Vice President, Operational Excellence

Vice President, Operational Excellence

Power your Thirst for More at DrinkPAK, where we revolutionize beverage manufacturing, driven by automation and sustainability. Together, through grit and innovation, we break new ground in record time by acquiring the most advanced technology and attracting the brightest talent. Our explosive growth and journey through uncharted territories offers unique career opportunities enabling passionate individuals to reach their full potential. To support our teams, we offer enriching lifestyle accounts, comprehensive benefits, formal development programs, and an energizing environment. Drive your success at DrinkPAK, where we refresh, hydrate and nourish the world and our employees alike.

The Vice President, Operational Excellence is responsible for building and sustaining a world-class operating system across all DrinkPAK manufacturing facilities. This leader will champion Total Productive Manufacturing (TPM) principles, standardize best practices, improve process health, and create scalable systems that drive safety, quality, service, cost, and employee engagement.

Rather than owning day-to-day plant operations, this role serves as the organization's operational excellence leader—partnering closely with Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, Supply Chain, Quality, and Continuous Improvement teams to ensure operational systems are designed, implemented, and continuously improved.

This role will also serve as a strategic leadership developer, mentoring high-potential leaders across the organization and helping build the next generation of operational leaders.

Location: The position is based on-site at DrinkPAK's facility in Fort Worth, Texas.

Employment Type: Full-Time, Exempt

Benefits

• 100% company-paid PPO medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their dependents.
• Cell phone stipend.
• Annual discretionary bonus.
• 401(k) match program, pet insurance, life insurance, and more.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Operational Excellence

• Develop and lead DrinkPAK's Operational Excellence strategy across all manufacturing facilities.
• Build, implement, and continuously improve the company's operating system using TPM principles.
• Establish standardized management systems that create consistency while allowing flexibility for site-specific needs.
• Define and monitor enterprise operational health through leading and lagging performance indicators.
• Drive sustainable improvements in:
• Safety
• Quality
• Delivery
• Cost
• Productivity
• Asset Reliability
• Employee Engagement

TPM Leadership

Own the enterprise TPM roadmap including implementation, maturity progression, and long-term sustainability.

Lead the development and deployment of the TPM Pillars of:

• Autonomous Maintenance
• Planned Maintenance
• Focused Improvement (Kaizen)
• Early Equipment Management
• Quality Maintenance
• Learning and Development
• Safety, Health & Environment
• Office TPM

Ensure TPM becomes part of the company's culture rather than a collection of improvement projects. Note that for many of these pillars there are other functional leaders, this role is responsible for the health of these pillars as they intersect the operational teams

Process Development & Standardization

Design and maintain standardized operational processes across all facilities.

Responsibilities include:

• Standard work development
• Visual management systems
• Leader standard work
• Daily management systems
• Escalation processes
• Tier meeting structures
• Problem-solving methodologies
• Centerline management
• Startup and shutdown standards
• Change management processes
• Operational governance

Ensure best practices developed at one facility are evaluated, standardized, and rapidly deployed across the network.

Process Health & Governance

Establish systems to continuously evaluate the health of operational processes.

Develop audit systems to measure:

• Process compliance
• Standard work adherence
• TPM maturity
• Management system effectiveness
• Continuous improvement engagement
• Operational discipline

Lead regular operational reviews to identify gaps and ensure corrective actions are completed.

Operations & Engineering Integration

Serve as the primary operational liaison between Manufacturing Operations and Engineering.

Partner with Engineering to ensure:

• New equipment is designed for maintainability and operator ownership.
• Lessons learned are incorporated into future projects.
• Standard operating practices are integrated during commissioning.
• Equipment handoffs include operational readiness and sustainable support.
• Capital projects align with operational standards and TPM principles.

Support commissioning and startup activities by ensuring operational excellence principles are embedded from day one.

Continuous Improvement

Develop an enterprise culture of continuous improvement.

Lead initiatives focused on:

• Waste elimination
• OEE improvement
• Throughput optimization
• Labor productivity
• Asset utilization
• Changeover reduction
• Root cause problem solving
• Lean Manufacturing practices

Champion the use of structured improvement methodologies including:

• A3 Thinking
• PDCA
• DMAIC
• Root Cause Analysis
• Kaizen Events
• Value Stream Mapping

Leadership Development

Serve as a coach and mentor to operational leaders throughout the organization.

Develop leadership capability by:

• Coaching Plant Directors and Operations Leaders
• Mentoring high-potential employees
• Developing future plant leaders
• Building operational leadership curriculum
• Teaching TPM and Continuous Improvement principles
• Facilitating cross-site learning and collaboration

Help establish a culture where operational excellence is driven by leadership capability as much as technical systems.

Cross-Site Collaboration

Promote collaboration across all manufacturing sites.

Lead forums for:

• Best practice sharing
• Benchmarking
• Lessons learned
• Operational reviews
• Technical knowledge transfer
• Standardization initiatives

Ensure successes at one site become enterprise capabilities.

Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, or related field.
• Master's degree (MBA or Engineering) preferred.

Experience:

• At least 15+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience.
• At least 8+ years leading multi-site manufacturing organizations.
• Demonstrated success implementing TPM or World Class Manufacturing systems.
• Strong background in Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement.
• Experience supporting capital projects and equipment startups.
• Beverage, food, consumer packaged goods, or high-speed manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
• Skills: Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams, excellent communication skills, and a track record of implementing successful maintenance initiatives.
• Travel: Willingness and ability to travel regularly between DrinkPAK facilities to support policy implementation and continuous improvement efforts.
• Physical Requirements: Ability to work on-site in a manufacturing environment, including standing for extended periods and lifting up to 50 lbs.

OUR VALUES

Our company's culture is guided by our shared values of Speed, Intensity, and Purpose. These values are demonstrated in the following ways based on the role within the organization.

• Speed: Take the initiative to promptly identify and address potential issues or opportunities. Maintain a sense of urgency in your work, completing tasks efficiently.
• Intensity: Remain resilient in the face of challenges and setbacks by possessing a positive attitude