Associate Director, Business Consulting

Job Description

Our Manufacturing Operations teams are the people that make our products. We work in the manufacturing plants with a “Safety First, Quality Always” mindset striving for continuous improvement. We work in the local plant connected to our global manufacturing network to ensure the highest quality of raw materials, intermediates and finished products.

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 managers and their leadership teams to develop strategic plans and execute performance improvement activities:

  • 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

• Able to engage sponsors and clients and manage site-level projects to drive results and realize intended business benefit:

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

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

• Provide 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.

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

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

  • Define a future state and create a master plan 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 to takt time, with smooth flow leading to improved lead time, inventory, quality, and more value-added work for the operator/technician

  • Lead kaizens to improve standardized work

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in related field

Required Experience and Skills:

• 5+ years of Lean application experience, a deep 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

• 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

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

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or Green Belt

• Experience in operations management, manufacturing, or related disciplines

• Experience in a Vaccines or Sterile pharmaceutical environment

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.

Our Manufacturing & Supply Division is committed to be the most trusted supplier of bio-pharmaceuticals worldwide. Our facilities, along with our external contractors, suppliers, and partners, create an interdependent global manufacturing network that’s committed to delivering a high quality, reliable supply to customers and patients on time, every time.

Who we are …

We are known as Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA in the United States and Canada and MSD everywhere else. For more than a century, we have been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. Today, our company continues to be at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions and advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and animals around the world.

What we look for …

Imagine getting up in the morning for a job as important as helping to save and improve lives around the world. Here, you have that opportunity. You can put your empathy, creativity, digital mastery, or scientific genius to work in collaboration with a diverse group of colleagues who pursue and bring hope to countless people who are battling some of the most challenging diseases of our time. Our team is constantly evolving, so if you are among the intellectually curious, join us—and start making your impact today.

NOTICE FOR INTERNAL APPLICANTS

In accordance with Managers' Policy - Job Posting and Employee Placement, all employees subject to this policy are required to have a minimum of twelve (12) months of service in current position prior to applying for open positions.

If you have been offered a separation benefits package, but have not yet reached your separation date and are offered a position within the salary and geographical parameters as set forth in the Summary Plan Description (SPD) of your separation package, then you are no longer eligible for your separation benefits package. To discuss in more detail, please contact your HRBP or Talent Acquisition Advisor.

Employees working in roles that the Company determines require routine collaboration with external stakeholders, such as customer-facing commercial, or research-based roles, will be expected to comply not only with Company policy but also with policies established by such external stakeholders (for example, a requirement to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to access a facility or meet with stakeholders). Please understand that, as permitted by applicable law, if you have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and an essential function of your job is to call on external stakeholders who require vaccination to enter their premises or engage in face-to-face meetings, then your employment may pose an undue burden to business operations, in which case you may not be offered employment, or your employment could be terminated. Please also note that, where permitted by applicable law, the Company reserves the right to require COVID-19 vaccinations for positions, such as in Global Employee Health, where the Company determines in its discretion that the nature of the role presents an increased risk of disease transmission.

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

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.

For more information about personal rights under Equal Employment Opportunity, visit:

EEOC Know Your Rights

EEOC GINA Supplement​

Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination

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.

Residents of Colorado:

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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):

Requisition ID:R229996