Director, Continuous Improvement

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CI & EH&S Full Time Management Oakbrook Terrace, IL, US

2 days ago Requisition

Salary Range: $ To $ Annually

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery became a stand- alone company in 2018 when it was purchased by Kohlberg and Company (private equity) from Tyson Foods. Our desserts have always stood for incredible flavor and superior value in the frozen food aisle and away from home markets. The Sara Lee Frozen Bakery collection of top brands includes Sara Lee®, Chef Pierre®, Bistro Collection®, Superior on Main® and Cyrus O’Leary’s®.

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery is proud to take these iconic brands into a new era and to continue the evolution that transformed one small Chicago bakery into an American institution. Using carefully sourced ingredients and time-honored recipes, the company is committed to making life’s moments a little sweeter, putting its customers first and discovering new ways to make everyone’s favorite foods even better.

Our vision is to be the world’s most beloved bakery by creating irresistible foods, growing with our customers, and delivering value for all. We will achieve success through collaboration and innovation in an environment where employees feel empowered to execute with speed. We believe that each of us has unique points of difference and experience to offer. We believe that there is always a better way, and we will never be satisfied with status quo.

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, continually seek process improvements and a strong sense of customer service, then this is the right type of environment for you.

The Continuous Improvement Director manages the development and implementation of continuous improvement strategies across assigned manufacturing facilities. The role is responsible for creating and maintaining tools, content, and training programs to support implementation and communication. This position requires strong analytical capabilities to identify trends and perform root cause analysis.

• Own the development and delivery of a corporate three-year Continuous Improvement (CI) funnel to drive reliability and financial value across bakeries.
• Lead the 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 methodologies such as 5S, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Kaizen, statistical analysis, SPC, and data-driven decision-making.
• Demonstrate a proven record implementing TPM pillars, including Focused Improvement (FI), Autonomous Maintenance (AM), Planned Maintenance (PM), Early Management (EM), and Quality Maintenance (QM).
• Build strong working relationships with plant leadership, corporate teams, and CI resources company-wide.
• Play a central role in best-practice sharing across the entire manufacturing enterprise.
• Work collaboratively with site leadership to identify initiatives and establish priorities based on corporate business objectives and corporate CI team input.
• Lead continuous improvement teams working on projects that deliver process improvements and financially contribute to the business, leveraging the results throughout the organization.
• Understand the CQV process – Commissioning, Qualification, Verification process
• Identify opportunities to improve team members’ knowledge base. Helps coordinate training, education programs, and mentoring relationships.
• Be a field change agent, pushing to continuously challenge the status quo, and find new ways to achieve SLFB’s…