Plant Manager (m/f/d)

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Our operations organization is responsible for safely and reliably delivering high-quality products that meet customer needs while driving profitable growth. We believe that Operational Excellence and lean manufacturing create an environment where people can thrive, solve problems, eliminate waste, improve every day, and unlock their full potential. We invest in developing leaders who create engaged teams, build capability, and deliver sustainable business results.

DuPont Water Solutions is seeking an exceptional leader to head our ultrafiltration manufacturing facility in Greifenberg, Germany. This individual will lead the facility of approximately 120 DuPont employees supplemented by 15-20 contractors to safely and efficiently produce industry-leading ultrafiltration products, including fiber production, module assembly, quality control, rack assembly and packaging / distribution. This role partners closely with functional support at the site and in the business, including EH&S, R&D, supply chain, procurement, product management and commercial to grow the business and delight our customers by driving excellence in safety, quality, delivery, inventory and productivity performance (SQDIP).

Position Summary

The Plant Manager is an experienced manufacturing leader accountable for delivering safe, reliable, customer-focused, and cost-effective plant performance while building a culture that grows and improves every day. This leader aligns plant priorities with business strategy and customer requirements, establishes disciplined operating systems, develops strong teams and leaders, and drives continuous improvement through lean manufacturing principles.

Key Responsibilities

Lead Safe, Reliable, Customer-Focused Operations

• Establish clear expectations for Safety, Quality, Delivery, Inventory, and Productivity (SQDIP) through use of daily visual management in tier’d meeting structures across the facility.

• Champions real-time problem solving through all levels of the organization.

• Ensure operational risks are identified, understood, and managed through strong operating discipline.

• Build an organization that consistently delivers reliable supply and superior customer outcomes.

• Create accountability for achieving business commitments while maintaining high standards of safety and quality.

Drive Lean Manufacturing and Operational Excellence

• Lead deployment and sustainment of lean manufacturing principles throughout the site.

• Establish Daily Management systems including visual performance boards, tiered accountability meetings, leader standard work, operator standard work, and action tracking.

• Leads and coaches on systematic, deep problem solving to drive continuous improvement using A3 problem solving methodology to implement effective countermeasures to address root causes and drive improvement in key performance indicators (KPIs).

• Drive waste elimination, variation reduction, improved flow, higher productivity, and better customer responsiveness, including high on-time / in-full (OTIF) performance.

• Champion continuous improvement efforts including Kaizen activities, value stream improvement, 5S, and operating rhythm disciplines.

Lead From the Gemba

• Spend significant time where work is performed to understand performance challenges and opportunities. This is a highly visible, hands-on leadership role.

• Engage employees directly to understand barriers, surface problems, and improve processes.

• Coach leaders to identify abnormalities early, solve problems at the source, and sustain performance improvements.

• Reinforce standard work, operating discipline, and accountability through visible leadership.

Build a Growth Mindset Culture

• Foster an environment where employees challenge the status quo and seek better ways of working.

• Encourage experimentation, learning, innovation, and continuous development.

• Treat problems as opportunities to improve systems, processes, and capabilities.

• Recognize and reward learning, teamwork, improvement efforts, and business results.

• Build resilience and adaptability to succeed in a dynamic manufacturing environment.

Develop Leaders and Talent

• Hire, retain, coach, and develop a diverse pipeline of manufacturing and adjacent discipline professionals.

• Strengthen leadership capability through coaching, feedback, development planning, and succession management.

• Create an inclusive environment where employees feel respected, engaged, and empowered to contribute.

• Hold leaders accountable for both business performance and leadership behaviors.

• Build organizational capability in lean manufacturing, problem solving, and customer-focused decision making.

Connect Operations to Customers and Business Growth

• Partner closely with Business, Commercial, Supply Chain, Technology, Engineering, Quality, Finance, EHS, HR, and Operational Excellence leaders.

• Understand customer requirements and market needs and translate them into operational priorities.

• Align plant resources and improvement efforts to support growth, reliability, service, margin improvement, and value creation.

• Build strong relationships with customers and stakeholders while representing the site and company professionally.

Deliver Financial and Business Results

• Establish financial rigor and accountability to deliver business commitments.

• Optimize cost, productivity, working capital, asset utilization, waste reduction, and reliability performance.

• Make disciplined decisions that balance short-term execution with long-term value creation.

• Use performance metrics and data to prioritize opportunities and improve results.

Lead Change and Transformation

• Communicate business strategy and operational priorities with clarity.

• Lead organizational change with discipline, transparency, and employee engagement.

• Create alignment across functions and levels of the organization.

• Ensure new ways of working become embedded and sustained over time.

Critical Skills & Behaviors

• Visible lean leader and coach who develops capability through teaching and mentoring.

• Strong practitioner of Daily Visual Management, operator standard work, and leader standard work.

• Expert problem solver who applies data-driven decision making and root-cause analysis.

• Growth mindset leader who encourages learning, adaptability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

• Customer-focused business partner who connects plant performance to customer outcomes.

• Strong financial and operational acumen.

• Collaborative leader able to influence across functions and levels.

• Inclusive people leader who develops talent and builds engagement.

• Change leader who can drive transformation while sustaining performance.

• Role model for DuPont's Core Values

Qualifications

• Solid manufacturing leadership experience across Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Reliability, Technology, Quality, Finance, HR, EHS, or Continuous Improvement disciplines.

• Proven people leadership experience; experience leading leaders preferred.

• Demonstrated success leading plant performance improvement programs and continuous improvement initiatives.

• Proven experience applying Lean Manufacturing, Operational Excellence, Daily Management, and structured problem-solving methodologies.

• Experience working in labor union or works council environments preferred where applicable.

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Sciences, Supply Chain, Manufacturing or related discipline preferred

• Lean and/or Six Sigma certification preferred

• Must have a strong work safety mindset and a deep sense for sustainability

• Fluent in both German and English

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