Director Of Continuous Improvement

Job Title- Continuous Improvement and Process Engineering Director

Location- Minneapolis, MN

Position Summary

The Director, Continuous Improvement and Process Engineering will perform the vital role of directing a world-class technical and resource team. This position is responsible for directing the continuous improvement and process engineering team members that execute across all manufacturing plants. A key to the role is to drive standardization across facilities, i.e., process improvement methods, data presentations, maintenance programs, new equipment maintenance programming. The ideal candidate will have strong project management skills with a background in food manufacturing and be able to lead a dynamic team managing projects across multiple facilities.

Essential Functions

• Work cross-functionally with internal departments to analyze data and provide solutions to issues.
• Collaborate with Plant Managers to define and execute improvement agendas for their respective plants.
• Drives continuous improvement by implementing value add/value engineering initiatives.
• Partner with Continuous Skills Development Team to create an assessment of current maintenance practices leading to design of standardized system of Preventative Maintenance and Maintenance Programs for new equipment.
• Partner with FSF Director Engineering Capital Projects and Finance to enhance the Capex spending.
• Develop, monitor, and maintain project budgets and schedules.
• Provide input and thought leadership to workflow methods and assembly methods to add efficiency to the manufacturing process.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.
• Be a change agent for improving processes within manufacturing processes and educate production leaders.
• Directs the activities of the process and CI engineers in executing against an annual CI agenda, which has a heavy focus on throughput improvement and excellence in product delivery.
• Lead the CI /Process Engineering Team to high levels of performance and ensure application of effective and efficient project management processes.
• Provide overall mentorship to a team of technical contributors and ensure the service, meeting the customer needs and cost of production improvements is inherent in design efforts.
• Work directly with internal customers (i.e., R&D and Quality) on all aspects of manufacturing engineering to manage and meet our customer expectations.
• Identify, justify, and implement manufacturing improvements and provide sustaining engineering support to production to improve manufacturing costs.
• Drive design for manufacturability best practices and partner closely with manufacturing leadership to ensure the smooth introduction of products into volume production.

Qualifications

• BS in Engineering with a minimum of 10+ years previous experience in managing engineering and continuous improvement functions.
• Deep experience with packaging equipment. Knowledge of food safety and regulatory requirements for food safety and equipment highly desired.
• History of successful vendor negotiations.
• Experience in World Class Manufacturing (WCM), Lean Manufacturing, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and/or Six Sigma (Green or Black Belt) is a plus.
• Must be data driven and possess a high level of attention to detail.
• Demonstrated strength in Project Management tools and skills.
• Display strong problem solving, organizational and analytical skills, and excellent time management skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong computer skills.
• Understand product flow, ergonomics, maintenance, and sanitation practices so all-encompassing disciplines can be included in project success.
• Must be motivated and possess a strong ability to work independently and with minimal supervision to accomplish project load on time and on budget and in scope.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described within the Essential Functions section of this job description are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform this job. Other duties or tasks may be assigned as required. Management may modify, change, or add to the duties of this description at any time without notice.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to:

• Communicate with others both verbally and in writing.
• Use a computer and keyboard.
• Be independently mobile.

Supervises Others: CI Project Engineers, Process Engineers, Manufacturing Engineer plus dotted line to Continuous Skills Development Team (Technical Training Managers).