Representative Lean & Operational Excellence (OpEx) Search Engagements

Vice President, Lean Continuous Improvement, $400 million specialty vehicle manufacturer. Our client was one of the largest operating companies within this privately-held diversified manufacturing and services company. The parent company had launched an across-the-board Lean initiative and we were asked to identify and recruit the top Lean executive for this major business unit. The organization’s CEO today credits his VP, Lean CI as a key contributor to the success of the company, helping keep the company operating profitably during one of the most dramatic downturns in their business during this country’s most recent recession. The power of Lean, done right!

Director, Operational Excellence, The Coca-Cola Company. Yes, things do indeed go better with Coke.  Our client had been on the Lean transformation journey for about three years when we were retained to identify and recruit a new OpEx director who would take a lead role for the company’s Latin American operational excellence initiative. Depth and breadth of Lean knowledge would be critical, skills and talent well beyond the ability to simply apply Lean tools. In addition, candidates would need to be multi-lingual and have the ability to travel extensively, and adapt readily within complex multi-cultural environments.

Director, Lean Six Sigma, $500 million global specialty textiles manufacturer. Our client was US-based and operating multiple plants as well in Europe and China. Customers around the world included automotive OEMs and automotive Tier One manufacturers, as well as specialty clothing and other consumer apparel makers. The company’s CEO, a former Allied Signal executive and an accomplished Lean Six Sigma leader in his own right, retained us to identify and recruit their first global director to lead a nascent Lean Six Sigma implementation.

Lean Enterprise Director, high-tech consumer electronics. Our client was a well-known, innovative designer of high-profile, portable, hand-held consumer electronics products. The company’s rapid growth globally had created the need for an especially talented Lean practitioner to jump into a vital and highly-visible value stream improvement role.  The person would act as lead change-agent, systematically driving continuous improvement (CI) throughout the organization’s global logistics and distribution/fulfillment organization. Importantly, this Director also needed to champion cross-functional CI initiatives within the supply chain and operations planning groups. Despite this highly-demanding framework of experience criteria, we were able to complete this search in record time.