Continuous Improvement Technician

Continuous Improvement Technician

The North America team is currently looking for a Continuous Improvement Technician to join our quality department at the Taylorville, IL facility.

The Continuous Improvement Technician will collaborate closely with the manufacturing engineering, quality, and operations teams to enhance operational efficiency. This will be achieved by analyzing workflows, identifying inefficiencies, and implementing strategic solutions designed to increase productivity and efficiency while minimizing waste. This hands-on, cross-functional role serves as a vital link between shop-floor personnel and management, promoting problem-solving through methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma.

Major accountabilities (include, but are not limited to):

• Floor Presence:
  Spend significant time on the shop floor auditing processes, observing machine operators, and conducting time studies.
• Kaizen Facilitation:
  Facilitate rapid improvement initiatives, also known as Kaizen events, aimed at redesigning workstations, enhancing machine changeover times, and optimizing material flow. These initiatives should be guided by observations made on the production floor or identified by the operations team through the Kaizen Action Sheet database.
• Visual Management:
  Maintain and react to floor-level visual controls, including production board entries, establishing/maintaining shadow boards, maintaining the Kanban card systems, and other visual management systems for real-time problem solving.
• Work Instruction/SOP Development:
  Draft and systematically update comprehensive work instructions and standard operating procedures to incorporate recent process improvements, identify and rectify deficiencies within manufacturing processes, or address specific quality defects. This involves analyzing current practices, gathering input from relevant stakeholders, and ensuring that all documentation reflects the latest operational standards and best practices.
• Material Flow Logistics:
  Conduct a comprehensive analysis and optimization of internal supply chains by utilizing tugger, forklift, water-spider, and point-of-use inventory routes.
• Ergonomic Design:
  Engage in collaboration with Taylorville EHS to establish and redesign assembly cells and tooling layouts with the objective of minimizing operator strain and mitigating the risk of repetitive motion injuries.
• Cross-Functional Liaison:
  Engage in comprehensive coordination among the Quality, Manufacturing Engineering, Operations, and Maintenance teams to ensure that all process improvements are effectively aligned with established product specifications and production schedules. This involves detailed communication and collaboration to identify and implement necessary process adjustments that enhance product quality and operational efficiency while adhering to timeline constraints.
• Kaizen Action Sheets:
  Conduct a thorough review, documentation, and prioritization of process improvement proposals submitted by shop floor personnel or leadership that have been designated to your responsibilities.
• Sustainability Audits:
  Implement weekly or monthly process audits to identify opportunities for improvement and to ensure that enhancements to processes are maintained over time.
• Additional Duties:
  Any additional duties deemed necessary to support the Taylorville Plant Metrics

Preferred qualifications:

• High School Diploma/GED with 2 – 5 years of experience;
  Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing or Industrial Engineering is a plus.
• Green Belt or Black Belt certification is a plus.
• Proven experience in influencing, leading teams, and driving change results.
• Project management experience is a plus.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with demonstrated facilitation experience.
• Able to read and interpret blueprints and/or schematics, engineering/structural drawings, design drawings, or similar information.
• Intermediate to advanced MS Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) skills. Minitab experience is a plus.
• Ability to work with others one-on-one or within teams to identify opportunities and take action to build strategic relationships.
• Ability to build strong credibility and…