Director, Continuous Improvement
About The Position
The Continuous Improvement Director manages the development and implementation of continuous improvement strategies across assigned manufacturing facilities. The role develops and maintains tools, content, and training programs to support implementation and communication, and uses analysis, trend identification, and root cause analysis to improve performance. The director owns a corporate three-year Continuous Improvement funnel intended to drive reliability and financial value across bakeries, and leads the rollout of CI, Root Cause Analysis, Waste Elimination, Employee Engagement, and Daily Direction Setting processes across the bakery network. The role builds Continuous Improvement and Lean/Six Sigma capabilities and applies reliability expertise to stabilize and improve operations, reduce variation, and improve OEE. Working with site leadership and corporate teams, the director identifies and prioritizes initiatives, leads cross-functional project teams, shares best practices across the manufacturing enterprise, and supports employee learning and change. The position also evaluates performance challenges across cost, quality, delivery, planning, inventory, capacity, and production processes, and communicates strategic plans and initiative results. The position requires 50%–75% travel within North America. Sara Lee Frozen Bakery offers a competitive compensation and benefits package, with a stated salary range of $180,000–$210,000 plus bonus.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or another technical field.
- Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt, or TPM/TPS practitioner knowledge.
- Knowledge of Continuous Improvement, TPM/TQM, Lean, Six Sigma, or Toyota Production System methodologies and tools.
- 10–15+ years in a manufacturing environment managing people or projects.
- Strong interpersonal, communication, and relationship-building skills, including the ability to influence without positional authority.
- Ability to interact with a wide variety of internal and external contacts.
- Ability to build and motivate teams without official authority.
- Demonstrated project management skills on cross-functional initiatives.
- Demonstrated ability to use data for creative problem-solving.
- Proven success working with people in a change program.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, and Visio; enterprise systems such as Redzone, Oracle, and SAP; inventory systems such as WMS and MA; and efficiency-improvement or system-implementation tools.
- Willingness to travel 50%–75% within North America.
Nice To Haves
- Graduate degree preferred.
- Manufacturing experience in a food manufacturing company overseeing multiple facilities.
Responsibilities
- Own the development and delivery of a corporate three-year Continuous Improvement funnel to drive reliability and financial value across bakeries.
- Lead rollout of Continuous Improvement, Root Cause Analysis, Waste Elimination, Employee Engagement, and Daily Direction Setting processes across all bakeries.
- Build Continuous Improvement and Lean/Six Sigma capabilities, including 5S, Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen, statistical analysis, SPC, and data-driven decision-making.
- Implement TPM pillars, including Focused Improvement, Autonomous Maintenance, Planned Maintenance, Early Management, and Quality Maintenance.
- Build working relationships with plant leadership, corporate teams, and CI resources across the company.
- Support best-practice sharing across the manufacturing enterprise.
- Collaborate with site leadership to identify initiatives and establish priorities based on corporate business objectives and CI team input.
- Lead continuous improvement teams on projects that improve processes and contribute financially, and leverage results throughout the organization.
- Apply understanding of the CQV process: Commissioning, Qualification, and Verification.
- Identify team members’ knowledge and training needs, and help coordinate training, education programs, and mentoring relationships.
- Act as a field change agent, challenging the status quo and finding new ways to achieve business strategies.
- Implement visual controls to sustain results, including standard work, improvement opportunity walks, and process audits.
- Apply reliability expertise to stabilize and improve operations, reduce variation, and improve OEE through capital, procedural, and operational improvements in planned and unplanned downtime areas.
- Develop and maintain staffing and scrap standards for new and revised manufacturing processes.
- Diagnose and evaluate performance challenges related to cost, quality, delivery, demand management, forecasting, inventory, capacity, production planning, and production processes.
- Lead meetings and prepare written plant communications.
- Prepare and present strategic three-year CI plans and productivity funnels, along with initiative status, results, and support needs.
Benefits
- Medical coverage
- Dental coverage
- Vision coverage
- Health Savings Account (HSA)
- Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Company-paid life insurance
- Company-paid disability insurance
- Wellness resources, including virtual healthcare and an employee assistance program
- Generous paid-time-off program
- Company-paid holidays
- Bonus
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
