Global Continuous Improvement Leader

Job Description:

Continuous Improvement Leader

Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World

Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a diversity of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers.

This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.

The Impact You’ll Make in this Role

As a Global Continuous Improvement Leader, you will have the opportunity to tap into your curiosity and collaborate with some of the most innovative and diverse people around the world. Here, you will make an impact by:

• Working with business groups, area operations, divisions, Plant Operations VPs, Plant Directors, global support centers (GSC)/enterprise customer operation (ECO) and finance leadership teams in understanding short and long-term strategic direction, operating plans and improvement objectives and ensuring alignment/development of Continuous Improvement (CI) methodologies/approaches, driving operational and financial improvement, supporting development of learning materials and methods, and building Case Studies and steering Deep Dives. To both improve performance (direct hands on leadership), but also to leverage-scale-spread lessons learned to accelerate velocity of improvement across the organization.
• Developing/coordinating site, multi-site improvements plans and division/Area/BG level strategies, and making sure that CI is integrated into the Area Plant Operations “Operating System”.
• Ensuring implementation/application of appropriate CI principles/standards for 3M CI program.
• Building upon existing Improvement processes, plant operating system, training, applying systems thinking and capabilities to ensure integration of all improvement methodologies into an effective CI approach. Leverage and deploy the Kaizen Workshop approach as the primary driver of Improvement and CI Skills building; including owning, leading and steering Shingijutsu Kaizen events, global Continuous Improvement Kaizen events, guiding local kaizen events, and ensuring effective Daily Management for Improvement in our operations, to ensure CI continues beyond the Kaizen workshop.
• Develop CI skills across all levels of the organization by creating and steering leaders along a specific learning journey for CI capabilities. Primarily through “experienced based” learning, structured reflection, habit building, and building learning back into leadership “standard work” that specifically drives Continuous Improvement. For example, ensuring leaders learn through experience how to see opportunity (Business Case and link between the performance KPIs and financials), learning how to shape an Improvement Approach, learning how to leverage standard work as a foundation for accelerated and sustained CI.

Responsible for:

• Leading breakthrough Global CI Kaizen Events (business, manufacturing, transactional, finance and supply chain) to drive (10-30%) improvements (ref Labor productivity (output/labor hr), Yield, manufacturing expense, Inventory, lead time, OEE) and ensuring improvements are operationalized and flow into income statement, ledger and balance sheet level improvements
• Building CI skills and capabilities across all levels of the organization primarily through experiential learning (learning by doing; engaging every level to be active in Kaizen)
• Documenting Best-in-3M improvements/performance into internal 3M Case Studies and Deep Dives
• Leveraging Best-in-3M case studies to accelerate improvement and learning across 3M
• Supporting 3M wide CI cohort strategy(ies) whose deliverables include effectiveness of cohorts, quality of engagement of participants and acceleration of knowledge transfer.
• Improving understanding/use/effectiveness of ERP systems for planning, procurement, materials management, order fulfillment, etc.
• Introducing 'Operating Mechanism' thinking/approach, to guide proper tier meetings (i.e. idea generation) as part of 3M Continuous Improvement process
• Ensuring appropriate use of CI improvement methods (projects, kaizen events, daily management, problem solving, etc to drive the desired business case improvement
• Building the brand of 3M Continuous Improvement through the quantity of high quality, high impact solutions implemented and documented (Case Studies and Deep Dives)
   

Establishing partnerships with leadership teams to accelerate performance improvement and improve organization wide improvement capabilities:

• Integrate Manufacturing Technology and Digital teams into the CI process
• Expand financial acumen of CI leaders at all levels, improving alignment of CI with financial metrics and supporting finance in their development/application of CI
• Partner with HR to leverage corporate initiatives improving the capabilities fundamental to Continuous Improvement (e.g. Growth Mindset, Science of Decision Making, Speed of Trust).

Understanding connection of (and driving improvement through connection of):

• Information flows with material flows, across office and production environments, (connected) facilities/operations and Operations vs Business vs Division to drive performance improvement.
• Operational improvements (e.g. service, speed, capacity, yield, machine productivity, labor productivity, safety, quality, OEE, etc) and financials (Revenue, Cost, Cash)
• Strategy, financial metrics, operational metrics, projects and daily management.
   

Leading from the front:

• Uses real examples, case studies and experience to guide Region/division/area leaders, Plant Operations VPs, Plant Directors, Plant Leadership Teams and improvement teams.
• Provides top executives/operating committees with timely information and recommendations.
• Engages leaders and employees in the ownership/pursuit of continuous improvement as a core responsibility of all 3Mers
• Develops CI Skills across all levels of the organization. Encourages internal and external self-reflection, comparisons and understanding of beyond Best-in-3M capabilities (and what good looks like), operational and enterprise excellence

Your Skills and Expertise 

To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M requires the following (minimum) qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher (completed and verified prior to start) from an accredited institution
• Twenty (20) years of experience in manufacturing and/or operations management in a private, public, government or military environment
• Ten (10) years of hands on experience using Toyota Production System (TPS) (e.g. Lean, Kaizen and Lean Six Sigma methodologies) in a private, public, government or military environment

Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include:

• Experience working with executives/leaders and personally leading organizations, deployments and improvement at the regional, division and/or area level.
• Experience building, planning and executing improvement strategies at Business, Division and/or Area levels.
• International experience is required (multi continent experience is highly desired)
• Experience with a wide array of improvement methodologies (Projects, Kaizen events, daily management, systems thinking) and use of improvement methodologies/approach to drive both operational and financial objectives
• Understanding of and experience improving 3M core manufacturing technologies (e.g. continuous flow, chemicals, coaters, makers, converting technology)
• Experience and skills in accelerating the development leaders/leadership thinking and CI capability at all levels (supervisors, managers, senior leaders) across multiple disciplines (technology, business, operations, functions, finance, etc)
• Led a manufacturing operation and/or business (i.e. responsible for income statement, ledger and balance sheet improvement).Master's degree in Science or Engineering
• Experience implementing and deploying office and factory solutions in multiple cultures (e.g. China, Europe, Latin America and North America)
• Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and/or Black Belt certification
• Ability to influence behavior of both office and factory employees
• Ability to communicate from front line employee to senior executives
• Natural learner, curious, analytical, and being able to engage teams from varying functions and levels of the organization

Work location: Remote (USAC)

Travel: May include up to 50% domestic/international

Relocation Assistance: Not authorized

Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status).

Supporting Your Well-being

3M offers many programs to help you live your best life – both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope.

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Applicable to US Applicants Only:The expected compensation range for this position is $228,040 - $278,715, which includes base pay plus variable incentive pay, if eligible. This range represents a good faith estimate for this position. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant knowledge, training, skills, work location, and/or experience. In addition, this position may be eligible for a range of benefits (e.g., Medical, Dental & Vision, Health Savings Accounts, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, Disability Benefits, Life Insurance, Voluntary Benefits, Paid Absences and Retirement Benefits, etc.). Additional information is available at: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/.Good Faith Posting Date Range 03/30/2026 To 04/29/2026 Or until filledAll US-based 3M full time employees will need to sign an employee agreement as a condition of employment with 3M. This agreement lays out key terms on using 3M Confidential Information and Trade Secrets. It also has provisions discussing conflicts of interest and how inventions are assigned. Employees that are Job Grade 7 or equivalent and above may also have obligations to not compete against 3M or solicit its employees or customers, both during their employment, and for a period after they leave 3M.Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @3M.Responsibilities of this position include that corporate policies, procedures and security standards are complied with while performing assigned duties.Safety is a core value at 3M. All employees are expected to contribute to a strong Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) culture by following safety policies, identifying hazards, and engaging in continuous improvement.Pay & Benefits Overview: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/3M does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Please note: your application may not be considered if you do not provide your education and work history, either by: 1) uploading a resume, or 2) entering the information into the application fields directly.

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