Director, Global Material Handling

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Date: Sep 22, 2025

Location: Plymouth, MI, US

Company: Tenneco

Tenneco is one of the world’s leading designers, manufacturers and marketers of automotive

products for original equipment and aftermarket customers. Through our DRiV, Performance

Solutions, Clean Air and Powertrain business groups, Tenneco is driving advancements in

global mobility by delivering technology solutions for light vehicle, commercial truck, offhighway, industrial, motorsport and the aftermarket.

 

In this role, you will set the global benchmark in material handling – designing lean-driven standards, inspiring alignment from executives to frontline teams, and empowering leaders to deliver excellence. By integrating PFEP, automation, and digitization, you will eliminate waste, optimize flow, and unlock measurable cost savings. With a global mindset, you will unite regions, leverage cultural strengths, and shape the future of material handling with resilience, agility, and industry leadership.

 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

  1. Material Handling Master Expert: being able to calculate takt time, cycle times, defining manpower, equipment, and buffers needed; Select and define how to choose the best equipment solution, such as tuggers, AGVs, AMRs, conveyors, through trade-off analysis; designing technical part presentation like racks, kits, dollies, flow racks to standardize line-side delivery; and leveraging IoT, RFID, WMS/ERP, and simulation tools to validate, track, and continuously optimize safe, efficient, and scalable material flow performance.
  2. Influence and Developer of Leaders: design global lean material handling standards with PFEP, automation, and digitization, aligning executives and develop frontline leaders to build accountable teams driving optimization, continuous improvement, and excellence.
  3. Financially Savvy Operator: lean material handling to cut inventory cycles, lower carrying costs, and boost labor efficiency while delivering measurable savings across operations.
  4. Global Business Mindset: set the worldwide benchmark in material handling, uniting regions under lean standards, leveraging cultural strengths, and shaping the future with unmatched resilience, agility, and industry leadership.
  5. Shopfloor/Material Handling/Lean Front-Line Leaders: Empower frontline leaders with global standards, lean practices, and digital tools, enabling them to optimize flow, eliminate waste, and drive daily operational excellence.
  6. Regional Supply Chain Directors & Plant Supply Chain Managers: This is a crucial partnership, collaborating with the supply chain team on a global scale to manage and coordinate the flow of materials through the supply chain suppliers optimizing transportation, warehousing, and inventory management strategies.
  7. Operation Directors & Plant Managers: As the primary internal customer, manufacturing relies on the material handling team to supply raw materials and work-in-process (WIP) components efficiently through their plants and this position will enhance it by stablishing global standards for line-side delivery, implementing lean methods, and integrating automation to meet production targets.
  8. Global & Corporate Functions: collaborates with finance to drive cost savings, increase inventory turns, and track financial performance presenting business cases for technology (like ERP, WMS, IoT) to support lean initiatives, ensuring robust software and hardware to enable efficient material tracking and automation.

 

Minimum Requirements

 

Education: Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, engineering, or operations; Master’s preferred (MBA ideal).

Skills

  • End-to-End Multi-Regional Leadership: Strong experience leading multi-regional shopfloor transformation, connecting strategy to execution, ensuring safety, quality, delivery, inventory, and cost performance.
  • Executive Influence: Proven ability to engage and influence senior leaders, bringing material handling and lean material flow perspectives.
  • Leadership Development: Demonstrated success in mentoring/teaching/coaching building trust, execution and commitment fostering a culture of ownership and accountability through the front-line leaders.
  • Business & Financial Acumen: Deep understanding of the financial implications of material handling and lean material flow, including working capital, cost-to-serve, and P&L impact, ensuring operations drive business value.
  • Global Strategy Alignment: Ability to align multi-regional supply chain execution with global business goals, trade dynamics, and customer expectations, ensuring scalable and resilient operations.
  • Program Management: Experienced in supporting complex global product launches, phase-outs, and expansion initiatives with excellence in planning and execution.
  • Lean & Continuous Improvement Expertise: Strong understanding of Lean principles and practices, with experience leading Lean transformations at scale across multiple regions. Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt) and APICS certifications are highly valued.
  • Financial Acumen: Strong grasp of financial metrics and their connection to material handling and lean material flow aspects.
  • Languages: Fluent English + other languages are a plus (Spanish, Mandarin, French, Germany mainly).
  • Executive Communication: Exceptional presence and ability to engage confidently with senior executives and boards.
  • Digital & Analytics: Proficiency in BI, ERP, WMS, IoT, RFID (or similar), and analytics platforms; experience scaling digital tools across large networks.
  • Leadership: Ability to lead leaders, foster collaboration across regions, and drive change at scale.

 

Equal opportunity employer as to all protected groups, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.