Manufacturing Excellence Specialist

About the Role The Manufacturing Excellence Specialist drives the plant’s continuous improvement strategy by deploying Lean principles, facilitating Hoshin Kanri, and leading performance‑enhancing initiatives across all functions. The role partners with Plant Management and shop‑floor teams to deliver sustainable operational excellence through structured problem solving, data‑driven decision making, and capability building. What You'll Do

• Responsible for BME (Ball Manufacturing Excellence) self‑assessment and improvement plan execution, embedding standards in Operations' way of working as per BOE (Ball Operational Excellence) program
• Facilitate policy deployment process (Hoshin Kanri) to identify plant vision, mission, goals, objectives, and strategic initiatives for the next three years period together with Plant Management Team
• Develop project management & cost optimization governance in the plant, train and support project leaders to progress the projects by considering minimum project requirements
• Plan, facilitate, and execute continuous improvement activities by using Lean tools and techniques (VSM, 5S, SMED, PDCA, TPM, Problem Solving Techniques, ...) to sustain performance
• Lead problem solving projects by training, coaching and facilitating teams to perform effective root cause analysis method
• Examine data sets from Manufacturing Execution & Quality Systems in order to find trends and draw conclusions about the information they contain by using statistical tools
• Manage plant better practices program, liaise with company continuous improvement network for both benchmarking internal and external best practices and roll out in the plant
• Prepare plant lean training program for cross‑functional team members, train plant teams on Lean principles and tools, follow‑up training program together with Regional CI Manager What We're Looking For
• University degree in Science, Engineering, or Business
• Minimum 3 years of relevant experience in a manufacturing environment with mature Lean practices (automotive, FMCG, etc.)
• Solid knowledge of Lean principles with hands‑on experience leading Lean improvement projects
• Good understanding of statistical process control (SPC) and data analysis; Six Sigma Green or Black Belt is an advantage
• Pragmatic and shop floor–oriented mindset
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines
• Proactive and solution‑oriented, with a drive to challenge current practices and improve performance
• Influential change agent, able to build trust and align cross‑functional teams
• Excellent English and Czech language skills Nice to Have
• Six Sigma Green or Black Belt certification (advantage) Compensation & Benefits
• Hiring Range: 675 000–970 000 CZK gross per year. The final salary will be determined based on the candidate’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity and market benchmarks. Depending on these factors, the actual offer may fall above or below the posted range.
• Incentive Plan: This position is eligible to participate in Ball’s annual incentive compensation program.
• Comprehensive Benefits Package: Subsidized on-site catering, meal allowance, cafeteria points, employee assistance program, health package, transportation allowance, and pension plan. Certain benefits available following probation period.