Manufacturing Excellence Lead

Manufacturing Excellence Lead Job Characteristics: This role will focus on leading program deployment, adoption, governance, and scale-up of a global Manufacturing Excellence Platform and Digital Manufacturing Cell. The role will enable best-in-class manufacturing operations through Digital & AI, manufacturing KPI control tower capabilities, paperless shop-floor execution, and scalable loss-elimination solutions. The Program Deployment Lead will partner with Manufacturing, TPM, HPN, Digital, AI, Engineering, Quality, Safety, Finance, and site leadership teams to convert the manufacturing digital vision into coordinated pilots, deployment waves, sustainment routines, and measurable business outcomes across Ecolab plants globally. Education / Work Experience: Degree in Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Operations, Business, Data Analytics, Information Systems, or related field of study. 8+ years of relevant experience in manufacturing, supply chain, operational excellence, digital transformation, analytics, or technology-enabled process improvement. Independence Level / Reports to: Requires limited supervisory support from leader. Interfaces directly with global and regional manufacturing leaders, plant manager, Digital & AI teams, TPM / HPN partners, Finance, Quality, Safety, Engineering, technology development resources, and deployment teams. Normally reports to Manufacturing Excellence / Digital Manufacturing program leadership or Planning / Operations leadership, depending on final organization design. Our Global Supply Chain is a network of more than 100 manufacturing plants, distribution centers and other facilities designed and located to support our direct sales, marketing and distribution activities. We enable company growth by delivering savings through more efficient operations and high levels of service that create competitive advantage while earning and keeping customers' trust. We are seeking a Program Deployment Lead – Manufacturing Excellence Platform / Digital Manufacturing Cell to lead the deployment of the Manufacturing Cell program from pilot through global scale-up. The role will coordinate implementation of the manufacturing KPI control tower, paperless factory workstream, EKODE and related digital tools, and AI-enabled loss-elimination applications. The Program Deployment Lead will manage stakeholder alignment, deployment wave planning, site readiness, training, adoption, risks, and benefits tracking to ensure the program delivers measurable improvements in productivity, compliance, data quality, and manufacturing loss reduction. What’s in it For You: Opportunity to lead deployment of a global manufacturing digital transformation agenda across Ecolab plants. Exposure to manufacturing excellence, Digital & AI, TPM / HPN, operations, engineering, quality, safety, finance, and site leadership stakeholders. Ability to scale solutions that reduce manual work, improve shop-floor productivity, strengthen compliance, and accelerate loss elimination. What You Will Do: Lead end-to-end deployment of the Manufacturing Excellence Platform across pilot sites, scale-up waves, and sustainment phases. Coordinate implementation of the manufacturing KPI control tower, including replacement of legacy KPI tools, single-point KPI entry, standard KPI definitions, and integrated data flows. Develop and manage deployment plans covering site readiness, stakeholder engagement, training, change management, cutover, issue resolution, and adoption tracking. Partner with plant managers and manufacturing teams to validate current pain points, Wave-1 KPI priorities, data requirements, paperless opportunities, and practical deployment constraints. Drive paperless factory deployment by assessing site activities, mapping manual touchpoints, identifying quick wins, and converting paper-based processes into digital, touchless, and audit-ready workflows. Support digital maturity assessments across sites using common process mapping, maturity scoring, prioritization matrices, effort-benefit analysis, and deployment sequencing. Coordinate deployment of automation and digital solutions including EKODE, eQMS, ERP, Power Automate, Copilot Agent, OCR-based tools, barcode / QR code scanning, machine vision, and AI-enabled loss-elimination use cases. Work with technology development resources, data engineers, developers, AI teams, and business stakeholders to translate program requirements into deployable solutions and practical rollout plans. Establish and maintain governance cadence, including weekly working sessions, monthly progress reviews, quarterly program reviews, stakeholder feedback forums, and steering committee updates. Track deployment milestones, adoption metrics, risks, issues, dependencies, resource needs, and decision points across all active workstreams. Partner with Finance and business teams to quantify and monetize KPI improvements, productivity gains, compliance risk reduction, and manufacturing loss-elimination benefits. Prepare leadership-ready status updates, deployment roadmaps, benefits trackers, risk / issue logs, action trackers, and decision materials for program reviews. Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Operations, Business, Data Analytics, Information Systems, or related field of study. 8+ years of applicable experience in manufacturing, supply chain, operational excellence, digital transformation, project / program management, analytics, or technology-enabled process improvement in a manufacturing environment with global or multi-site operations. Demonstrated experience leading deployments, pilots, scale-up waves, change management, training, adoption, and sustainment of business or digital solutions. Advanced proficiency with ERP, reporting, workflow, collaboration, and productivity tools such as Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI, Power Automate, Planner, and related enterprise systems. Proven ability to conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis, synthesize inputs from multiple stakeholders, and make practical recommendations to Manufacturing and Supply Chain leadership. Excellent communication, stakeholder management, teamwork, leadership, facilitation, and presentation skills. Preferred Qualifications ​ Strong program management skills with a track record of delivering complex cross-functional initiatives against schedule, quality, adoption, and business impact expectations. Experience with manufacturing excellence, TPM, HPN, Lean, Six Sigma, loss elimination, OEE / OPE / OLE, productivity, material loss, first-pass quality, or related manufacturing KPIs. Experience deploying digital manufacturing tools, paperless workflows, automation, data visualization, AI use cases, or manufacturing control tower solutions. Familiarity with EKODE, eQMS, ERP, EBS, EPM, Power BI, workflow automation, OCR, barcode / QR code scanning, or machine vision technologies. PMP, Lean Six Sigma, APICS, or similar certification preferred. Advanced Degree preferred. Experience Level Senior Level