Operations Area Manager

Operations Area Managers (OAM) have shared responsibility and accountability for area safety performance, area personnel, assets and achievement of the area related site, business, and corporate goals. Operations Area Managers provide leadership to the area operations team and act as the primary back-up to the Operations Department Head.  Working closely with upper management, they ensure the area's compliance with environmental and safety regulations, while managing costs, labor, quality, and productivity. They provide leadership and long-term insight and direction through Team Managers (frontline supervisors) and staff engineers regarding complex operational processes, inventory asset management, and capital spending, amongst other areas.  OAM’s are accountable for performance and results ensuring alignment with department, division, and business strategy.  The incumbent serves as an inspirational coach and mentor for Team Managers and other direct reports by sharing best practices, techniques, and tools.  Additionally, they are critical in the development of team members and are expected to model Eastman’s core values and behaviors, understanding the impact they have on the operation team’s culture.

Responsibilities include:

Health/Safety/Environment

• Create a vision and shape the culture for safety excellence
• Keep active field presence and assess work activities routinely to maintain awareness of plant needs and understanding of personnel behaviors
• Support efforts to achieve department goals for minors, OSHA-R and Lost-Time Injury incident rate
• Focus department on housekeeping efforts
• Complete quarterly Title V reasonable inquiries
• Ensure appropriate safety reviews are completed as needed
• Ensure that audit findings and RCA recommendations and action items are resolved appropriately
• Know and advocate for life critical standards within the facility. Demonstrate priority and commitment through personal behavior and coaching in the field. Provide the needed positive and negative reinforcement to address deviations with urgency and ensure appropriate follow up and investigations. 

Coaching

• Hold monthly (at minimum) meetings with direct reports to review crew issues and maintain individual performance coaching
• Meet monthly with Tech Staff Engineers to discuss projects and maintain individual performance coaching.
• Develop their organization and ensure career success via goal setting, performance management, promotion processes, and employee development plan. 

Technical Emphasis

• Develop a technical understanding of processes and operating procedures in the assigned area and apply them to:
  • Increase operator engagement
  • Improve quality
  • Increase capacity
  • Lower operating costs 

Functional Emphasis

• Serve as a department steward for people and training issues
• Serve on Division Quality and Division Reliability Functional Teams
• Actively manage the area’s labor needs, planning for resource needs with the Team Managers.
• Accountable for maintaining and improving experiential health for operators for the facility, ensuring that appropriate knowledge remains within the facility.
• Hold themself and others accountable for return on investment of projects
• Support/drive continuous improvement by being active and ensuring operations participation in opportunity analysis sessions and plant improvements.
• Regularly interface with the Supply Chain organization to drive alignment in capacity planning.
• Partner with the Quality organization by supporting the resolution of high impact customer issues and serve as the voice of Manufacturing during customer audits.

Continuous Improvement

• Create a culture for continuous improvement by supporting:
  • Technology projects
  • Staff Engineer Team projects
• Identify and support black belt, green belt, and cost savings projects for respective area 

Boundary Management / Leadership

• Lead Department Leadership Team meetings as needed
• Relieve Department Superintendent as needed
• Participate in area planning and schedule improvement efforts
• Maintain a strong communication link with linked internal stakeholders
• Manage long-range vision/mission/key result measures for the Reaction and Processing Area
• Develop strong partnerships with support functions such as GHSES, Maintenance, Supply Chain, Quality and others to drive improvement in the organization and assure alignment. 

Educational Requirements: Bachelor’s Degree in Science or Engineering, preferably Chemical Engineering

Other Requirements: A minimum of 5 years of experience in engineering, maintenance, or related

Preferred Experience:

• 5+ years of direct supervisory experience in a chemical/petrochemical manufacturing environment, ideally supporting frontline teams within a maintenance function
• Familiarity with Process Safety Management within highly hazardous process operations, preferably in the chemicals industry
• Experience improving safety culture and results across an area/team
• Demonstrated leadership abilities, including experience leading individuals and teams indirectly
• Situational expertise with administering coaching in all directions
• Depth of knowledge in manufacturing work processes
• Experience facilitating and resolving complex human resources issues
• Experience driving lean manufacturing principles and implementation of production systems
• Familiarity with change management concepts
• Ownership and successful completion of complex and/or large-scale projects