Continuous Improvement Manager

At Eagle Foods we are builders.  We are builders of brands, categories, and people.  Eagle Foods enjoys a rich heritage with brands that have proven category leadership for more than 150 years.  Eagle is a diversified food company producing and marketing sweetened condensed and evaporated milk, snacks and convenient meal solutions products.  As a company, Eagle Foods is passionate about fostering an entrepreneurial spirit that boldly builds better people and better brands while focusing on the positive impact our company, our products and our people have on the world.  Eagle Foods has a bold family of brands that consumers have come to rely on for decades, including Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk and Evaporated Milk, Magnolia® Sweetened Condensed Milk, PET® Milk, Popcorn Indiana, Cretors Popcorn, Helper and Suddenly Salad.  Eagle Foods products are marketed and distributed across all U.S. retail channels, including grocery stores, club stores and mass-merchandisers, as well as foodservice and export, U.S. military, and private label business.

Job Description Summary

The Continuous Improvement (CI) Manager will lead the Continuous Improvement team and the Continuous Improvement program at the Waukegan plant and external warehouse operation. The CI Manager will be responsible for driving a culture of Continuous Improvement and growing operational capability in all areas at the site. Specific responsibilities will include: leading the development of the CI strategy for the site in partnership with the site leadership team and corporate resources, developing/enhancing loss and downtime data collection systems and creating a forum for the regular review of loss data, assigning cost and priority to losses, leveraging EPS pillars and tools and coaching site leaders in the use of these tools to systemically eliminate downtime and loss, and being a hands-on servant leader to enable change management in the plant. The CI Manager must be a change catalyst with solid communication and time management skills, technically competent with an ability to leverage scientific principles to learn new concepts, and quickly flow between strategic thinking and tactical coaching and execution.   The expected outcomes supported by this role include improved operational efficiency, reduced levels of labor utilization and lower operational costs inclusive of plant operating and material expense.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Own and manage the overall CI program at the site
• Understand the Eagle Performance System and the pillar concept. Become familiar with the pillar tools and develop a competency level with each tool to be able to both lead small group activities using the tools and teach others to do the same.
• Site owner/SPOC, with engagement from operations and QA, of the standardized set up and use of RedZone to collect line event and compliance data
• Quantify loss themes and the impact of the loss on plant performance and KPI’s. Collect and assimilate loss data for use by the leadership team in identifying loss themes to be targeted for reduction/elimination via small group activity vs. ‘go do it’ and the potential value of the elimination effort.  Track SGA targets, progress and delivery to validate efforts are working.
• Become an expert on the use of the following pilar tools to drive out loss: kaizen/small group activities, A3 problem solving, 5Y/fishbone, operator condition management/CIC, preventative maintenance.  Can teach, lead, facilitate or participate in these activities as needed to build site capability
• Facilitate the development of the loss recovery opportunity list at the site to support the pro -forma process
• Facilitate the site strategic planning process in collaboration with the site leadership team and ensure consistent adherence to the process including monthly scorecard reporting and gap analysis
• Lead monthly plant result reviews
• Lead GEMBA walks and develop a ‘Manage by Walking Around’ checklist in collaboration with the leadership team to be used by all leaders. The aim of this is that all leaders ‘learn to see’ the same way when on the floor and reward or confront in a consistent way based on how what is observed aligns with expectations
• Own workplace standards for clean/inspect/centerline templates, one point lessons, job aids
• Lead and coordinate 5S initiatives plant-wide. Own the development of plant 5S standards in offices, labs and production areas
• Develop auditing approaches to ensure systems put in place to deliver results are sustained through transitions at the site
• Develop connections to external sources to support the identification and integration of new tools and concepts to the CI program

Direct Reports:  No

Core Skills and Knowledge:

• Knowledge of CI / Lean / TPM tools
• Knowledge of principles and methods for process improvement
• Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, leadership, production methods, and coordination of people and resources
• Lean, TPM, or Six Sigma certification a plus

Minimum Requirements Preferred:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering is highly preferred
• 5 - 10 years of operations experience in a manufacturing environment is required
• Minimum of 5 years leading CI Projects in a CPG environment
• Experience with TPM concepts and a track record of achievement in Continuous Improvement and downtime reduction using TPM tools
• Experience with the concepts and measurement of OEE in a production setting
• A clear understanding of how driving Continuous Improvement links the entire enterprise, including operations, maintenance, finance, quality, safety and logistic