Continuous Improvement Manager - Elk Grove Village, ILThe Irca Group is an International Leader in high quality finished and semi-finished ingredients for the bakery, pastry, and ice cream markets. With a solid history of over 100 years in the industry, the Group has its headquarters in Italy (Gallarate) and a strong global footprint with 23 production sites and over 2000 employees in Europe, the United States and Vietnam.Our core product categories include chocolate, compounds, chocolate decorations, sprinkles, creams, pastry mixes, gelato ingredients, nuts and candied fruit. The most recent acquisition of Kerry Sweet complements our existing categories with the addition of sweet particulates, chocolate confections, inclusions, variegates and frozen fruit purees.Through its 8 key brands (IRCA, Dobla®, in2food, Via Degli Orsini, JoyGelato, RaviFruit, Cesarin and Anastasi®) the IRCA Group offers an unparalleled "one-stop shop" approach for delivering quality solutions to all ingredients needs, through a broad range of innovative products. We offer every day and seasonal solutions to 3 macro channels: Gourmet, Food Manufacturing and Consumer Product (Retail). "Extraordinary made simple"About the roleThe Continuous Improvement Manager will play integral part of the Site Leadership Team, and will set the overall continuous improvement (CI) strategy and manage execution for the respective functional areas. The scope of the role in?uences all site activities (Production, Warehouse, HR, Finance, Engineering, QA, and Supply Chain) to contribute to operational and overall business improvement in a systematic and sustainable manner. This role is critical to the organization using lean tools to eliminate waste and enable growth. This role will also lead an overall site transformation by redesigning line layouts, material flow and labor automation.Key Responsibilities• Develop and implement an e?ective CI strategy that encompasses all site functions.• Ensure this strategy meets the goals of the site and overall business strategy ensuring all stakeholders are engaged.• Continually review and adjust the strategy in line with internal and external changes. • Create, design, and deliver capital engineering solutions that minimize product cost to enable growth in the market.• Identify & deliver non-capital margin enhancing cost optimization initiatives.• Create & embed a 'cost ownership' mentality within the team• Ensure the site key performance indicators (KPI's) (Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost) are achieved through a rigorous performance management system• Act as a change agent, coaching, mentoring and in?uencing at all levels to a?ect the required CI culture.• Drive the standardization of all structures, work, training, procedures, and records across the plant• Promote new ideas and feedback from others and be prepared to take personal risk in order to accelerate your growth• Facilitate the education of the team in the principles, philosophies, and tools of CI. Administer training programs that foster cross-functional deployment of continuous improvement. Develop, train and mentor employees to foster a strong culture of continuous improvement examples include:o Visiting the factory ?oor dailyo Con?rming standardized processes o Insisting that problems are made visibleo Questioning to ensure the root cause has been found o Supporting the standard tiered KPI meeting governanceSkills Required• Bachelor's degree, or in Business Management, Engineering, or a related ?eld• 3+ years of relevant experience, 5+ years manufacturing experience• CI Knowledge: A deep understanding of the principles and tools of lean manufacturing (Visual Controls/5S, RCA, SMED, Standard Work, Line Balancing, Waste Reduction, VSM, Kaizens, TOC, PDCA, and OEE)• Experience with implementing lean manufacturing processes and principles with a multi-functional team• Experience with the eight lean wastes of manufacturing, including how to address them and improve them at a food manufacturing facility• Experience facilitating Kaizen events using Kaizen methodology and lean tools to drive rapid, sustainable improvements in a manufacturing environmentAdditional preferences• Previous experience in food or pharmaceutical manufacturing• Bilingual in Spanish• Capital project planning• Line layout transformation / Design for Lean• AutoCAD experience• Travel up 10% to support other priorities in the business. Why Join Us:Irca Group offers career growth opportunities as well as competitive compensation and benefits: Medical, Dental, & Vision, 401(k) matching, Paid Vacation, Sick Time, and Holidays, Employee Education Tuition Reimbursement Program