The Position
Reporting to the CEO, the successful candidate will be charged with planning, directing, and controlling the company’s operations activities across five sites, including three facilities in Morton and Redwood Falls, MN; a site in Frankfort, IL; and another in Kansas City, KS. The VP will ensure a high performing organization that safely delivers low cost, high quality, consistent products. Operational excellence using contemporary lean manufacturing and global supply chain management concepts is a critical focus area of the position.
The VP of Operations & Supply Chain is a key position for the AltimateMedical team, responsible for leading a high standard manufacturing approach that optimizes employee safety, customer satisfaction, quality, efficiency, employee relations, and performance measures. This individual will work collaboratively with other functions to align operational capabilities with short- and long-term customer needs in a growing market.
The VP of Operations & Supply Chain is responsible for manufacturing, supply chain, facilities, and Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) with a continuous focus on improvement and efficiency. This position requires a strong, interactive leader who is fully competent in manufacturing systems and processes – from purchasing materials to forecasting, producing components and final assemblies, and meeting specific customer requirements. The role works closely with Engineering and Quality to drive manufacturing, facilities, and product improvements. The Operations team includes Operations Management at each location, Supply Chain Management, EHS, and Continuous Improvement functions. The Operations team contributes to the overall success of the business by ensuring operational efficiency, compliance with regulations, a safe working environment, and a commitment to continuous improvement.
Major elements of the VP of Operations & Supply Chain’s responsibilities are to:
- Lead operations strategy and planning. Provide specific leadership and expertise for manufacturing, supply chain, facilities, and logistics-related objectives, including capacity planning, scheduling, and on-time delivery.
- Provide strategic and tactical guidance to ensure world-class supply chain operations that support forecasted and targeted sales growth, reduce operating costs, and ensure customer service needs are met or exceeded in collaboration with Sales and Customer Experience functions.
- Lead and manage the Operations and Supply Chain teams, through daily on-site presence, effective coaching, mentoring, and performance management, setting clear goals and expectations, providing regular feedback, and fostering a supportive environment that promotes professional growth and high performance.
- Develop and implement a capital spending plan to achieve targeted growth, process improvements, lean initiatives, and cost savings in addition to addressing current maintenance and growth.
- Work with Engineering to enhance and maintain organizational focus on lean manufacturing efforts to ensure implementation of advanced technologies and practices.
- Assist and support new product development for design for manufacturability.
- Lead the Facilities & Maintenance team to ensure the existing locations and equipment run optimally and future growth is supported through locations, facilities, and equipment expansions.
- Ensure that the Operations and Supply Chain departments are staffed with highly motivated, trained, and skilled professionals who contribute to the company’s overall mission.
- Participate in meetings and lead the “Traction” process, meetings, and execution system for the operations.
- Maintain effective working relationships with employees, at all levels and across all functions of the organization, as well as customers and suppliers.
- Promote diversity and inclusion to achieve innovative results through collaboration.
- Partner with HR on talent planning and acquisition and enable employee training and development that ensures that operations and supply chain teams are equipped with the latest skills, knowledge, and best practices, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, engagement, and retention, while maintaining high standards of performance and employee experience.
- Participate (as needed or requested) in quarterly Board of Directors meetings.
- Participate in external industry and professional organizations, Granite Partners’ Affinity groups, and other organizations, as applicable.
Candidate Profile
The VP of Operations & Supply Chain must be a proven, highly effective leader with well-honed business skills and a history of leading operations in a growing business. This key position requires a minimum of 10 years of operations and manufacturing leadership experience in a fabrication and assembly manufacturing environment.
The VP of Operations & Supply Chain must possess an understanding and passion for developing people, and a preferred candidate will possess an understanding of the medical and complex rehabilitation industry and standards. An undergraduate degree, ideally with a technical or business management focus is required; an advanced degree is desired.
Qualified candidates will possess a strong operations and manufacturing background with a broad understanding of customer relations, product specifications, and market conditions that affect competitiveness when dealing with engineered products. Experience managing production in compliance with Quality, FDA and international standards and requirements and a proven track record of leading continuous improvement.
Prior management experience is desired, as is a track record of achieving superior growth and profitability results within an industry. Exceptional leadership skills are essential, characterized by a drive to succeed through staff development. NetSuite (or broad ERP) experience is a significant plus, along with a proven ability to manage resources and schedules within the system.
Additional qualifications include:
- Excellent business acumen and judgment; the ability to think strategically. Solid analytical and strategic skills in terms of operations strategy planning and implementation with the ability to lay out a long-term vision for the operation and to manage and implement to that vision and modify direction along the way as required.
- Strong knowledge of today’s best practices in manufacturing, including lean manufacturing techniques. Demonstrated success implementing and sustaining continuous improvement and Lean approaches such as 5S, Kaizen, Four Square, and/or Six Sigma approaches.
- Experience in or demonstrated knowledge of supply chain functions from procurement (including international sourcing) to distribution is required, particularly the ability to reduce costs, improve quality and customer service, and integrate processes across functional areas.
- Experience using ERP software and other analytical tools in a manufacturing environment; NetSuite experience is highly desirable.
- An understanding of manufacturing standard cost systems and strong financial skills with the ability to identify areas of opportunity and make bottom-line-oriented decisions to improve results and support long- and short-term planning.
- A proven ability to drive a proactive safety culture.
- A track record of motivating and leading production teams of 300+ through a team of managers and supervisors, building and maintaining a collaborative, respectful, learning, and accountable team culture, and leading others through change.
- Outstanding communication skills, including the ability to translate operating and strategic concepts into clear and concise language for implementation at all levels.
- An understanding of quality systems and best practices for implementation; ISO 14385 experience is a plus.
Additionally, this individual must have the capacity to collaborate with other leaders within AltimateMedical and Granite Partners, taking advantage of resources throughout the organization and becoming an integral part of the overall team and serving the organization as a whole.
Locations
AltimateMedical is headquartered in Morton, MN, and has five sites: three facilities in Morton and Redwood Falls, MN; a site in Frankfort, IL; and another in Kansas City, KS. The VP of Operations & Supply Chain will ideally be based in the Morton and Redwood Falls or Mankato area of Minnesota with 25% travel to the Twin Cities metro, AltimateMedical locations in Kansas and Illinois, Granite Partners events, industry conferences, and additional destinations to support new acquisitions, integrations, or business needs.
Compensation & Benefits
We offer a competitive base salary in the $170,000 to $200,000 range, based on experience and qualifications, along with an annual bonus and the opportunity to participate in long-term incentives, including a stock appreciation rights (SARs) program.
Beyond pay, our market-leading benefits are designed to support your wellbeing. These include medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, as well as short- and long-term disability coverage. We also provide a health savings account with company match, a retirement plan with employer contributions through Vanguard, and access to the Granite Assistance Fund for support when it’s needed most. We value time for rest and personal growth, offering generous paid time off, including volunteer time off and paid holidays.
