Position Summary:

This role’s primary focus is to manage and facilitate the development, deployment, and sustainment of the EAC Program (Eliminate, Automate, Centralize) and Penske Logistics Quality System (PQS), working closely with Enabling Group and Product Line Operations Leadership. The positive impacts that this creates includes:

Giving back time for our front-line, mid-level and administrative workforce operating in the Field to increase work-life balance and reinvest into value-added activities.

Increasing both bottom-up (tactical) and top down (strategic) continuous improvement and innovation.

Increasing process consistency and customer service quality through use of a Lean Quality Management System, to achieve and sustain results to targets.

Communicating and standardizing best practices related to Quality and Lean tools across Penske Operational Locations and Customers.

Developing Associates, at all organization levels, in Lean and Continuous Improvement through training and coaching.

Increasing Penske’s value proposition and competitive advantage for current customers and sales prospects.

Continuously Improving on Penske and Customer KPIs such as Cost, Productivity, Quality, Delivery, Safety, Compliance and Associate Engagement.

Major Responsibilities:

Strategic Value Stream Mapping (VSM)

• Leading internal and customer facing Strategic Value Stream Mapping (VSM) initiatives. This includes operational process observations, Penske Associate, Leadership, Customer interviews (VOC) and gathering and completing KPI and data analysis.
• It involves leading and facilitating a one day or multi day VSM workshop with executive and technical stakeholders (both customer and internal) to understand the current state of the service processes and data analysis and then identify and prioritize continuous improvement and innovation opportunities.
• Finally, it requires developing and project managing a one to two year-long Continuous Improvement Roadmap (Action Plan) which strategically transforms the customer and Penske service processes to a desired state, leading to a new higher level of performance and innovation.

Kaizen+ Program

• Providing a “Train the Trainer” Kaizen course to Supervisors and supporting them in training their individual contributor Associates (drivers, warehouse, load planners, administrative, etc).
• Supporting Locations in setting up the Kaizen+ Program including forming a Kaizen Committee, creating a Communication Board and utilizing the Kaizen Idea tracking Information System for documentation, approval, status tracking and reporting. Managing and coaching the Locations on an ongoing basis to sustain and increase Kaizen performance.

Lean Site Certification:

• Provide a 1 day Lean Training Course to Operations Supervisors, Managers and technical staff on foundational Lean Process Consistency and Process Improvement. Complete a Lean Site Audit and document current state in comparison to best practice standards on a Scorecard.
• Work with the Operations teams to develop and deploy a Continuous Improvement Roadmap to implement the Lean and Quality tools and practices necessary to achieve a Penske Lean Site Certification, indicating a very high degree of performance to the best practice standards.

Lean Challenge

• Provide a 1 day Lean training to leadership nominated high performing Supervisors, on intermediate to advanced Kaizen / Continuous Improvement tools. Coach and mentor Supervisors through the selection, planning, completion and presentation of a Kaizen Project. Facilitate the Project Presentations and Awards event with Operations leadership.

Continuous Improvement Projects:

• Leverage the PQS Lean and Quality toolbox and methods to lead, project manage, facilitate, and support Continuous Improvement projects. Through the EAC Program many of these projects involve Automating and Centralizing business processes.

Lean and Quality Tools, Methods & Training Course Development

• In collaboration with the Director, Quality Systems develop new innovative content for the PQS methods, tools and training courses.

Qualifications:• High School Diploma or equivalent required • Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Logistics, or Supply Chain preferred• 10+ years of relevant experience in lieu of a degree• Lean Certification strongly preferred. Required within 2 years of being in the position• 7+ years of experience in a Lean and Quality focused enabling group, supporting operations to deploy Lean and/or in an Operations Management role, working within an operation that strongly leveraged lean management techniques.

• Advanced lean knowledge skills required• Advanced problem solving and process improvement tools and methods required• Advanced Excel skills and the ability to perform necessary functions to scrub, analyze, visualize, and summarize large sets of data required• Intermediate use of Powerpoint and Word strongly preferred• Intermediate Product Line Experience in the Product Line Operations Team the role is supporting based on Allocation (Distribution Center Management, Dedicated Contract Carriage or Freight Management) strongly preferred• Experience facilitating large group workshops, including Executive level customer and Penske stakeholders.
• Ability to navigate the group through to achieving high quality solutions by steering the discussion, asking the correct strategic and technical questions of the group, guiding and negotiating divergent points of view to agreement or compromise and managing the time to complete complex discussions with significant business impact in a narrow timeframe.
• Must be highly skilled at developing, mentoring and coaching others.
• Strong Prioritization & Multi-tasking Skills required• Quality Audits to assess Operating Locations to defined Performance Standards in Scorecard
• Intermediate / Strongly Preferred• Software
• Microsoft Access, Smartsheet, Business Intelligence, Mini Tab and Databases
• Introductory / Preferred • Regular, predictable, full attendance is an essential function of the job• Willingness to travel as necessary, work the required schedule, work at the specific location required, complete Penske employment application, submit to a background investigation (to include past employment, education, and criminal history) and drug screening are required.
  Physical Requirements:• The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• The associate will be required to: read; communicate verbally and/or in written form; remember and analyze certain information; and remember and understand certain instructions or guidelines.
• While performing the duties of this job, the associate may be required to stand, walk, and sit. The associate is frequently required to use hands to touch, handle, and feel, and to reach with hands and arms. The associate must be able to occasionally lift and/or move up to 25lbs/12kg.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.
  Penske is an Equal Opportunity Employer.