On-Floor Focused Improvement Lead

Mars Petcare; South Dakota; On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Mars Petcare is seeking a Site Focused Improvement Specialist to drive structured loss elimination and sustainable performance improvements across the manufacturing site. You will partner with Operations, Engineering, Quality, and Maintenance to translate data and floor observations into measurable actions.

You will lead cross-functional problem-solving efforts, analyze production data and KPIs, and coach teams on basic CI techniques while traveling up to 25% for training and benchmarking across

Qualifications

• 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 with RCA, DMAIC, 5 Why, fishbone, A3, or similar methodologies.
• Ability to collect, analyze, and translate data into practical improvement actions.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing KPIs such as waste, downtime, throughput, and quality losses.
• Strong communication and collaboration across hourly associates and management.
• Comfort on the production floor across shifts.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Skills

Manufacturing ops

Root-cause analysis

DMAIC

5 Why

A3

Data analysis

KPIs

Collaboration

Gemba

Project management

Education

High school diploma

Tools

SPC

Production reporting systems

Loss trees

Waste reporting

Value stream mapping

Daily management systems

Job description

Mars Petcare is seeking a Site Focused Improvement Specialist to drive structured loss elimination and sustainable performance improvements across the manufacturing site. You will partner with Operations, Engineering, Quality, and Maintenance to translate data and floor observations into measurable actions.

You will lead cross-functional problem-solving efforts, analyze production data and KPIs, and coach teams on basic CI techniques while traveling up to 25% for training and benchmarking across