Machining Logistics
At Machining Logistics, a division of Sandvik Group, we are proud of our role in creating a superior customer experience. We support the divisions within Machining in meeting their core business needs by ensuring: On-time delivery in perfect condition, lowest possible environmental impact, compliance with international laws and regulations and cost efficiency through optimized processes.
Our expertise in logistics and collaboration with divisions enables us to deliver value beyond delivery, supporting the 2030 Strategy pillars of enabling growth, lead logistics innovation, accelerate digital, deliver value and efficiency and empower high-performing teams.
Our distribution network includes Distribution Centers in Hebron Kentucky (US), Den Hoorn (NLD), Jundiaí (BRA), Singapore (SGP) and Shanghai (CHN). The headquarters of Machining Logistics is located in Luzern (CHE).
Warehouse Operations Manager – Americas Distribution Center
Hebron, Kentucky
Your Mission
As Warehouse Operations Manager, you will have overall responsibility for the day-to-day execution and performance of warehouse operations at the Americas Distribution Center (ADC). You will be accountable for safety, quality, customer service, productivity, cost, staffing, employee development, and operational performance against defined KPIs.
This role requires more than managing daily execution. The Warehouse Operations Manager is expected to understand the end-to-end operation, proactively identify risks and improvement opportunities, use data to drive decisions, develop solutions to complex operational problems, and lead the organization through continuous change and improvement.
You will translate the Logistics strategy into clear tactical plans, operational priorities, measurable objectives, and sustainable processes. You will establish clear accountability throughout the organization and ensure that operational plans are executed and followed through to completion.
You will develop and coach a high-performing Operations Team capable of providing and maintaining a competitive advantage for our Sales Units while creating an environment of accountability, engagement, collaboration, and continuous development.
You will report to the ADC Site Manager and serve as a key member of the ADC Management Team.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Leadership & Ownership
- Take full ownership of daily warehouse execution and overall operational performance.
- Maintain a strong understanding of the end-to-end warehouse flow, including inbound, replenishment, storage, picking, packing, transfers, shipping, and supporting processes.
- Maintain an active leadership presence within the operation to understand actual conditions, constraints, risks, and employee needs.
- Anticipate operational risks and develop mitigation plans before they negatively impact customers or performance.
- Develop short- and medium-term operational plans based on expected volume, available capacity, staffing, backlog, and customer requirements.
- Ensure clear ownership and accountability for operational actions and commitments.
- Establish priorities and allocate resources based on business requirements and data.
- Ensure issues are followed through to sustainable resolution rather than relying on temporary countermeasures.
- Escalate significant business risks appropriately while maintaining ownership of developing potential solutions and recommendations.
Data Analytics & Decision Making
The successful candidate must be comfortable working directly with operational data rather than relying exclusively on others to prepare or interpret information.
Responsibilities include:
- Extract, organize, analyze, and interpret operational data from warehouse systems and available reporting tools.
- Transform raw operational data into meaningful information that supports business decisions.
- Identify trends, abnormalities, constraints, productivity losses, and improvement opportunities through data analysis.
- Develop and maintain operational KPIs, dashboards, scorecards, and performance reporting.
- Analyze productivity, labor utilization, overtime, capacity, backlog, quality, service performance, and operational costs.
- Perform root-cause analysis using both operational observations and quantitative data.
- Validate whether operational changes and improvement projects deliver the expected results.
- Develop data-supported recommendations and clearly communicate findings to senior leadership.
- Use data to challenge assumptions and distinguish symptoms from underlying operational problems.
- Support business cases through baseline development, benefit validation, ROI analysis, and post-implementation measurement.
Strong proficiency with Microsoft Excel and experience extracting and analyzing data from WMS, ERP, BI, or similar operational systems is required. Experience with Power BI or comparable visualization/analytics platforms is strongly preferred.
Problem Solving & Continuous Improvement
- Proactively identify operational problems and improvement opportunities rather than waiting for issues to be escalated.
- Regularly observe processes within the warehouse to identify waste, bottlenecks, unnecessary movement, quality risks, and capacity constraints.
- Apply structured root-cause analysis and problem-solving methodologies.
- Develop multiple potential solutions, evaluate alternatives, and provide clear recommendations.
- Partner closely with the Continuous Improvement function while maintaining Operations ownership of operational improvement.
- Challenge established processes and encourage the organization to continually evaluate whether there is a safer, simpler, faster, or more effective way of working.
- Establish measurable baselines before improvement initiatives and validate results after implementation.
- Promote a culture in which employees and leaders are encouraged to identify problems and participate in developing solutions.
The expectation is that significant operational escalations are presented with:
Problem → Root Cause → Options → Recommendation → Owner → Timeline → Measured Result
Project Leadership
The Warehouse Operations Manager will be expected to independently lead and sponsor complex operational projects.
Responsibilities include:
- Lead cross-functional warehouse projects from problem definition and business case through implementation and stabilization.
- Define project scope, objectives, deliverables, responsibilities, timelines, risks, and success measures.
- Coordinate Operations, Continuous Improvement, IT, Transport, Market Support, vendors, and other internal or external stakeholders as required.
- Maintain project accountability and ensure commitments are completed according to established timelines.
- Identify project risks and proactively develop mitigation plans.
- Communicate project status, risks, decisions, and required actions clearly to stakeholders and senior leadership.
- Lead operational testing, implementation, change management, and post-implementation performance reviews.
- Demonstrate the ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining focus on critical deliverables.
Demonstrated experience successfully leading operational, logistics, technology, or continuous improvement projects is required.
Automation & Technology
As ADC continues to evolve, the Operations Manager will play an important role in identifying and implementing technology and automation that improves operational performance.
Responsibilities include:
- Evaluate warehouse processes for opportunities to improve through automation and technology.
- Understand the interaction between people, processes, WMS capabilities, material flow, and automation.
- Participate in evaluating potential warehouse technologies and automation solutions.
- Support development and validation of automation business cases.
- Challenge technology solutions against actual operational requirements and expected benefits.
- Lead operational implementation and adoption of new technologies.
- Ensure automation solutions are measured against clearly defined productivity, quality, capacity, safety, and financial objectives.
- Partner with Continuous Improvement and Site Leadership in developing the future-state operating model for ADC.
The successful candidate does not need to be an automation engineer but must demonstrate the ability to understand technology, challenge proposed solutions, interpret operational data, manage implementation, and lead organizational change associated with automation.
Leadership & People Development
- Lead, coach, and develop Supervisors, Team Leads, and operational employees.
- Establish clear performance expectations and hold leaders accountable for results.
- Develop leadership capability rather than creating dependency on the Operations Manager.
- Delegate appropriate decision-making authority and empower leaders to own their areas.
- Provide regular, direct, constructive feedback and coaching.
- Build succession plans and develop future operational leaders.
- Promote cross-training and knowledge transfer to reduce dependency on individual employees.
- Create an approachable leadership environment where employees feel comfortable raising concerns, identifying problems, and suggesting improvements.
- Balance employee engagement with clear accountability and performance expectations.
- Address performance and behavioral concerns promptly and consistently.
- Lead through others rather than becoming unnecessarily involved in activities that should be owned at the Supervisor or Team Lead level.
Communication & Change Leadership
- Lead consistent communication regarding operational priorities, performance, changes, risks, and expectations.
- Communicate effectively from the warehouse floor through senior leadership.
- Translate strategy into clear expectations employees can understand and execute.
- Actively participate in leadership meetings and contribute operational insight and recommendations.
- Lead teams through organizational, technological, and process changes.
- Build support for change by explaining both what is changing and why it is necessary.
- Demonstrate flexibility and willingness to challenge historical processes.
- Create alignment across functions when operational priorities or responsibilities overlap.
Safety, Quality & Customer Performance
- Maintain a strong safety culture and lead by example.
- Ensure compliance with company safety policies and regulatory requirements.
- Own operational quality performance and corrective actions.
- Ensure root causes of quality failures are identified and sustainable countermeasures implemented.
- Maintain strong focus on OTIF/customer service requirements.
- Balance productivity objectives with safety, quality, employee engagement, and customer requirements.
Your Profile
We are looking for a proactive, analytical, results-oriented Operations Manager who combines strong warehouse leadership experience with the ability to use data, solve complex problems, develop people, and lead change.
The successful candidate should demonstrate:
- Strong end-to-end warehouse and distribution operations experience.
- Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible logistics, distribution, supply chain, or warehouse operations experience, with demonstrated people-leadership responsibility.
- Proven experience leading Supervisors and/or other frontline leaders.
- Demonstrated ability to independently manage a complex warehouse or distribution operation.
- Strong analytical capability and demonstrated experience using operational data to make decisions.
- Ability to independently extract, manipulate, analyze, and interpret operational data.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel capability.
- Experience with WMS and ERP systems.
- Power BI or comparable business-intelligence experience strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated structured problem-solving and root-cause analysis capability.
- Proven project leadership experience with successful implementation results.
- Experience developing business cases and measuring project benefits preferred.
- Experience with warehouse automation, technology implementation, or process transformation strongly preferred.
- Strong financial and business acumen, including understanding labor costs, productivity, budgets, ROI, and operational cost drivers.
- Demonstrated continuous improvement mindset and willingness to challenge established processes.
- Strong change-management capability.
- Proven ability to develop leaders and build high-performing teams.
- Strong communication, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.
- Ability to operate independently while knowing when appropriate escalation is required.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining focus and follow-through.
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Business Administration, Engineering, or a related discipline preferred, or equivalent combination of education and relevant leadership experience.
- Excellent English communication skills due to the international nature of the organization.
What Success Looks Like
The successful Warehouse Operations Manager will not simply manage today's workload.
This individual will:
- Own the operation rather than wait for direction.
- Use data to identify problems and make decisions.
- Bring recommendations rather than simply escalate problems.
- Develop Supervisors who can independently lead their teams.
- Identify improvement opportunities before they are assigned.
- Lead projects from concept through measurable results.
- Challenge existing processes and embrace change.
- Understand and support automation and technology.
- Maintain clear accountability and consistent follow-through.
- Build an operation that becomes less dependent on individual knowledge and intervention over time.
Benefits:
Sandvik offers a comprehensive total compensation package including a competitive package of health, dental and disability insurance, and a 401(k)-retirement savings plan. In addition, we provide opportunities for professional competence, development and training, as well as opportunities for career advancement.
