Business Excellence Manager

​About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare leader, creating breakthrough science to improve people’s health. We’re always looking towards the future, anticipating changes in medical science and technology.

Working at Abbott

At Abbott, you can do work that matters, grow, and learn, care for yourself and family, be your true self and live a full life. You’ll also have access to:

• Career development with an international company where you can grow the career you dream of .
• Free medical coverage for employees* via the Health Investment Plan (HIP) PPO
• An excellent retirement savings plan with high employer contribution
• Tuition reimbursement, the student debt program and education benefit - an affordable and convenient path to getting a bachelor’s degree.
• A company recognized as a great place to work in dozens of countries around the world and named one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune.
• A company that is recognized as one of the best big companies to work for as well as a best place to work for diversity, working mothers, female executives, and scientists.

The Opportunity

This position is an onsite opportunity in the Abbott Diabetes Care Division. We are helping people with Diabetes lead healthier, happier lives.   As a global leader in diabetes care, Abbott is constantly working to deliver the highest quality products and unwavering support to our customers.  Consistent and accurate glucose monitoring is the foundation of any diabetes management plan, so we’re committed to continuous improvement in the way patients and professionals measure, track and analyze glucose levels.

As a Business Excellence Manager, you will establish, coordinate and provide leadership for the Business Excellence program within the plant. Responsible for assuring program and project integration with the Business Unit’s This role will serve as the business excellence (BEx) lead for the Buffalo Grove, IL site based at a third-party manufacturing (TPM) location. The main purpose of the role is to drive ADC operational excellence initiatives and influence the TPM to manufacture efficiently and effectively. This includes supporting launch of a divisional BEx organization, driving a Lean Six Sigma program, leading GMI initiatives, increasing team productivity through use of automation, and serving as a key cultural leader for the site. They will lead some of the most complex and highest impact projects available in the plant with a strong focus on gross margin initiatives. This is an onsite opportunity in Buffalo Grove, IL.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Lead the most complex or critical projects supporting the TPM site. This includes launch of divisional initiatives such as Lean Six Sigma program and GMI projects.
• Lead operational excellence workshops and drive connection between the different ADC site business excellence teams.
• Lead projects, identify opportunities, define and financially justify projects, launch project teams, use good project management to manage team activities, lead teams to execute projects with the problem solving methodology, track project and program status and results, remove and elevate project barriers, and develop team members with a focus on operational process improvements.
• Identify and resolve operational problems and minimize delays.
• Strong focus on identifying automation opportunities and connecting available data sources for the ADC and TPM team’s workflows.
• Strategic focus on long term site cultural and operational maturity opportunities.
• Develop maturity roadmap for the operations team program initiatives.
• Support initiatives and tools that improve the tracking of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• Leverage voice of the customer (VOC) to prioritize productivity projects.
• Manage ongoing relationships with external contractors so that the organization receives satisfactory standards of service.
• Primary business excellence counterpart to a TPM serving as co-lead of a joint site-wide improvement initiative i.e. yield improvements, OEE improvements, medical manufacturing culture improvements.
• Address program requirements necessary to support constantly changing priorities, responsibilities, and organizational ambiguities.
• Challenge status quo, provide support to internal functional groups like Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, Quality, etc.
• Perform other work-related duties as assigned.

Education and Experience You'll Bring

Required

• Bachelor’s Degree (preferably in Engineering or Business) is required or extensive equivalent experience.
• MBA with emphasis in Operations or Quality Management a plus.  
• Candidates should have 5+ years of experience across the areas of manufacturing operations, manufacturing support systems, quality operations, project management, or continuous improvement functions.
• Experience leading improvement teams required.
• Knowledge of Lean Six Sigma preferred.  Should have thorough knowledge of Abbott manufacturing and planning processes or external equivalents.

Preferred

• Prior supervisory experience is a plus.
• Should have solid project management skills and team leadership skills.
• Should have knowledge of other functions that provide inputs regularly, i.e., Research and Development, Purchasing, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Operations

Preferred

• Previous experience in product development or manufacturing in a medical device environment

* Participants who complete a short wellness assessment qualify for FREE coverage in our HIP PPO medical plan. Free coverage applies in the next calendar year.

Learn more about our health and wellness benefits, which provide the security to help you and your family live full lives: 

Follow your career aspirations to Abbott for diverse opportunities with a company that can help you build your future and live your best life. Abbott is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to employee diversity.

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Divisional Information

Medical Devices

General Medical Devices:

Our medical devices help more than 10,000 people have healthier hearts, improve quality of life for thousands of people living with chronic pain and movement disorders, and liberate more than 500,000 people with diabetes from routine fingersticks.

CRM

As a global leader in Cardiac Rhythm Technologies, we focus on innovative technologies that can improve the way doctors treat people with heart arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats.

Diabetes

We’re focused on helping people with diabetes manage their health with life-changing products that provide accurate data to drive better-informed decisions. We’re revolutionizing the way people monitor their glucose levels with our new sensing technology.

Vascular

Abbott Vascular provides innovative, minimally invasive, and cost-effective products for treatment of vascular disease.

Neuromodulation

Our Neuromodulation business includes implantable devices compatible with mobile technology to help people who suffer from chronic pain and movement disorders. These non-opioid therapies allow us to provide interventional pain therapy to patients throughout the pain continuum.

Structural Heart

Structural Heart Business Mission:  why we exist

Our business purpose is to restore health and improve quality of life through the design and provision of device and management solutions for the treatment of structural heart disease.

EP

In Abbott’s Electrophysiology (EP) business, we’re advancing the treatment of heart disease through breakthrough medical technologies in atrial fibrillation, allowing people to restore their health and get on with their lives.

HF

In Abbott’s Heart Failure (HF) business, we’re developing solutions to diagnose, monitor and manage heart failure, allowing people to restore their health and get on with their lives.

Diagnostics

We’re empowering smarter medical and economic decision making to help transform the way people manage their health at all stages of life. Every day, more than 10 million tests are run on Abbott’s diagnostics instruments, providing lab results for millions of people.

Abbott Molecular is a leader in molecular diagnostics and the analysis of DNA, RNA, and proteins at the molecular level.

Our Point of Care diagnostic portfolio spans key heath and therapeutic areas, including infections disease, cardiometabolic, informatics and toxicology.

Our diagnostic solutions are used in hospitals, laboratories and clinics around the globe. The crucial information derived from our tests, instruments and informatics systems are often the first step in patient care decision making for hundreds of health conditions from heart attacks to blood disorders to infectious diseases and cancers.

Our rapid diagnostics solutions are helping address some of the world’s greatest healthcare challenges.

Nutrition

Our nutrition business develops science-based nutrition products for people of all ages, from helping babies and children grow, to keeping adult bodies strong and active. Millions of people around the world count on our leading brands – including Similac®, PediaSure®, Pedialyte®, Ensure®, Glucerna® and ZonePerfect® – to help get the nutrients they need to live their healthiest life.