Senior Lean Manufacturing Consultant
duggan associatesBismarck (ND)
Senior Lean Manufacturing Consultant
Posted today
duggan associatesBismarck (ND)
SENIORITY
Lead
About the role
About Duggan Associates Duggan Associates has been designing and implementing lean operations since 1998. We're a boutique consulting firm working with manufacturers and process businesses across North America, South America, and beyond, and we're growing.
The Role:
You'll lead lean transformations at client sites from assessment through sustained implementation. This is hands-on, shop-floor work with real accountability for results, not slide decks handed off to someone else. You'll typically own one or two client engagements at a time and work directly with plant leadership, operations managers, and frontline teams.
What You'll Do:
- Lead current-state and future-state value stream design for manufacturing operations, defining the lead-time targets and the tool applications required to achieve them
- Drive implementation on the floor: flow, pull, pitch, standard work, leveling, cells, and the supporting management systems
- Coach plant leaders and operations teams so improvements hold after you leave
- Run assessments and shape engagement scope, deliverables, and timelines with the client
- Measure and report results against the designed future state — lead time, inventory, on-time delivery, productivity
- Contribute to Duggan's methods, training content, and business development (proposals, client workshops, case studies)
What We're Looking For:
- 10+ years in manufacturing operations, with at least 5 leading lean transformations as an operations leader or consultant
- Deep, practical fluency in value stream mapping and design, flow and pull systems, standard work, and lean management systems. You've built these, not just read about them
- Track record of measurable results at the plant or value stream level
- Comfortable with executives and with the night-shift supervisor, and credible with both
- Strong facilitation and coaching skills; able to teach, challenge, and win buy-in without positional authority
- Willing to travel to client sites 100% of the time (plenty of time off at home, but all client work is on-site, non-negotiable).
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, operations, or a related field. Advanced degree is a plus, but we care far more about what you've implemented
Nice to Have:
- Experience in process industries, aerospace/defense, medical devices, or industrial equipment
- Multi-site or enterprise-level transformation experience
- Spanish or Portuguese fluency (we have active work in South America)
What We Offer:
- Full benefits package including health coverage and retirement plan
- Small-firm environment: direct access to the firm's founders, real influence on how we work, and no layers between you and the client
- Variety of industries and problems, and clients who hire us because they want to change, not check a box
How to Apply: Apply through LinkedIn or go to the hiring page on our website.
Before you apply
Applying takes about a minute. These four things decide how fast it moves after that.
Your profile is current
It's what we read first. Occupations, seniority and locations matter more than a long history.
Two examples you can talk through
Not a portfolio — just two pieces of work where you can explain the decisions and what you'd change.
A number in mind
What you're on now and what would make you move. We negotiate better when we know both.
Your notice period
Employers plan around it, and it's the question that stalls offers most often.
Once you apply, someone reads it and calls you before anything reaches the employer — usually within two working days.