Lean Manufacturing Changeover Specialist

We are looking for a Lean Manufacturing Changeover Specialist to lead changeover improvement initiatives for a high-volume manufacturing platform. This role is responsible for identifying opportunities to reduce changeover time while maintaining food safety, quality, effectiveness, and employee safety standards. The role will partner with production teams, platform leadership, Food Safety & Quality (FSQ), engineering, and operations personnel to analyze current processes, implement improvements, and drive sustainable performance gains.

Key Responsibilities:

· Analyze changeover processes and identify opportunities to reduce downtime while maintaining safety, quality, and operational effectiveness.

· Standardize changeover procedures, pre-changeover preparation activities, and best practices.

· Partner with team leads to optimize labor allocation, resource utilization, and execution efficiency.

· Coach teams to manage changeovers with the same discipline and urgency as production operations.

· Work closely with FSQ, operations, maintenance, and engineering teams to define cleaning requirements and reduce overcleaning.

· Develop and revise standard work instructions and task flows to improve changeover performance.

· Support risk assessments and ensure compliance with food safety, quality, and safety standards.

· Use Lean tools such as Value Stream Mapping, Process Mapping, 5 Whys, and Root Cause Analysis to identify and eliminate inefficiencies.

· Develop, execute, and evaluate changeover improvement experiments.

· Identify equipment, process, and tool enhancements that simplify cleaning and improve performance.

· Investigate and recommend capital improvement opportunities.

· Research internal and external best practices to improve changeover effectiveness.

· Apply creative problem-solving and innovative approaches to drive faster, safer, and more effective cleaning and changeover processes.

Core Qualifications:

· Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Industrial Technology, or a related technical field with a minimum of 5 years of manufacturing experience; OR High School Diploma/GED with a minimum of 10 years of manufacturing experience.

· Experience driving process improvement initiatives within a manufacturing environment.

· Working knowledge of manufacturing systems used for asset management, storeroom management, quality management, ERP systems, and environmental health & safety tracking.

· Experience with systems such as Maximo, quality information systems, ERP platforms, or similar manufacturing technologies.

· Strong understanding of Lean Manufacturing principles and problem-solving methodologies.

· Experience utilizing process mapping, value stream mapping, root cause analysis, 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams, and other continuous improvement tools.

· Demonstrated ability to coach teams and drive adherence to operational standards and processes.

· Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence across multiple levels of the organization.

· Ability to work a flexible schedule to support operational and changeover activities.

Preferred Qualifications:

· Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or Continuous Improvement certification/training.

· Experience in food manufacturing, consumer packaged goods (CPG), or regulated manufacturing environments.

· Knowledge of sanitation, food safety, and quality systems.

· Experience leading cross-functional operational improvement projects.

· Familiarity with Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), downtime reduction, and productivity improvement initiatives.

· Experience evaluating and implementing capital improvement opportunities.

· Strong analytical skills with experience using manufacturing performance data to drive decision-making.