Continuous Improvement Engineer

King's Hawaiian•Oakwood, GA

37d•Onsite

About The Position

Joining King’s Hawaiian makes you part of our `ohana (family). We are a family-owned business for over seventy years, respecting our roots while thinking about our future as we continue to grow and care for our customers and the communities we serve. Our `ohana members build an environment of inclusivity as they freely collaborate, pursue learning through curiosity, and explore innovation as critical thinkers. Beyond that, we are also passionate about supporting the long-term health and well-being of our employees and their families. If you’re excited to rise with our team, come and join our `ohana! Working under the Continuous Improvement Manager, the Continuous Improvement (“CI”) Engineer will provide engineering, technical, and problem-solving support for Manufacturing, primarily at the Georgia Operations in Flowery Branch, GA. The CI Engineer will lead process improvement initiatives, collaborating with Production, Maintenance, Engineering, and other functions to identify opportunities and drive resolutions that improve employee safety, product quality, and production efficiency. This role will act as a change agent, helping to drive alignment and improvement across multiple functions within and adjacent to Manufacturing. Employees in this position will regularly interact with a broad range of colleagues – from front-line team members to company executives and must be able to communicate effectively with different groups at varying degrees of technical complexity. Employees will need to be able to work independently as well as collaboratively, often leading small project teams.

Requirements

Required – Bachelor’s degree from an accredited 4-year college in Engineering, Data Science, or Business (Operations) - or equivalent relevant experience
Required – 2 years in a high-speed manufacturing environment, preferably Food & Beverage or CPG
Required – Minimum 2 years of experience leading project teams
Required – Demonstrated success implementing measurable results from improvement project work
Required – High proficiency with all MS Office Applications (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
Strong verbal and written communication skills – ability to communicate effectively at all levels of an organization and with outside vendors
Strong emotional intelligence and ability to build consensus and gain support from others
Strong sense of curiosity and motivated problem solver
Self-starter with a bias for action; able to make independent and sound decisions

Nice To Haves

Preferred – Exposure to data analysis languages (Python, R, SQL) and visualization tools (Tableau, PowerBI, Alteryx)

Responsibilities

Partner with and lead cross-functional project teams across Manufacturing and supporting functions to identify, prioritize, and deliver multiple projects simultaneously, utilizing Kings Hawaiian Continuous Improvement Methodologies that improve overall performance
Develop and maintain performance enhancement roadmaps for Manufacturing to prioritize and communicate expected results that inform Long Range Planning
Be accountable for performance improvement initiatives that measurably impact safety, quality, production (OEE, yield, etc.), and product costs.
Maintain reports on initiative and roadmap progression and regularly provide updates and requests for assistance as needed
Foster an improvement-focused culture across the Manufacturing team
Drive process excellence through providing decision making frameworks to Manufacturing teams
Lead root cause analysis for Production interruptions and collaborate with cross-functional teams to implement corrective actions
Work with Manufacturing Teams as a mentor and educator of King’s Hawaiian Continuous Improvement principals and problem-solving skills
With the support of Data Science and Operations Analysts, conduct rigorous analysis of performance metrics and process variables to identify opportunities for improvement and verify solution effectiveness
Participate as a technical resource representing Manufacturing in research, design, and implementation of new processes, new production capabilities, and introduction of new products as needed by the company
Support operations and engineering in the development of capital spending plans and project development
Foster a positive working environment for all team members
Upholding King’s Hawaiian’s safety & compliance regulations and standards as a leader
Perform other duties as required which are reasonably within scope of this role