work in the following areas . . .

• 100% Value: You’ll be responsible for championing the continuous improvement processes of Operations by eliminating the seven forms of waste and creating processes that add 100% value to the customer.
• Continuous Improvement: You will champion change by using Kaizen as a tool to improve the organization’s capability by utilizing people’s skill to solve problems proactively and constantly move towards the ideal situation or true north. You’ll be responsible for ensuring that teams are engaging in Kaizen activities everyday to proactively go after problems with a shop floor focus. You will develop and coach WTLs to manage and lead in a problem-solving management structure utilizing Facilitators and disciplined continuous improvement thinking.
• Development: You will be responsible for employee selection and training. You’ll also help employees develop new skills that will allow them to increase their contribution to the business and improve the processes of the operation.
• People Are the Most Important Resource
• Professional Challenge/Participation: You’ll motivate and involve Production Teams and WTLs in improving processes through creativity, problem-solving, and learning. This will be accomplished through setting expectations, teaching, encouraging, coaching, and holding employees accountable to utilize standardized work. You’ll solicit employees’ ideas for improvement and create a work environment where team members are encouraged to take risks and share ideas for improvement. You will also coach WTLs on effectively using leadership skills to drive improvements.
• Pull System: You’ll be responsible for creating an operation that produces product only to customer demand (Takt time) using one piece flow. You will provide leadership through coaching, providing strategies, and removing barriers for successful implementation.
• Quality: Your responsibilities will include identifying and solving broad problems that impact quality. You will ensure performance and accountability to zero defects. You’ll partner with the Customer Service and Corporate Quality Teams to ensure the identification of quality issues and their root causes, as well as to design and implement solutions. You must also manage and monitor compliance to the Herman Miller quality plan and ISO 9000 certification.
• Recognition/Feedback: You will show appreciation of those individuals and teams that demonstrate outstanding performance which is directly aligned with the company’s values. You’ll also be responsible for providing timely feedback, including formal performance reviews, performance coaching, and discipline.
• Reliability: You’ll ensure 100% on-time delivery of quality products to the customer by providing strategies and removing obstacles.
• Safety: You will ensure a safe working environment for all employees and visitors. You’ll be responsible for the team’s safety program, implementation, and commitment to 5S principles. You will ensure all safety training and development is completed for all employees, safety policies and procedures are administered, and compliance with all state and federal legislation is achieved. You will also manage and monitor the achievement of corporate and plant environmental goals.
• Shop Floor Focus: You’ll be responsible for ensuring that WTLs spend 80 percent of their time directly on the shop floor where the key value added activities take place.
• You will also perform additional responsibilities as requested to achieve business objectives.

Sound Like You?
You might be just who we’re looking for if you have . . .

• A Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing or Operations Management, or equivalent professional experience.
• A minimum of eight years of successful supervisory experience (including leading teams, salaried level employees, and multiple departments) in a technical or complex operations environment.
• Demonstrated coaching and change management skills.
• Previous experience in implementing and coaching the Herman Miller Performance System (Lean manufacturing principles and tools) in a multi-shift/team environment.
• The ability to express ideas effectively (verbally and nonverbally).
• Well-developed interpersonal and communication skills and a demonstrated professionalism.
• An aptitude for resolving conflict in a team environment.
• A demonstrated ability to identify and understand issues and make appropriate decisions.
• A proficiency in ISO quality systems fundamentals and Lean manufacturing principles.
• PC and systems literacy (Excel, Word, and Lotus Notes).
• A demonstrated ability to effectively use the office automation, communication, software, and tools currently being used in the Herman Miller office environment.
• The ability to perform all essential functions of the position with or without accommodations.

Refer to the Operations WTL Career Ladder for further information such as experience/skills requirements and an illustration of typical supervisory responsibility for this position.

Critical competencies for this position include: integrity and trust, customer orientation, job knowledge, decisiveness, relationship building, effective communication, systemic thinking, future focused, managing and developing talent, flexibility, innovation, and business knowledge.

Our Values

Our values speak to our shared beliefs. They describe how we live our purpose through the way we lead, the way we see one another, and the way we approach our work.

We are difference-makers reflects our commitments to creating places that matter, to being a good neighbor in our communities, and to using business as a force for good.

We are all extraordinary is our statement about the worth of individuals and our commitment to help everyone reach their full potential.

We are better together demonstrates how challenging one another, making room for everyone, and working and winning as one makes us stronger.

Who We Hire
Simply put, we hire everyone. MillerKnoll is comprised of people of all abilities, gender identities and expressions, ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, veterans from every branch of military service, and more. Here, you can bring your whole self to work. We’re committed to equal opportunity employment, including veterans and people with disabilities.