Lead Process Excellence Engineer — Lean & Trials

pladis Foods Limited; Greater London; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

pladis seeks a Senior Process Engineer – Process Excellence to drive productivity across R&D and manufacturing, using Lean Six Sigma, SPC and robust trial design to cut waste and improve throughput. Reporting to the Director of Process Excellence.

You will plan and run process trials, perform root-cause analysis, and collaborate with Engineering, Operations, Quality, Procurement, Supply Chain and R&D to deliver measurable improvements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Food Science, Manufacturing or related discipline.
• Experience in process engineering, process improvement or technical trials within a manufacturing or R&D environment.
• Good working knowledge of Lean Six Sigma, SPC, root cause analysis and structured problem-solving tools.

Responsibilities

• Plan, run and evaluate process trials for new products, processes, machinery and technology using data to assess performance.
• Apply 5 Whys, Fishbone diagrams and data review to identify true causes of inefficiencies, defects and variation.
• Develop and implement optimisation plans to improve quality, efficiency, capacity and cost.
• Establish and monitor KPIs and SPC measures to sustain improvements.
• Identify and reduce waste across seven areas: overproduction, waiting, transport, extra processing, inventory, motion and defects.
• Provide process input into selection, purchase and implementation of new equipment.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Operations, Quality, Procurement, Supply Chain and R&D to deliver improvements.

Skills

Lean Six Sigma

SPC

Root cause analysis

Data interpretation

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/related

Tools

5 Whys

Fishbone diagrams

DOE (design of experiments)

Job description

pladis seeks a Senior Process Engineer – Process Excellence to drive productivity across R&D and manufacturing, using Lean Six Sigma, SPC and robust trial design to cut waste and improve throughput. Reporting to the Director of Process Excellence.

You will plan and run process trials, perform root-cause analysis, and collaborate with Engineering, Operations, Quality, Procurement, Supply Chain and R&D to deliver measurable improvements.