Continuous Improvement Engineer II

Company / Location Information

Water technology is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, and, as a leading global water technology company, A. O. Smith Corporation is at the center of the trend. We are a $3 billion company with 144-year history and employ more than 16,000 men and women around the globe.  A. O. Smith has a strong, people-oriented culture, and is committed to continuous improvement, not just in its factories and its processes, but in its people.

Our Ashland City, TN facility employs over 1,300 people as our North American Water Heating Headquarters as well as the largest water heater manufacturing site in North America, producing over 7000 residential water heaters a day or over 2.3 million water heaters each year.   We are looking for a Continuous Improvement Engineer that will be responsible for continuously improving and assuring quality in our products and manufacturing processes along with developing procedures, tests, and tools to measure, identify, and correct quality issues and line optimization.

Primary Function

The incumbent follows established engineering principles to determine the sequence of steps or processes required to fabricate and assemble products that meet the organization's standards of quality and cost.  This person also analyzes product specifications, parts drawings, and other engineering data to develop new production processes, estimate time requirements for each step, and prepares operation sheets.

Scope of Responsibilities

• Analyze and develop plans for improved work-flow, space and labor utilization, and design equipment layout and work spaces for maximum efficiency.
• Evaluate plant operations and procedures to improve productivity, improve throughput, reduce non-value added activities, improve operation efficiencies and promote a more safe and ergonomic working environment.
• Manage and Develop Current and Future State Value Stream Maps (V.S.M.’s)
• Evaluates, designs and implements new layouts: including storage rack, conveyor, automation and other material handling solutions for plant facilities
• Identify, lead and execute projects that target improvements to key plant metrics: safety, quality, on-time delivery and efficiency. 
• Analyzes ambiguous problems utilizing demonstrated proficiency of lean tools such as VSM, Standard work, Six Sigma, 5S, Process Observations (time-study); Process Flow charts; Standard Work; Spaghetti Diagrams and other lean tools. Breaks down complex information in a systematic and communicable manner.  Leads Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping, and other Lean events
• Proficient in statistical analysis processes and understands how and when to apply them based on the situation and specific needs.

Responsibilities

• The ideal candidate will have experience within an organization that has undergone or is currently undergoing a “lean” transformation.  Understanding of when and how to utilize basic “lean” tools (A3s, Daily/Visual Management, etc.), in addition to experience with the processes to surface and solve problems, is preferred.  A growth mindset and someone who values learning while developing others is needed to flourish in this role.
• Work cross functionally to investigate and define root causes to issues as they arise.
• Works with enterprise business units at the operational and corporate level to drive process improvements, identifying compliance to customer service standards and strategies for consistent, repeatable, and flawless execution.
• Responsible to evaluate and provide recommendations to production issues discovered on the shop floor. This includes data collecting, research, facilitating and collaborating with other team members.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Industrial Engineering from a 4 year college or university
• 3-5 years of experience in process improvement, quality and analysis in a manufacturing environment
• Experience in utilizing Six Sigma and Lean methodologies to drive process improvements.  Green Belt certification preferred
• Proficient with Microsoft Office, Auto CAD
• Prior experience with SAP helpful