Continuous Improvement Specialist

Reporting to the Plant Manager, we have an opportunity for a Continuous Improvement Specialist at our Ajax location. With a seat at the leadership table and working with the Operational Excellence team, you will be an integral part of helping us grow into a world-class facility, owning the CI project pipeline, implementing root cause analysis and aligning with 5S. You will apply your expertise and insights identifying, planning, and implementing Continuous Improvement initiatives.

AJAX, ON

MOTHER PARKERS TEA & COFFEE

From field to cup, our mission is to provide a better beverage experience for our customers and their consumers. We are the tea and coffee experts our customers count on every day. That didn’t happen overnight – it’s developed over the years by meeting the ever-changing tea and coffee market. That means we never rest on our laurels and we deliver on our promises through Quality, Passion, Insights, Innovation, Sustainability and Supply Chain. https://www.mother-parkers.com

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EXPERIENCED

Overview: <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Who we are</strong><br /><br />Mother Parkers Tea &amp; Coffee is a leading customer solutions provider, manufacturing and supplying quality coffee and tea to some of North America&rsquo;s largest retailers and foodservice chains. Our fast-growing EcoCup&reg; brand of single-serve pods makes it easy for consumers to recycle through 3 easy steps of separation.&nbsp; Combining state-of-the-art technology and new product innovation with more than 100 years of business success, Mother Parkers continues to grow. We take pride in delivering a better beverage experience for customers and consumers, and a better employment experience for our people! We operate multiple manufacturing facilities in both Canada and the U.S.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We are committed to doing what&rsquo;s right for the planet, people, and the communities in which we operate. From farm to cup, we&rsquo;re engaged locally and at the industry level in ensuring a sustainable future for our customers and consumers.</span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">At Mother Parkers, we will give you every opportunity to voice your ideas, own what you do, , and share your passion for people, our products and our customers. We live by our mission to provide a better beverage experience for our customers; and as a fourth-generation family-run company, we know that starts with great teams and innovative thinkers. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">We empower our people to turn their ideas into solutions, execute with integrity, deliver with quality, and take pride in their work. In turn, we foster a culture built on our values that supports everyone to be their best. </span><br /><br />Who we need</strong></p> <p>Reporting to the Plant Manager, we have an opportunity for a Continuous Improvement Specialist at our Ajax location. With a seat at the leadership table and working with the Operational Excellence team, you will be an integral part of helping us grow into a world-class facility, owning the CI project pipeline, implementing root cause analysis and aligning with 5S. You will apply your expertise and insights identifying, planning, and implementing Continuous Improvement initiatives. You&rsquo;ll be responsible for positive change across the plant in a variety of ways; reducing incidents, increasing safety, increasing efficiency, or reducing costs. You will get up to speed quickly on our business goals, environment, and technology, developing an understanding of how they work together; and, as a result, you&rsquo;ll instill a proactive and lean culture from the plant floor through to management. You will be a thought-leader, sharing knowledge and training others on new processes or tools, and nurturing a culture of change.</p> <p><strong>What's in it for you</strong></p> <p><em>A company that cares.</em> You will be part of a company that prioritizes health and safety. We sent a request to the provincial government for a vaccine clinic to be held on-site; and were able to vaccinate our employees and many of their family members as well. In addition, our COVID protocols include: a screening kiosk, human-to-human interaction if an alert is triggered, and multiple audits through the day to ensure disinfection, distancing (obtained partly through staggered shift starts and lunchroom barriers), and masking protocols are being adhered to.</p> <p><em>Impact and autonomy.</em> What we do today isn't necessarily what we will do tomorrow; we want your ideas, and we want you to play a role in bringing them to life. The impact of your work will be both&nbsp; immediate, with increased efficiencies and managing a co-op student and far-reaching at the organizational level. If you've enjoyed a premium tea or had a cup of coffee on the go in the morning, and it didn't cost you $5, it's probably been roasted and packaged by us.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Career development.</em> At Mother Parkers, our commitment to continuous improvement starts with our people. You will have the opportunity to enroll in our two-year leadership training program to build out your team-facing and people skills. Everyone on the production floor has achieved some level of Lead Six Sigma, and you will be supported as you pursue your black belt. Whether you are interested in moving up within Continuous Improvement / Operational Excellence, into a Technical Engineering role, Plant Manager, or pursuing another internal opportunity, you will be supported in your goals.</p>
Responsibilities: <p><strong>What you will do:</strong></p> <ul> <li><em>Set direction.</em> You will lead the Plant Continuous Improvement Program, ensuring it aligns with the Operational Excellence Roadmap as part of the strategic planning for the site in conjunction with the enterprise. You will align CI initiatives with the site's key performance indicators to drive SQCDPE improvement.</li> <li><em>Champion.</em> You will ensure the penetration of lean methodologies and tools to promote the extraction of dollars in play. You will identify where CI Systems are required to optimize manufacturing or transactional processes and design and implement the solution ensuring each system is scalable and sustainable.</li> <li><em>Collaborate.</em> You will work directly with the Plant Manager, and their teams to plan, set in motion, and execute specific CI projects. You will provide technical processing expertise to support yield improvement activities. You will work with Quality Assurance to identify areas to improve the process to perform within existing specification ranges.</li> <li><em>Build and execute a Continuous Improvement program.</em> You will lead, develop, coordinate, and execute value stream mapping activity for the site; and a comprehensive pipeline of improvement activities. You will ensure continuity of critical continuous improvement systems for each project and each value stream, for example, Kaizen, 5S, Visual Factory.</li> <li><em>Measure and report.</em> You will track CI progress and report to the business on a predetermined frequency. Along with Finance, you will demonstrate and track key metrics of improvements in each activity and ensure the sustainability of projects.</li> <li><em>Drive results.</em> You will work with the enterprise following the Lean/Six Sigma Framework as well as the framework for driving excellence in Maintenance ("Maintenance Excellence Program"). You will:&nbsp; <ul> <li>Balance prioritization to optimize results across the Operational Framework SQCDPE.</li> <li>Leverage benchmark's to identify objectives.&nbsp;</li> <li>Ensure sharing and standardization of best practices.</li> <li>Work closely with the engineering and processing teams to drive efficiency and yields in processing and packaging operations.</li> <li>Propose and implement new methods and processes for existing production systems, i.e., Probat DMS, MS AX, Powerplant, control systems.</li> <li>Analyze and define PM requirements vs. manufacturer's recommendations, current service intervals, and breakdown history.</li> </ul> </li> <li><em>Inspire and influence.</em> You will lead, develop and coordinate continuous improvement transformation plans for plant management and supervisors, including charter development and implementation plans.</li> </ul>
Requirements: <p><strong>What you bring to the role:</strong></p> <ul> <li><em>The education and experience.</em> You may have a degree or diploma in Engineering (Industrial, Mechanical), Operations Research, or Engineering Management. You have certification in Continuous Improvement and a lean Six Sigma green belt (internally recognized is okay). Lean six sigma black belt would be an asset. You have applied your theoretical knowledge over the last five years working in manufacturing or production, ideally in a cross-functional environment focused on Industrial cost control, reporting and analysis, safety, and efficiency.</li> <li><em>The interpersonal skills.</em> You have the ability to influence without authority, engaging and inspiring people at every level with the continuous improvement processes and projects you lead. Your communication skills are exceptional, and you can build strong relationships with everyone you work with on the production floor, management, and senior leadership. You are willing to start or end work earlier or later to meet with different shifts, teams, and managers.</li> <li><em>The logic.</em> You have outstanding critical thinking skills. You are solution-oriented and approach problems like an engineer. You have experience with industry-standard problem-solving methodologies (LSS, DMAIC).&nbsp;</li> <li><em>The project management.</em> You have end-to-end experience identifying, planning, resourcing, executing, and evaluating projects.&nbsp;</li> <li><em>The technical knowledge.</em> You have advanced-level MS Office (primarily Excel, PowerPoint, Visio) and data manipulation (e.g. minitab, sigmaXL) and visualization skills.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><strong>What we offer you:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">We want you to feel appreciated. We provide a competitive Total Rewards package, including health benefits from Day 1, employer matched retirement savings plans, and optional Health or Wellness Spending Account. In addition, many of our team members enjoy flex hours and the opportunity to work from home.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">We value continuous learning, skills development, and career growth and we offer a Tuition Assistance Program for learning outside our environment.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">We want you to take your work home. While you don&rsquo;t have to drink coffee to work here, we have an employee discount on our tea and coffee products.</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you want to join our mission of creating a better beverage experience as an integral and valued member of our team, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">and you have 70% or more of the qualifications we are looking for, we invite you to express your interest here. While we can&rsquo;t guarantee an interview, we do promise to review your resume and see if this might be a good fit for both of us.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mother Parkers is committed to providing accommodations for persons with disabilities. Accommodation is available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.</span></p> <br /> <p>&nbsp;</p>