Vice President of Operations

Company Summary

Denton Vacuum provides thin film solutions used to create the world’s most innovative products. With operations in the United States and China, Denton provides thin film deposition and etch solutions used for a wide array of applications used in the optoelectronics market including; precision optical filters, lasers, IR detectors, sensors and micro-displays. Denton’s technology portfolio includes sputtering, ion beam etch, e-beam & thermal evaporation, ion-beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) and plasma-enhanced-chemical-vapor deposition (PECVD). Denton is a moving from a high mix, low volume operation Engineer to Order model to a market driven, platform/product Configure to Order business model.

Job Summary

The VP of Operations primary responsibilities include meeting financial objectives, customer satisfaction metrics, delivery deadlines, environmental and regulatory requirements, product quality, inventory procurement and control, personnel, equipment, productivity, and maintaining a safe working environment. Will lead the management team assessing new products, cost analysis, risk management, capital expenditures and improvement of people and processes and will act as a technical businessperson deeply involved in shaping and implementing overall corporate strategy. The selection of Denton’s VP of Operations will be based on someone that has demonstrated success leading an operations organization for a rapidly growing, global capital equipment company, preferably in the field of thin film deposition and etch.

Responsibilities

Work in cross functional groups to translate customer requirements into buildable systems.
Manage the order fulfillment process from forecast, manufacturing and through system shipment.
Supervise employees involved in a variety of production and/or operation functions such as direct engineering, purchasing, assembly, inspection, test, and/or final test which is related to the manufacturing of the company’s capital equipment.
Prioritize production schedules and manufacturing slot plan based on available manpower, equipment efficiency, capacity and materials requirements.
Understand the basic principles and operations of ERP and MRP systems, economic order quantities (EoQ), min/max/replenishment, planning time fences (order in time to meet in-house dates for assembly).
Manage WiP, Raw Material and Finished Goods inventory. Manages inventory to achieve production lead-times, while minimizing Raw Material inventory levels and inventory working capital requirements.
Support the development and tracking of organization performance metrics. Schedules and conducts milestone meetings. Responsible for meeting or improving cycle time performance, cost reduction and other metrics.
Ensure timely response to operations issues impacting customer satisfaction and prepares detailed analysis of cost of quality opportunity and initiates corrective action.
Develop and execute a sourcing strategy to meet the company’s business growth and sourcing requirements. Identify, develop, and manage effective relationships with existing and potential suppliers of goods and services, including contract manufacturers, to meet the established cost, quality and delivery targets. Establish, implement, and manage system to evaluate, monitor and report supplier scorecard performance.
Develop, implement and manage cross-functional, fully integrated planning process that incorporates make versus buy, capacity planning, scheduling, inventory, material and associated cost elements.
Perform analysis of customer demand, sales forecasts and historical material usage to develop and execute configure to order and build to forecast plans. Coordinate with cross-functional business teams to develop best cost strategy for production planning to support customer demand.

Job Qualifications

BS degree within a technical discipline required, MBA considered a plus.
Minimum 10 to 15 years’ experience with operations/production management of capital equipment with track record of continuous upward progression throughout their career; with 7 of those years in a leadership role.
The ability to recruit, motivate, retain and have a history of growing talent is required.
Association membership or certification in production management or supply chain management is considered a plus.

Characteristics

Experienced change agent
Strong sense of urgency and commitment
Savvy business mind that is strategic, conceptual and operational oriented
Lead effectively by clearly communicating expectations while following through on deliverables.
Ability to build trust at all levels and a willingness to be “hands-on.”
Comfortable in a small, fast-growing organization where you must “wear many hats.”