Mgr Continuous Improvement

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Regular Full Time Management SUMMIT, IL, US

Salary Range: $ To $ Annually

ACH Food Companies, Inc. (ACH) is a prominent consumer packaged goods company. In North America, we market, sell, and manufacture a premier branded portfolio of cooking oils and baking ingredients and food service brands in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. As the U.S. division of Associated British Foods (ABF), a $20 billion-dollar global food business, we have the backing and resources of a major food company, which empowers us to deliver consistent innovation and sustained growth.

We encourage an environment where people have the autonomy to create and deliver within their business.

The Continuous Improvement Manager is a hands-on, player-coach plant leadership role responsible for building, implementing, and sustaining the systems, processes, and operating disciplines needed to improve performance across the ACH Foods Argo facility. This role partners directly with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, Sanitation, Safety, Warehouse, Supply Chain, and Human Resources and is expected to maintain a strong presence on the plant floor.

The position will help establish processes and standards that may not currently exist, while improving safety, quality, reliability, cost, productivity, labor utilization, equipment performance, and overall operational effectiveness. Success requires the ability to think strategically, work hands-on with plant teams, drive execution, and build solid short- and long-term plans that move the facility from reactive problem solving toward a disciplined and sustainable future-state operating model.

• Develops and leads the plant Continuous Improvement strategy aligned with company objectives, plant priorities, and the long-term needs of the Argo facility.
• Develops and implements hands-on continuous improvement initiatives that improve safety, quality, reliability, delivery, cost, productivity, labor utilization, and efficiency.
• Partners closely with Operations and Maintenance, as well as Engineering, Quality, Sanitation, Safety, Warehouse, Supply Chain, and HR, to create alignment, establish ownership, and allocate resources to plant priorities.
• Builds and implements foundational operating systems where standards are not yet established, including daily management, standard work, visual controls, escalation processes, action tracking, accountability routines, and performance reviews.
• Uses and teaches Lean and Continuous Improvement methodologies including 5S, Autonomous Maintenance, SMED, value stream mapping, kaizen, A3, visual management, problem solving, and mistake-proofing to achieve sustainable results.
• Maintains a strong plant-floor presence and works directly with operators, mechanics, supervisors, engineers, and department leaders to observe processes, troubleshoot issues, implement improvements, and verify that changes are effective in practice.
• Develops and improves OEE and line capability standards, including downtime and asset-level tracking, chronic loss identification, equipment reliability analysis, and prioritization of the highest-impact opportunities.
• Develops, implements, and sustains a structured root cause analysis model throughout the facility, including 5-Why, Fishbone, A3, and other problem-solving tools, and ensures corrective actions are completed and sustained.
• Partners with Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering to strengthen production planning, preventive maintenance coordination, equipment reliability, changeover performance, capacity planning, and long-term…