Manufacturing Engineer

Business Unit Overview
Headquartered in Lakeville, Minn., Post Consumer Brands, a business unit of Post Holdings, Inc., is dedicated to providing people and their pets with delicious food choices for every taste and budget. The company's portfolio includes beloved brands such as Honey Bunches of Oats®, PEBBLES®, Grape-Nuts® and Malt-O-Meal® cereal, and Peter Pan® peanut butter, as well as Rachael Ray® Nutrish®, Kibbles 'n Bits® and 9Lives® dog and cat food. As a company committed to high standards of quality and to our values, we are driven by one idea: To make lives better by making delicious food accessible for all. For more information about our brands, visit www.postconsumerbrands.com and follow us on LinkedIn for the latest news.
Brand
Post Consumer Brands recently acquired several iconic pet food brands, venturing into a new market while remaining true to our purpose to provide delicious and accessible food that our consumers love. We're always searching the center store for the next exciting product to add to our portfolio, and right now, we're growing and need passionate, driven individuals with diverse perspectives to help us reach greater heights. That's where you come in. Join a team where your voice is not only heard but valued. Make a real impact on brands enjoyed by millions of people and their pets.
At Post Consumer Brands, we take pride in our longstanding legacy of making one of every five breakfast cereals families eat daily. Today, we're just as focused on our future as we expand our grocery business with different shelf-stable foods, including snacks and peanut butter. We are committed to providing accessible and delicious food for families, and we're always searching the center store for the next exciting product to add to our portfolio. As we soar to new heights, we need creative, determined individuals from all walks of life to join our team, where your unique perspective and ideas are acknowledged and valued. Be a part of a company that empowers you to make a difference that's evident on grocery store shelves and families' tables across North America.
Location Description
Northfield, Minn. is home to two Post Consumer Brands manufacturing plants, the Campbell Mill and Ames Mill, two distribution centers, and more than 750 team members. The Campbell Mill plant is 1 million square feet and is home to 7 manufacturing technologies to produce a wide variety of cereal products our customers know and love. Northfield is a town steeped in history, featuring two colleges and the original Ames Mill where the Malt-O-Meal Company got its start.
Responsibilities
Overview:
Frontline Manufacturing Engineering resource to drive change through focused continuous improvement efforts to higher levels of performance in safety, quality, schedule adherence, cost, growth, and engagement every day. Effectively utilize Lean & DMAIC methodology, tools, and root cause analysis to eliminate waste. Participate in Strategy Steering teams to drive long-term success against Key Performance Indicators.

• This role has responsibility for a Business Unit consisting of 3+ Production Lines and reports to the CI Manager at their site.
• Technical owner of packaging operating parameter standards, centerline processes, and packaging equipment design & layout for the Operations team.
• BU Gatekeeper and owner for equipment/process modifications (Small Mod Process) & large-scale project installations (Capital Project Process)
• Owns plant-wide strategy replacement and growth plan for specific unit operations (ex. Cartoners across the plant)

Work Location: This role is fully onsite at the Northfield, MN manufacturing facility.
Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Provide daily support to sustain current operational performance targets for personal safety, food safety, quality, schedule adherence, yield, OEE, growth, and engagement.
• Best practice implementation, with identification and application of innovative equipment technologies that enable process OEE improvements.
• Support technical training for Operations Specialists (trainers) and provide technical oversight.
• Utilize data collection and reporting systems that enable process consistency and justify process improvement efforts. Support meaningful and accurate data collection from people and process instrumentation.
• Support cost reduction changes related to packaging materials and finished product.
• Lead focused efforts aimed at breakthrough and incremental improvements in process, department and/or line-specific opportunities that meet and exceed plant operational performance metrics
• Manage the overall Small Modification process for the Packaging Lines accountable to this role
• Investigate and determine production feasibility of new products. Coordinate with internal and external resources for the commercialization of new products. Identifies equipment, methods, and tools to produce new products or support new product start-up and integration.
• Collaborate with Packaging Vendors on quality and performance improvement opportunities.
• Owns and drives the plant-wide replacement strategy for specific Packaging unit operations.
• Leads Capital Project installations and owns justification for expenditure

Leadership Expectations:

• Demonstrates a passion for safety. Able to develop and maintain a respectful and safe work environment.
• Must have strong analytical and business judgment including demonstrated problem-solving and trouble-shooting skills.
• Ability to influence, mentor, and coach to get results through others.
• Results driven for being the low-cost producer and supporting company growth strategies.
• Understanding of Lean Manufacturing/Continuous Improvement methodologies and ability to model them.
• Have strong bias for action, while proving the ability to inspire others.
• Communicates a sense of purpose. Talks about the possibilities and is optimistic in finding ways to achieve aggressive targets. Creates strong morale and spirit within team.
• Establish clear directions, lays out work in a well-planned and organized manner.
• Solves highly complex problems and prioritizes actions in a timely manner. Probes all sources for answers and can quickly sense what will help resolve issues.
• Speaks candidly and in a professional manner.
• Organizes and manages projects; interacts, supports, facilitates, and leads multi-functional work teams; leads teams to consensus; strong negotiation skills.
• Able to build strong and diverse relationships across the business groups they partner with. Supports and fosters change.

Qualifications
EDUCATION:
4-year degree in Science (Packaging, Materials) or Engineering (Chemical, Mechanical, Industrial, Electrical, Manufacturing, Packaging) Required.
EXPERIENCE:
Preference of 2-5 years' experience in packaging operations encompassing vertical and horizontal form fill and seal machines, cartoning, case erectors, packers, and sealers, robotic operations, and all forms of package conveying. High speed pouching and blending a plus. Experience in Food Manufacturing is also preferred, but not required.