TITLE: Manager, Continuous Improvement

REPORTS TO: Plant Director

LOCATION: Walton, NY

Lactalis Heritage Dairy is currently seeking candidates to join our team in Walton, NY.

Lactalis Group, the world leader in dairy, is a family-owned business with more than 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals worldwide, committed to providing healthy and delicious dairy products that bring people together every day. At Lactalis, our core values of AMBITION, ENGAGEMENT, and SIMPLICITY are at the heart of everything we do.

If you’re looking for a unique experience with a company that offers strong brands, professional expertise, and a dynamic work environment that champions entrepreneurial spirit, hands-on responsibility, and real opportunity for career development, we want to hear from you!

Lactalis Heritage Dairy: inviting you to share with us your STORY, your PASSION, and your EXPERTISE.

From your PASSION to ours

Manage and lead a wide variety of manufacturing performance enhancing projects and assignments of major complexity requiring a high degree of technical competence. Improve the overall efficiency and reliability of diary plant operations while ensuring that safety and quality remain as the highest priority. To be successful, this person must maintain close proximity to the People, Equipment and Processes within the factory.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Performs a wide variety of Manufacturing Engineering assignments of major complexity with only general direction, requiring a high degree of technical competence.
• Responsible for the development and implementation of new and existing manufacturing processes and methodologies within Plant to improve overall effectiveness.
• Analyze and refine existing processes that do not produce acceptable results in a cost-effective manner while maintaining high safety and Quality standards.
• May represent Manufacturing on teams for design review, process improvement, or special projects as assigned.
• Lead cross-functional Root Cause Analysis events to find durable solutions for defects in Quality, Efficiency and Raw Material Losses. Develops, tests and validates technical solutions for Plant issues with the team.
• Provide training and education to employees on various operations and processes to support improvement in manufacturing operations and support hourly personnel in the implementation of new processes.
• Provide in-depth analysis of machinery performance to determine whether a process problem exists and work with vendors to correct resolve issues of equipment performance.
• Responsible for the analysis and management of Raw Material Loss metrics. Manages and contributes to an Action Plan for RM savings.
• Provide day-to-day guidance and oversight on projects dealing with workflow, providing positive feedback to operators and manufacturing employees.
• Participate as a member of the plant leadership team and work to define measurable objectives for the plant.
• Establish strong working rapport with operators and line staff and establish excellent communication to lead training in operational procedures and processes.
• Develop a self-directed team in the process area, develop teamwork in all areas.
• Implement zoning techniques and clear communication on results based on QCDM principles (Quality, Costs, Deliveries, Motivation).
• Apply analysis techniques such as Ishikawa, 5Y, FMEA, DMAIC and more sophisticated statistical methods as required.
• Develop operators to create a culture of fact-based decision-making and analytical skills.
• Develop appropriate system of formalization to keep the existing knowledge, challenge the practices through creativity and known world-class practices, improve continuously through what is happening on the floor in order to create a learning organization.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or other Technical fields.
• 5+ years of production management experience in a manufacturing environment.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Proven success leading performance improvement efforts and initiatives
• Proven success in challenging the status quo and finding better ways of working cross-functionally with multiple teams.
• Strong planning, and implementation skills
• Strong written and oral communication skill
• Excellent leadership and time management skills
• Computer literacy required
• Ability to prioritize and meet deadlines within specified time constraints
• Ability to operate in a team environment
• Ability to adapt in a changing work environment.
• Ability to lead, coach, influence, motivate, develop and engage a team is required.
• Strong understanding of Agri-food industry technology and processes, food microbiology, food biochemistry, quality systems, food safety, and employee health and safety.
• Knowledge of main dairy process equipment (HTST, separator, membrane systems, mechanical, electrical and associated control systems).
• Knowledge of FDA and USDA regulations.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with an ability to effectively communicate across all levels of an organization.
• Strong organizational skills with proven attention to detail.
• Ability to prioritize and meet deadlines in a changing, complex environment.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite. Advanced Excel skills required.
• Proficiency in SAP is strongly preferred.
• Ability to work flexible hours depending on business needs is required.

Lactalis Heritage Dairy is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities.