Manager, Manufacturing Excellence

JOB SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Chief Operations Officer (COO), Robinson Helicopter Company (RHC) is seeking an experienced Manager, Manufacturing Excellence to lead a newly created hybrid function responsible for codifying manufacturing processes, improving operational efficiency, and driving lean transformation across aircraft production, subassembly, and support operations.

This role is designed for a highly capable aerospace manufacturing leader with a strong bias toward Manufacturing Engineering and Lean Manufacturing. The Manager, Manufacturing Excellence will lead the development and control of production documentation including operation sheets, work instructions, work order travelers, setup sheets, standard work, routing structures, and manufacturing process baselines used to build aircraft and major subassemblies.

The ideal candidate understands that strong manufacturing engineering discipline creates the foundation for industrial engineering and continuous improvement. Once processes are properly defined, documented, and controlled, Industrial Engineering can measure and improve labor efficiency, flow, capacity, takt, and throughput; Continuous Improvement can then drive the operation toward lean manufacturing states.

This position requires a hands-on aerospace leader capable of working across aircraft assembly, gearbox assembly, engine installation, hydraulic systems, avionics, electrical systems, mechanical systems, machining, fabrication, and final assembly operations. The successful candidate must be equally comfortable on the shop floor, in front of engineering drawings, leading cross-functional improvement teams, and developing the systems that make production repeatable, measurable, scalable, and efficient.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead the integrated Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Continuous Improvement function supporting aircraft production, subassembly, overhaul, and related manufacturing operations
• Establish and manage the manufacturing process documentation system, including operation sheets, work instructions, work order travelers, setup sheets, inspection points, routing steps, standard work, and process control documentation
• Develop clear, repeatable, and controlled manufacturing processes for aircraft assembly, major subassemblies, gearboxes, engines, hydraulic systems, avionics, electrical systems, mechanical assemblies, and related production areas
• Ensure manufacturing documentation accurately reflects engineering requirements, production sequence, tooling, materials, inspection requirements, labor standards, safety requirements, and quality expectations
• Build the process baseline required for Industrial Engineering to measure, analyze, and improve productivity, labor efficiency, capacity, flow, takt time, cycle time, and throughput
• Lead the development of standard work and process discipline across production areas to improve repeatability, quality, training effectiveness, and operational control
• Partner with Production, Quality, Engineering, Planning, Supply Chain, and Maintenance to resolve process issues, remove constraints, improve manufacturability, and support production schedules
• Drive Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement initiatives focused on waste reduction, flow improvement, first-pass yield, lead time reduction, labor efficiency, standardization, and visual factory management
• Identify and eliminate non-value-added activity, process variation, bottlenecks, rework loops, layout inefficiencies, and material flow constraints
• Lead value stream mapping, line balancing, time studies, capacity analysis, workplace organization, 5S, kaizen events, root cause analysis, and process improvement projects
• Support development of manufacturing routings, labor standards, work center planning, production readiness reviews, and ERP/MRP process data accuracy
• Support production manufacturing tool designs
• Ensure operation sheets and work instructions become the controlled baseline for training, execution, quality verification, labor planning, and continuous improvement
• Establish performance metrics for Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Continuous Improvement, including process documentation completion, labor efficiency, cycle time improvement, first-pass yield, cost reduction, and schedule support
• Mentor and develop Manufacturing Engineers, Industrial Engineers, Lean practitioners, and production support personnel to build a disciplined, technically capable, improvement-oriented organization
• Maintain a strong shop floor presence and actively engage with production teams to understand real operating conditions, validate processes, and ensure documentation reflects how work should be performed
• Promote a culture of accountability, standard work, continuous improvement, operational discipline, and aerospace-quality execution