Continuous Improvement Manager

Griffith Foods is the caring, creative product development partner helping food companies meet the evolving needs of consumers while sustaining the planet. As a family business founded in 1919 and headquartered in Alsip, Illinois USA, Griffith Foods is known for true, collaborative innovation guided by their Purpose of "We Blend Care and Creativity to Nourish the World". The company's product capabilities range from seasonings and marinades to coating systems and sauces that are better for people and better for the planet. For more information, visit www.griffithfoods.com.

Major duties & Responsibilities:

1. GPS Deployment & Governance

• Define the site GPS roadmap, maturity targets of the factory per year, and implementation plans aligned to business objectives.
• Facilitate, and create the capability in others to facilitate, daily/weekly tier meetings and visual management: Tier 1-3 boards, KPIs / KAIs, and problem escalation.
• Own the creation of GPS standards (5S, standard work, SMED, visual factory, centerlines, etc.), create the capability in others to create such standards, and ensure the performance of layered process audits on those standards.

• Lead, and teach others in the organization how to lead, Kaizen events and other capability-building and improvement-generating workshops, such as: SMED (quick changeover), value-stream mapping (VSM), A3 problem solving, and DMAIC projects, etc. as needed.
• Establish and sustain GPS pillars (Enterprise Alignment, Education & Training, Autonomous Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, Focused Improvement, Early Management, Quality Maintenance, etc.).
• Drive OEE, uptime, yield, and scrap reduction through structured loss analysis, loss eradication and loss prevention activities.

• In alignment with the Site Manager and leveraging other colleagues with the capability, build the site Griffith Performance Excellence (GPE) projects (Productivity / Hard Savings Projects) portfolio with clear charters, benefit cases, milestones, and owners; run project reviews and remove roadblocks.
• Track and report SEQDCM metrics; translate gaps into actions using the Daily Management System
• Deliver year-over-year productivity, conversion cost, and inventory turns improvement; validate benefits with Finance.

• Design and deliver Lean/TPM/Six Sigma training; certify White/Yellow/Orange/Green Belts and AM/PM teams.
• Create and sustain the system to enable, promote and recognize the implementation of small Kaizen / OKAM (One-Kaizen-A-Month) in the Factory teams.
• Coach leaders and front-line teams in Gemba, standard work adherence, and problem-solving behaviors.
• Recognize and replicate best practices; create internal benchmarking and GPS communities of practice.

• Integrate GPS with food safety/quality systems (BRC, HACCP) and HSE standards; use layered audits to sustain.
• Use root cause tools (5-Why, Fishbone, FMEA) to eliminate repeat deviations & safety incidents, and create the capability in others to use these tools.

• Partner with all other departments for the improvement effort (Manufacturing, Planning, Maintenance, Quality, HR, Engineering, etc.) to synchronize event windows, training, new product introductions utilizing the EM framework, etc.
• Leverage technology and support digital/Industry 4.0 initiatives (e.g., RedZone / PowerBI utilization, Fiix CMMS, Real Time Transactions, BY, e-SOPs) where applicable.

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, or related field (Masters Degree in Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, or related field is preferred)
• 10+ years in manufacturing/operations with 5+ years leading 6S/Lean/TPM programs.
• Food/CPG manufacturing and BRC/HACCP exposure preferred.
• Demonstrated delivery of OEE/Cost/Quality improvements with validated financial impact.
• Proficiency with CI toolsets (A3, VSM, SMED, 5S, SPC), CMMS familiarity, and data visualization (Power BI/Tableau/Excel).