Focused Improvement Specialist

Mars Incorporated; North Sioux City (SD); On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company bonus

Job summary

Mars Incorporated in the United States is seeking a Site Focused Improvement Specialist to drive structured loss elimination and sustainable performance improvement across the manufacturing site. You will identify operational losses, solve root causes, and implement practical improvements to reduce waste, improve quality, increase throughput, and strengthen cost performance.

You will partner with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Maintenance, Planning, Continuous Improvement, and Industrial

Qualifications

• 2 to 3+ years in manufacturing, operations, or continuous improvement.
• Strong problem-solving and data translation to actions.
• Experience with RCA, DMAIC, 5 Why, fishbone or A3.
• Ability to work across hourly associates to leaders.

Responsibilities

• Lead focused improvement initiatives to reduce waste and downtime.
• Use structured tools to identify root causes and countermeasures.
• Partner with functions to convert losses into action plans.
• Analyze production data and KPIs to identify recurring issues.
• Coach teams on problem-solving and continuous improvement.

Skills

Structured problem solving

Root cause analysis

Data interpretation

Cross-functional collaboration

On-floor observation

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain

Tools

SPC

Loss trees

Value stream mapping

Production reporting systems

Daily management systems

Job description

Job Description

The Site Focused Improvement Specialist is responsible for driving structured loss elimination and sustainable performance improvement across the manufacturing site. This role focuses on identifying operational losses, solving root causes, and implementing practical improvements that reduce waste, improve quality, increase throughput, and strengthen cost performance.

This position partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Maintenance, Planning, Continuous Improvement, and Industrial Engineering teams to turn data and floor observations into measurable improvement actions.

What Are We Looking For?

Minimum

• 2 to 3+ years of experience in manufacturing, operations, continuous improvement, quality, engineering, maintenance, production support, or industrial engineering.
• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing operations, production systems, and performance loss drivers.
• Experience using structured problem-solving tools such as RCA, DMAIC, 5 Why, fishbone, A3, or similar methodologies.
• Ability to collect, analyze, and translate operational data into practical improvement actions.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing KPIs such as waste, scrap, downtime, throughput, efficiency, quality losses, labor productivity, schedule adherence, or equipment performance.
• Strong communication, facilitation, and collaboration skills across hourly associates, supervisors, managers, and support functions.
• Comfortable spending time on the production floor across shifts to understand problems at the source.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple improvement actions and follow through to completion.

Preferred

• Experience in food, beverage, consumer products, aerospace, automotive, pharmaceutical, packaging, logistics, or regulated manufacturing environments.
• Bachelor's degree within Supply Chain function.
• Green Belt, Black Belt, Lean, TPM, Six Sigma, or equivalent continuous improvement certification.
• Experience with SPC, production reporting systems, loss trees, waste reporting, value stream mapping, or daily management systems.
• Experience supporting continuous improvement, operational excellence, focused improvement, TPM, or manufacturing excellence programs.
• Strong ability to influence laterally in a relationship-based team environment.

What Will Your Key Responsibilities Be?

• Lead and support focused improvement initiatives to reduce waste, quality losses, downtime, production inefficiencies, and other operational cost drivers.
• Use structured problem-solving tools such as RCA, DMAIC, 5 Why, fishbone, Pareto analysis, A3, value stream mapping, and floor observations to identify and eliminate root causes.
• Partner with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Maintenance, Planning, Continuous Improvement, and Industrial Engineering teams to convert identified losses into clear action plans and measurable improvement projects.
• Analyze production data, waste reports, downtime trends, quality losses, process performance, and other operational KPIs to identify recurring issues and improvement opportunities.
• Support site performance improvement by making losses visible, prioritizing high-impact opportunities, and driving actions to completion.
• Facilitate cross-functional problem-solving sessions and ensure actions are assigned, tracked, verified, and sustained.
• Work directly with line teams, supervisors, and area owners to validate problems at the source and build ownership for improvement actions.
• Help develop and sustain standards, routines, controls, and best practices that prevent recurrence of losses.
• Coach associates and leaders on basic problem-solving methods and continuous improvement routines.
• Support continuous improvement deployment by connecting improvement activities to site priorities, operating standards, and performance management routines.
• Spend significant time on the manufacturing floor observing processes, validating data, engaging teams, and confirming countermeasure effectiveness.
• Collaborate with local and regional Continuous Improvement / Industrial Engineering networks to share best practices and support improvement activities when needed.
• Travel up to 25% to participate in training, benchmarking, and support activities across the network.

What can you expect from Mars?

• Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by The Five Principles
• Join a purpose driven company, where we're striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today
• Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University
• An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus