Vice President Manufacturing Operations Jobs in Minnesota

Company Overview

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM), headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and Bridgestone Europe, Middle East and Africa (BSEMEA), headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, operate collectively as a "Bridgestone West" strategic region. This region services the strategic business needs of teams across the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa. BSAM and BSEMEA are subsidiaries of Bridgestone Corporation, globally headquartered in Japan. Bridgestone and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market a wide range of Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand products and solutions to address the needs of a broad range of customers and industries.

The Vice President Manufacturing - Consumer North America is a key member of the West Manufacturing Leadership Team, reporting directly to the Senior Vice President Manufacturing. The role is responsible for leading the Consumer Tire manufacturing network across North America and executing the manufacturing strategy to deliver business objectives, operational excellence, and sustainable growth.
The position has overall accountability for the performance of four manufacturing facilities:
Aiken PSR (USA)
Wilson (USA)
Monterrey (Mexico)
Joliette (Canada)
The VP, Manufacturing (Consumer Tire - North America) is responsible for driving excellence in safety, quality, customer service, productivity, cost competitiveness, and people development while leading continuous improvement and transformation initiatives across the network. The role ensures alignment of manufacturing operations with regional and global business priorities and builds a high-performing organization capable of delivering long-term results. This position requires a highly experienced manufacturing executive capable of leading a geographically diverse manufacturing network while driving operational excellence, transformation, and sustained business results across North America.

• Lead and develop Plant Managers and their leadership teams across four manufacturing sites.
• Drive operational excellence through the deployment of Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, and world-class manufacturing practices.
• Lead large-scale transformation and change management initiatives to improve operational performance and organizational effectiveness.
• Ensure delivery of safety, quality, cost, productivity, and service targets across the manufacturing network.
• Develop and execute manufacturing strategies that support business growth, profitability, and competitiveness.
• Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, collaboration, engagement, and talent development.
• Partner closely with Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, HR, Finance, and Commercial teams to optimize end-to-end business performance.
• Lead performance turnaround initiatives in underperforming operations and sustain improvements over time.
• Promote standardization and best-practice sharing across all facilities.
• Ensure compliance with all regulatory, environmental, safety, and corporate requirements.

Experience and Qualifications

• Proven senior executive leadership experience in manufacturing operations, ideally managing multiple plants across different countries.
• Deep expertise in manufacturing, operational excellence, and business transformation.
• Extensive experience leading change management and cultural transformation initiatives.
• Demonstrated success in turning around manufacturing performance and delivering sustainable operational improvements.
• Strong financial and business acumen with experience managing large operational budgets.
• Deep knowledge of the tire industry or other highly industrialized manufacturing environments with complex production processes.
• Track record of developing strong leadership teams and building organizational capability.
• Experience working within multinational and matrix organizations.

Leadership Profile

• Strategic and visionary leader with strong execution capabilities.
• Results-oriented, with a strong focus on accountability and performance.
• Influential communicator capable of leading diverse, multicultural teams.
• Resilient and adaptable, with a proven ability to lead through complexity and change.
• Passionate about developing people and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

At Bridgestone, you are Free to Be

We believe people can only provide superior service and quality to others when they bring their whole self to work. We believe in championing all perspectives, individuals and teams because we understand the importance of seeing the world and our business through many different lenses. We are building a team as diverse as the world we serve. So, show us what you are made of, because who you are is what we need.

What we offer

At Bridgestone, what really matters is to foster co-creation opportunities and empowering you to be creative and curious to make mobility safer, more efficient, and more sustainable for future generations. Whatever role you fill, when you represent Bridgestone, you are a valued teammate, and part of our larger mission to "Serve Society with Superior Quality", for that, we offer you more than just a competitive compensation; we will provide you:

• A supportive and engaging onboarding experience to ensure a smooth transition into our team.
• The opportunity to develop and grow, through training and regular mentorship.
• Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
• A truly global, dynamic and challenging work environment.
• Agility and work/life effectiveness and your long-term well-being.
• A diverse and inclusive team.

Bridgestone is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. It is our policy to consider for employment all individuals regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

Employment Eligibility

If hired, a Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification must be completed at the start of employment. Temporary work authorization or the need for sponsorship may disqualify you from employment.