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Senior Manager, Manufacturing Operations – 1st Shift

Location: USA, Decatur, AL

Senior Manager, Manufacturing Operations leads a manufacturing area with responsibility for safety, quality, delivery, cost, and culture on the first shift. The role drives daily execution and long-term improvement through strong leadership, disciplined operational routines, and adherence to Lean principles.

How You’ll Create PossibilitiesManufacturing Operations

• Oversee end-to-end operations for a manufacturing area, ensuring strong performance in safety, quality, delivery, cost, and culture.
• Develop the annual operational plan and align area metrics with overall plant objectives.
• Allocate resources to meet targets.
• Lead and support salaried and hourly production employees within a manufacturing area.
• Use production line boards to track performance, identify issues, and drive problem resolution across shifts.
• Maintain a solid understanding of plant operations and follow escalation processes to resolve abnormalities and implement corrective actions.
• Drive adherence to Lean manufacturing practices, standardized work and the site escalation process.
• Track department metrics, manage budgets and deliver daily report-outs during production meetings.
• Establish a consistent operating rhythm, including daily meetings with Area Business Leader and Team Leaders.
• Ensure standardized work is implemented, followed, and regularly reviewed for stability and compliance.
• Coach Area Business Leaders, Process Improvement Engineers, and Team Leaders on standardized work, job instruction methods, and effective training practices.
• Maintain 5S standards across the entire manufacturing area.

Continuous Improvement

• Champion the Appliance Production System and embed continuous improvement into daily operations.
• Lead teams to aggressively identify factory inefficiencies, conduct root cause analysis, and implement sustainable solutions.
• Engage cross‑functional escalation teams, including Lean resources, to address and resolve issues quickly and effectively.
• Identify and eliminate waste through both short‑term countermeasures and long‑term improvement initiatives.
• Serve as a second‑level responder in the escalation process for operational issues.
• Lead regular reviews of open issues, assign ownership, track actions to closure, and communicate updates to stakeholders.
• Drive kaizen events and ensure resulting countermeasures are implemented and sustained.
• Oversee work area rebalancing through tools such as Yamazumi charts.

Leadership

• Provide hands‑on leadership for an integrated, cross‑functional manufacturing team.
• Set clear goals for team members and support performance through coaching, feedback, and development opportunities.
• Participate in performance reviews and partner with HR on talent development and succession planning.
• Manage employee relations issues, including investigations and disciplinary actions, in partnership with HR, ensuring proper documentation and consistency.
• Recruit and allocate resources to meet operational needs.
• Develop and mentor emerging leaders within the organization.
• Ensure fair and consistent application of policies, work rules, and workplace processes.

Quality

• Ensure all products within the manufacturing area meet specifications and are produced defect‑free.
• Enforce compliance with the Manufacturing Control Plan and all quality standards.
• Monitor daily quality data and escalated or resolve defects promptly.
• Ensure standardized work incorporates quality requirements to meet design intent and build in quality at the source.
• Collaborate with engineering, quality, and production teams to resolve line issues and prevent repeat defects.
• Review scrap data and lead efforts to reduce scrap and prevent recurrence.
• Partner with Plant Quality and engineering teams to improve key quality metrics such as First Pass Yield, Overall Yield, and Service Call Rate.

Safety

• Own overall safety performance and metrics for the manufacturing area.
• Foster a strong safety culture through behavior‑based observations, audits, safety meetings, and adherence to 5S practices.
• Enforce compliance with all safety rules and procedures while ensuring timely completion of accident investigations, safety contacts, and safe start requirements.
• Review and approve all accident investigations, ensuring root cause identification and corrective actions are implemented.
• Maintain and drive closure of the safety action item list, including corrective actions from near misses, accidents, and ergonomic assessments.

What You’ll Bring to Our Team

• 7+ years of leadership experience in manufacturing, supplier management, and project implementation, with technical expertise across supply chain functions such as warehousing, distribution, materials, quality, procurement, or fulfillment.
• BS/BA degree, ideally in engineering, supply chain management, or business.
• Experience implementing Lean Manufacturing and driving continuous improvement using Lean, DMAIC, work‑out, or similar methodologies.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to teach, facilitate meetings, coach teams, give constructive feedback, and listen effectively.
• Ability to identify, analyze, and solve complex problems across cross‑functional teams.
• Track record of achieving business goals, leading change, and delivering measurable results through analytical methods and disciplined execution.

Working Conditions

• Normal conditions for both an office and a manufacturing environment.
• Work may involve lifting materials and products of up to 25 pounds.
• Working in the manufacturing environment requires the use of safety equipment, including safety glasses, hearing protection, gloves, and work shoes/boots.

GE Appliances is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law. GE Appliances participates in E‑Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I‑9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If you are an individual with a disability and need assistance or an accommodation to use our website or to apply, please send an e‑mail to ask.recruiting@geappliances.com.