Manufacturing Director

KONE is a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry: our job is to make the world’s cities better places to live. At KONE, our mission is to improve the flow of urban life. As a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, KONE provides elevators, escalators, and automatic building doors, as well as solutions for maintenance and modernization, which add value to the life cycle of any building.

At KONE, we are shaping the future of urban mobility through innovation, digitalization, sustainability, and operational excellence. The Hyvinkää Factory is an important part of KONE's global Manufacturing Network, supplying first-class elevator components and solutions to customers around the world.

We are now looking for a

Manufacturing Director

to join KONE and lead the transformation of our Hyvinkää factory.

As Manufacturing Director, you will lead the Hyvinkää manufacturing site through a significant transformation journey, inspiring teams, driving operational excellence, and shaping the future of manufacturing performance.

As Manufacturing Director, you will be responsible for the overall performance, development and short and long-term competitiveness of the factory. You will lead, direct and control manufacturing operations while driving strategic initiatives in manufacturing, maintenance, production planning, material management, manufacturing solutions, digitalization, sustainability and organizational capability development.

Key Responsibilities

1 Manufacturing Strategy and Operations Leadership

• Lead operating budget planning and cost management for production operations, ensuring optimal resource allocation, spending prioritization, and achievement of volume, quality, and manufacturing objectives, while driving continuous product cost improvements.

• Create and execute the manufacturing strategy aligned with KONE and Supply Chain objectives to the next level.

• Lead all manufacturing operations to achieve targets in Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and Sustainability and lead lean and clean world-class manufacturing of Hyvinkää Supply Chain operations.

• Drive proactively productivity improvements through Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement and operational excellence practices.

• Monitor factory performance and implement improvement actions across manufacturing efficiency, quality, cost control and workforce effectiveness.

• Develop and execute manufacturing footprint, investment and capability roadmaps to support future growth and competitiveness.

• Evaluate and recommend investments in automation, robotics, digital manufacturing technologies and AI-enabled solutions.

2 Transformation and Change Leadership

• Lead the transition towards a highly digital, data-driven and automated manufacturing environment.

• Drive significant step-change improvements

• Leverage digital manufacturing solutions, MES systems, analytics and AI technologies to improve operational performance.

• Ensure effective management across the organization and build a high performing culture and continuous learning.

3 People and Organizational Development

• Lead, coach and develop the manufacturing leadership team.

• Develop and execute workforce strategies to build long-term organizational capability, flexibility and resilience.

• Strengthen leadership, talent development and succession planning across the manufacturing organization.

• Leads collaboration with employee representatives in close partnership with the P&C function

• Foster a culture where safety, accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement are embedded in everyday operations.

4 Global Collaboration and Innovation

• Collaborate closely with global Supply Chain, Engineering and Business stakeholders.

• Share best practices across KONE's Manufacturing Network and contribute to global manufacturing development initiatives.

• Support innovation and cross-functional global collaboration to enhance manufacturing competitiveness and customer value.

What We Are Looking For

• Strategic and business acumen: Possesses a strong strategic mindset and business understanding, with the ability to contribute to strategy development and execution. Takes a future-oriented view, anticipates emerging trends, and effectively balances operational needs with long-term business objectives.

• Courage to challenge conventional thinking and drive meaningful change.

• Proven ability to lead large-scale transformation and change programs.

• Strong execution capability with a results-oriented mindset.

• Excellent communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.

• Passion for developing people and building high-performing teams.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in engineering or a related discipline.

• Extensive experience working across functions and business lines in a global organization, with more than 10 years of experience in a relevant field. A minimum of 7 years of production management and leadership experience is required, preferably in an international environment.

• Proven track record in Lean Manufacturing, quality (Six Sigma), Continuous Improvement, operational excellence, productivity transformation and supply chain management.

• Experience in automation, digital manufacturing technologies and Industry 4.0 solutions.

• Good knowledge of automation systems, digitalization, AI applications.

• Strong knowledge of sustainability and proven ability to drive carbon reduction initiatives across operations and the value chain.

• Experience managing significant operational budgets and capital investment projects.

• Fluent English language skills. Finnish language skills are considered an advantage.

Want to #JoinOurFlow ? 

This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of manufacturing at KONE.

You will lead one of KONE's most important manufacturing transformation journeys and have a significant impact on our global manufacturing excellence agenda. We offer a highly visible leadership role, opportunities for international collaboration, and the chance to work with talented professionals committed to innovation, sustainability and continuous improvement.

If you think this could be an inspiring challenge for you, please tell us more about yourself and why you are interested in this specific role and submit your CV and application via our Careers site at the latest, September 10th. 

For further information about the position, please contact Antti Paavola, +358405045607, during the following times: Friday, 4 September at 14:00-16:00 (EEST) or Monday, 7 September at 08:00-09:00 (EEST).

At KONE, we are focused on creating an innovative and collaborative working culture where we value the contribution of each individual. Employee engagement is a key focus area for us and we encourage participation and the sharing of information and ideas. Sustainability is an integral part of our culture and the daily practice. We follow ethical business practices and we seek to develop a culture of working together where co-workers trust and respect each other and good performance is recognized. In being a great place to work, we are proud to offer a range of experiences and opportunities that will help you to achieve your career and personal goals and enable you to live a healthy and balanced life.

Read more on https://kone.com/global/en/careers.html