Operations Continuous Improvement Specialist

Foodstuffs South Island Limited; Christchurch; On-site; NZD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Foodstuffs South Island Limited is seeking an Operations Continuous Improvement Specialist based at our Hornby distribution centre. You will identify opportunities to improve processes, implement practical changes, and work with site leaders to embed better ways of working.

You’ll observe how work is done, develop documentation, run workshops, train users and build business cases to secure support for changes that enhance safety, efficiency and consistency across our Supply Chain.

Qualifications

• Experience in Supply Chain operations and systems
• Strong problem solving and analytical skills
• Ability to design and implement improved ways of working
• Willingness to train and coach users through change

Responsibilities

• Observe distribution centre operations and identify improvement opportunities
• Design and implement changes to processes, documentation and systems
• Facilitate workshops and training sessions for users
• Develop business cases to gain support for change

Skills

Supply Chain operations

Continuous Improvement

Problem solving

Data analysis

Communication

Stakeholder engagement

Teamwork

Tools

SAP

EWN

TM

Job description

About the role:

Our Supply Chain team play a huge part in our purpose of feeding the South. Every day, they keep product moving across the South Island. The Operations Continuous Improvement Specialist supports our Supply Chain by making sure the operational teams have processes, systems and ways of working in place to operate safely, efficiently and consistently.

Reporting to the Operations Continuous Improvement Lead, you'll work closely with leaders and teams across our distribution centers and transport operations to identify opportunities for improvement. You’ll use your knowledge of Supply Chain operations alongside your problem solving and analytical skills to come up with creative solutions to embed better ways of working.

This is a hands‑on role based at our Distribution Centre in Hornby. You’ll observe how work gets done, talk with the teams to understand what challenges they might be facing and what outcomes are (or aren’t) being produced. From there, you’ll use that information as your base to design and implement improvements – whether that be developing documentation, facilitating workshops, training users or pulling together a business case to gain support for change.

About you:

You've got an eye for spotting the small details, things that might not yet be perceived as an issue or may be overlooked, but you can see room for improvement. You’re curious and inquisitive and enjoy digging into the root cause and finding smarter ways to get things done. It might be a small tweak, a re‑design or a brand new idea.

You use your operational knowledge with critical thinking and problem solving to come up with practical solutions. Most importantly, you are passionate about continuous improvement and motivated by making things work better.

You enjoy engaging with people, building relationships, listening to perspectives, and bringing people along for the journey. You're a team player and open to feedback from your team, whilst being collaborative and working with the end users to make your idea work even better than you had imagined.

You'll also bring:

• Experience in Supply Chain operations and systems (SAP, EWN, TM – highly regarded)
• Confidence to challenge existing ways of working, whilst remaining open to the ideas and perspectives of others
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to understand and translate technical information to a variety of audiences
• The ability to influence at all levels as well as train, coach and support users through change
• A collaborative approach and genuine enjoyment working with others including front line teams
• A naturally inquisitive mindset with strong critical thinking and investigative skills

Don't tick every box? We'd still love to hear from you.

We are looking for individuals with diverse experiences and are keen to hear from those who believe they have the drive and potential to succeed in this role.