Job Description

Job Description:

The West Point, PA site is our Company's largest vaccine manufacturing facility that manufactures bulk and final dosage forms for our vaccine products and is growing to meet future demand. Our company's production system, MPS, is an integrated production system for how we design, manage, and continuously improve our operations and supporting business processes, enabled through the development of our people. The West Point Site MPS Team is responsible for driving MPS throughout the organization to enable change in the operating systems, management systems, and mindsets, behaviors, and capabilities of our people to manufacture product of the highest quality, for the lowest cost, and in the shortest lead time.

Under the direction of the West Point Site MPS Lead, the successful candidate will work with all levels of site leadership through teaching, 1:1 and team coaching and direct on-the-floor support/on the job development.

West Point MPS Associate Director, Business Consulting Description of Responsibilities:

• Effectively coach and partner with functional leaders, plant manager and the site leadership team to develop strategic plans and execute performance improvement activities. Have and provide to others a clear understanding of the Hoshin process:

  • Influence and link improvement objectives to the highest division priorities that align with our Company's long-term strategy

  • Provide guidance to frame appropriate business challenges, identifying key business opportunities using data and industry knowledge and trends

• Designs and facilitates weekly MPS Team Working meeting, which ensures calibration in the approach to consulting (development of coaching standards)

• Ability to facilitate development and translation of the site MPS Strategy, Processes and Innovative thinking into formats that allow the West Point MPS Team, leaders and stakeholders to clearly understand and leverage these in their business. This takes the form of media that promotes the learning, sharing and execution of these items throughout our business.

• Support Better Days Work (BDW) Initiative (Standardized Work) by leading the team through Tier, Strategy, Coaching and Development. Be an advocate by attending all BDW meetings and Tiers and provide updates to the WP MPS Director on a continuous basis.

• Drive competency of the West Point MPS Team members by owning the trending, tracking and coaching surrounding their advancement.

• Act as a thinking partner for the Director of Operational Excellence/MPS at the West Point site. This role may have direct reports and will play a key role in ensuring that critical tasks and expectations of the West Point MPS strategy are executed upon in a timely fashion by working directly with their partners and peers in the E2E's, IPT's and within the West Point MPS team.

• Able to engage sponsors and clients and manage E2E-level initiatives to drive results and realize intended business benefit, when necessary, to support gaps in execution within the E2E's/IPT's/Departments. This will include:

• Mentoring leaders on effective communication and active listening techniques to fully understand client/customer needs and expectations

• Managing teams to mitigate risk, allocate resources, and drive on-time completion of initiatives

• Providing teaching and coaching to effectively transfer Lean skills into the organization for the development of Lean Leaders and fellow MPS team members who promote a culture of continuous improvement and challenge the status quo.

• Utilizing various Lean standards in conjunction with our standardized deployment roadmap to diagnose, analyze and improve business processes:

  • Strong competency in understanding and implementation of a Closed Loop Management System (Visual Management, Leader Standardized Work, Problem Solving and MPS/TPS Standards)

  • Grasp the current situation through skillful application of value stream mapping, capacity analysis, and people capability analysis

  • Define a future state and create a strategy to achieve it

  • Develop Lean management systems, including visual management, to make problems visible

  • Respond with urgency to effectively break down complex problems, lead root cause analysis, and develop effective countermeasures

  • Lead and coach kaizens with a team to achieve multiple target conditions that enable progress towards an overall challenge

  • Design balanced work, with smooth flow leading to improved lead time, inventory, quality, and more value-added work for the operator/technician

  • Lead, develop and coach the implementation of level loaded standardized work across the site. Successful candidate should understand the use of supporting tools, such as, Production Capacity sheets, Standardized Work Charts and Combination Tables.

Required Experience and Skills:

• Bachelor's Degree in related field with 5+ years of Lean application experience or 10+ years of Lean application experience with evidence of progression in understanding and successful application of TPS:

  • Experience analyzing complex end-to-end supply chains and driving process improvement for a complete system in an integrated approach

  • Hands-on application of Lean tools: Hoshin Kanri, A3 development, management system development, scientific problem solving, leader standardized work, standardized work, process mapping, value stream mapping, capacity analysis, mistake proofing, SMED, and 5S/visual management

• Leadership experience

• Proven experience in applying consultative skills (coaching, teaching) to drive a High Performance Organization to think, behave and apply lean methods and tools.

  • Ability to interact with and coach all levels of the business (senior leaders to shop floor working teams)

  • Experience with facilitating and leading teams

  • Experience in teaching lean tools, methods, and concepts

  • Ability to leverage diverse perspectives and talents to achieve business outcomes.

  • Ability to influence decision making

  • Project management skills (demonstrated experience in managing large teams)

  • Solid business acumen

  • Proven team building skills

  • Excellent listening skills

  • Results-oriented

• Proficiency in using IT applications to organize, analyze, & present information (e.g. MS-Excel, PowerPoint, Minitab, MS-Teams, Power BI)

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Experience in operations management, manufacturing, or related disciplines

• Experience in a Vaccines or Sterile pharmaceutical environment

• Employee management & development experience

As a company, we are committed to "Inventing for Life" in all that we do. We keep the patient at the very heart of all that we do and strive to find solutions and treatments for some of the world's most challenging healthcare needs.

We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing diverse, talented, and committed people together. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when diverse ideas come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another's thinking and approach problems collectively. We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace.

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing diverse, talented, and committed people together. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when diverse ideas come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another's thinking and approach problems collectively.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

U.S. Hybrid Work Model

Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, Monday - Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence.This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as "remote".

San Francisco Residents Only:We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only:We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

Employee Status:

Relocation:

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFOREthe listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.

Requisition ID:R333295