Continuous Improvement Manager

The Continuous Improvement Manager is a results-driven enterprise execution leader responsible for delivering financially validated, sustained operational improvements across multiple manufacturing sites. This role translates strategic CI priorities into measurable plant-level performance gains in safety, quality, delivery, labor productivity, and cost.

This is not a Lean Coordinator or workshop facilitator. This is an operator–architect hybrid who drives large-scale turnarounds, installs durable operating systems, and builds site teams into high-performing execution engines.

• Opportunity Identification: Diagnose site-level constraints; identify labor, yield, throughput, and cost inefficiencies across the network; quantify opportunity before committing resources
• Financial Validation: Confirm savings sizing with Finance prior to launch; own forecast vs. actual tracking aligned to the CI Savings Bank methodology; no soft savings, no unvalidated claims
• Execution & Deployment: Lead line balancing, staffing optimization, standard work, and takt alignment across 5–7 facilities; replicate wins across sites — not one-off events
• Buy-In & Leadership Alignment: Secure Plant Manager and site leadership commitment before launch; hold structured weekly accountability reviews; accelerate resistance early
• Sustainment & Closure: Validate post-implementation performance at 60–90 days; ensure results are durable before closing — no drift, no unfinished implementations

• Lead and facilitate CI initiatives focused on safety, quality, delivery, cost, and employee engagement across multiple sites.
• Identify, analyze, and resolve operational issues using structured problem‑solving methodologies
• Apply and coach teams on Lean and CI tools including:
  Fishbone Diagrams, 5‑Why Analysis, Line Balancing, Takt Time Analysis, Standard Work, Root Cause Analysis
• Plan, lead, and execute multi‑day Kaizen events and cross‑functional rapid improvement workshops.
• Partner with site leadership to develop and execute enterprise‑wide and site‑level improvement roadmaps.

• Installs leader standard work and daily management routines so results do not erode after events — sustains gains through operating systems, not individual heroics
• Applies PDCA/scientific thinking to drive hypothesis‑based testing — eliminates jump‑to‑solution culture and ensures every change is measurable
• Builds a repeatable Kaizen engine that makes improvement a daily operating rhythm, not a side initiative
• Financial ownership discipline:
  Validates all savings with Finance, tracks baseline‑to‑target performance, and ensures zero soft claims across the portfolio
• Cross‑site replication mindset:
  Systematically documents and deploys successful implementations so every win scales across the network — multiplying impact without multiplying effort
  
  Develops site supervisors and leads to own CI execution daily — building organizational capability and removing dependency on the CI function

• Model a high‑accountability, floor‑first performance culture across all sites
• Communicate savings performance and pipeline status directly to senior leadership
• Escalate risks, resource gaps, and organizational resistance early and clearly
• Build site CI capability so improvement continues between enterprise deployments

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain, or related field. MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ years of CI / Operational Excellence leadership in manufacturing. Food manufacturing / fresh or cold‑chain production experience preferred.
• Demonstrated history of savings validated by Finance — not self‑reported
• Proven experience leading multi‑site improvement initiatives, Experience operating within a formal CI operating system (daily management + leader standard work + Kaizen cadence) an asset.
• Strong financial acumen — can connect operational improvements to P&L impact
• Willingness to travel 30–40% regularly
• Comfortable confronting…