Engineer - Continuous Improvement

Flagstone Foods:

At Flagstone Foods, we believe appreciation grows goodness. We have an appreciation for our customers, our employees, and the communities in which we live. Appreciation is our main ingredient!

Headquartered in the North Loop of Minneapolis with plants in Robersonville, North Carolina, El Paso, Texas, and Dothan, Alabama, we are one of North America’s largest manufacturers and distributors of “feel good snacks,” like flavorful snack nuts, innovative trail mixes and wholesome dried fruits…and we are adding to our team! We hire creative, thoughtful, and entrepreneurial team members. If you share our enthusiasm and appreciation for goodness, you too may find a home with Flagstone Foods.

Position Summary

As a key member of the Plant Leadership team, the Continuous Improvement Project Engineer, you will lead the development and execution of Flagstone Foods Operating System improvement strategy across all Plant operations. This role will be critical in helping reinforce Flagstone Foods’ culture of workforce empowerment, effective problem solving, and use of lean principles to drive out waste. This critical role will partner with operational leaders to deploy the structure and mechanisms to implement Continuous Improvement strategies, coordinate and facilitate Kaizen events, design, develop and implement training, as well as coach the organization on lean methodologies and thinking. This position will work in close partnership with functional leaders on efforts toward attaining critical customer satisfaction, quality, productivity, and employee engagement goals.

Essential Functions

• Drive the implementation of the Flagstone Foods Operating System Continuous Improvement strategy and methodology with an initial focus in production operations.
• Partner with the Continuous Skills Development Team to develop and implement the associated training to implement and sustain the strategy.
• Serve as the Plant’s Continuous Improvement champion, supporting the production operations and supporting functions, providing leadership, mentoring, and coaching in the implementation of Continuous Improvement methodologies. Lead Value Stream Mapping, Standard Work, 5S, Visual Management, and other Kaizen events and efforts focused on waste reduction and meeting customer, shareholder, and employee needs.
• Directly manage and coach the continuous production leaders and team members, and work closely with support functions in the organization to ensuring CI efforts and results are aligned with company standards and goals, driving total system efficiencies.
• Benchmark best practices in Lean, Continuous Improvement, and Standard Work, strategically utilizing external resources to accelerate Flagstone Foods CI capabilities.
• Coordinate creation and implementation of Kaizen plans, and monitor to assess implementation progress, impact, and sustainability. Ensure all Continuous Improvement plans promote safety, employee engagement and ownership of lean efforts. Celebrate Success!
• Coach the organization in the analysis of metrics/ KPIs to assist in strategy development as well as tactical actions, including cycle times, takt times, productivity, overtime, quality, inventory, and ergonomics.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications (Education/Experience)

• Minimum 5 years of Continuous Improvement experience in a manufacturing and warehousing, demonstrated leadership of CI and business systems development and transformations.
• Focused formal training and working experience with Lean methodologies, Continuous Improvement, and problem-solving tools.
• Demonstrated coordination of significant Kaizen events across multiple functional areas
• Experience in guiding an organization through goal deployment.
• Demonstrated experience in standard work development, and training delivery.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills / instructor skills; at ease moderating large groups and presenting to Senior Management.
• Ability to interact with all levels of employees and work with cross-functional teams.
• Strong skills in data collection, analysis, and decision-making. Preferred Six Sigma Green Belt or DMAIC process familiarity.
• Strong organization, administrative and attention to detail skills.
• Lean certification, lean business system development/leadership, ISO 9001 are a plus.
• Memberships in the International Association of Lean Practitioners, Global Lean and Six Sigma Network, and Lean Enterprise Institute membership are all a plus.
• High level of PC proficiency, including Microsoft Office suite.
• Bachelor’s degree, ideally in Engineering or Supply chain operations, or other relevant area.

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.
• Be independently mobile.
• Use a computer and keyboard.
• Regularly sit, stand, walk, reach, stretch, stoop, bend, for extended periods.
• Ability to lift/carry 25 to 50 lbs.
• Exposure to noise levels requiring hearing protection.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.