Continuous Improvement Lead

Dare Foods Limited•Cambridge, ON

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Made Better isn’t just a claim; it’s our Dare promise. Dare has been a proudly Canadian, family-owned company since 1889. Throughout our long history, we’ve created some of the most loved brands in the country including Bear Paws cookies, REALFRUIT gummies, Breton crackers, Melba Toast and many more. For over 130 years we had been located in the Kitchener area since the family’s original store opened in 1892. We are head quartered in Cambridge Ontario and we’ve expanded our roots far beyond. With manufacturing plants in North America and over 1400 employees, Dare is part of the fabric of Canada. At Dare our dedicated team works passionately to uphold our tradition of excellence, innovation and quality in every aspect of our operations. Our state-of-the-art facilities utilize advanced technology to ensure consistency and quality while meeting the evolving needs of our consumers and customers. Position Overview: Reporting to the Director, Technical Services and Continuous Improvement, the Continuous Improvement Lead is responsible for leading and driving cost reduction strategies and projects in order to reduce waste, increase efficiency and elevate overall manufacturing performance. This position is based at our Corporate Office in Cambridge, ON and will be responsible for overseeing projects across our entire North American manufacturing network with travel to the U.S. being required. In this role, you will be asked to develop, lead, and manage large scale Continuous Improvement manufacturing projects that impact our total network as well as a number of Plant specific projects as required. Utilizing support from the Technical Services Team and building strong, cross-functional, internal partnerships across the business you will report and deliver against project timelines and savings estimates. Possessing the ability to think critically and utilize an analytical mindset is key to implementing science/theory alongside data analysis to lead your projects to success.

Requirements

Post-secondary degree or diploma in Engineering, Food Science, or Supply Chain Manufacturing.
Minimum 5 years of experience in the food industry.
Knowledge of unit of operation and processing equipment in large scale manufacturing.
Project management knowledge and strong collaboration skills.
Strategic – big picture thinking skills, comfortable with ambiguity.
Lean Six Sigma knowledge is essential; Black Belt preferred, Green Belt minimum requirement.
Thorough knowledge of Lean concepts and tools including Process Mapping/Value Stream Mapping, Root Cause Analysis, Statistical Process Control, OEE.
Ability to handle and lead project work with a structured and self-directed approach.
Experience in utilizing Continuous Improvement initiatives such as leading Kaizen Events, 5S Implementations etc.
Proficient in both written and oral communication.
Extensive knowledge of MS Office applications, including Word, Excel, and SAP as well as Minitab.
Team oriented, self-motivated and highly organized.

Nice To Haves

Black Belt preferred

Responsibilities

Report directly to the Director, Technical Services and Continuous Improvement to scope, develop and lead complex Continuous Improvement projects that are scaled to impact the total Manufacturing Network and will generate significant cost reduction.
Work cross-functionally with our other Continuous Improvement Leads, who are Plant based, to report on how their individual projects roll up into your total project scope.
Build relationships with other business sectors such as Marketing and Finance to determine areas of significant opportunity that you can then build into large scale projects.
Support the Operations and Engineering Teams in multiple sites across North America to identify areas of opportunity for Continuous Improvement, based on the needs and feedback of the local facility teams.
Create strong internal partnerships with the Technical Services Team in implementing process and product improvements while maintaining a world class standard in Food Innovation and Quality.
Lead efforts to raise the skills and knowledge of Dare employees relating to Continuous Improvement including, but not limited to; opportunity scoping, data collection and analysis, scientifically valid production line trials, project implementation and controls.
Participate in process development and optimization for new and existing products and collaborate in cost estimates and capital requests for process improvement.
Participate in Manufacturing review meetings on a regular basis pertaining to overall plant performance and Continuous Improvement review meetings to drive cost reduction targets.