Sanitation & Changeover Program Manager

creative werks; Elk Grove Village (IL); On-site; USD 85,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

10% bonus opportunity

Job summary

Creative Werks in Elk Grove Village, Illinois is seeking a Sanitation & Changeover Program Manager to oversee sanitation and changeover programs. The ideal candidate will ensure compliance and lead continuous improvement initiatives to maximize efficiency in a food production environment.

The role involves supervising staff, managing sanitation vendors, and conducting root cause analysis on incidents. A Bachelor's degree in a related field and at least 5 years of relevant experience are required.

Qualifications

• Strong experience leading food plant sanitation and quality operations.
• Proven experience facilitating Kaizen and SMED events.
• Strong knowledge of creating and reviewing SSOPs.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain sanitation and changeover programs.
• Drive continuous improvement through data analysis and KPIs.
• Lead Kaizen events to enhance productivity.

Skills

Sanitation principles

Root cause analysis tools

GMP's

Continuous Improvement techniques

Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt

Communication skills

Microsoft Office and SharePoint

Collaborative approach

Education

Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in life or physical sciences, Food Science, Engineering or related field

Tools

ERP software

Analytics tools (Sisense, Tableau)

Job description

Job Summary

The Sanitation & Changeover Program Manager is responsible for the creation, maintenance, and training of sanitation and changeover programs to ensure consistent execution of production equipment and facility activities throughout the creative werks facility. This role regularly interacts with other operational functions of the business and supply chain to ensure that tasks are completed in a timely manner, with minimal disruption to asset availability.

Responsibilities

• Own the development, standardization, documentation, and training of all sanitation and changeover programs, including MSS, SSOPs, and standard work to ensure consistent execution.
• Drive continuous improvement of sanitation and changeover performance through time studies, KPI tracking, data analysis (Pareto), and facilitation of Lean events (Kaizen, SMED).
• Lead and facilitate Kaizen events, including 5‑S, SMED, and 1st Pass ATP.
• Lead and own new equipment and asset implementation with sanitation and changeover focus in partnership with engineering, quality, production and maintenance.
• Ensure the effective utilization of labor and other resources to maximize efficiency and productivity or the sanitation function delivering the proper cost models to cw.
• Owner for end‑to‑end changeover program (disassembly, sanitation, reassembly, setup) in partnership with Production, Quality and Maintenance departments.
• Ensure sanitation compliance through routine inspections, GMP monitoring, audit program development, and participation in internal and external audits.
• Own sanitation KPIs and action plans within Daily Management Systems (DMS).
• Assist in developing and maintenance of Sanitation budgets.
• Responsible for management of sanitation vendors such as chemical and cleaning equipment suppliers.
• Effectively supervise, mentor, and coach (12) employees on sanitation best practices.
• Investigate and lead root cause analysis on Sanitation incidents (i.e. Safety violations, environmental issues, etc.), implement corrective and preventative actions.
• Manage inventory of spare parts and tooling in CMMS (M+).
• Improve employee morale within their team and the sanitation program.
• Model the Company’s values of passion, resilience, performance, creativity, accuracy, balance, collaboration, flexibility, and innovation.
• Perform other duties and improvement projects as assigned by Management.

Requirements

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities

• Strong knowledge of sanitation principles, such as basic steps of dry and wet sanitation, MSS design (PIC/PEC), CIP/COP, 4T’s of cleaning, chemistry of cleaning detergents and sanitizing agents, verification/validation.
• Strong knowledge of root cause analysis tools (i.e. Ishikawa/Cause and Effect Diagrams, 5‑Why, etc.).
• Working knowledge of GMP’s, HACCP/PCQI, allergens, environmental monitoring, pest control, GFSI audits (SQF preferred).
• Working knowledge of Continuous Improvement techniques or LEAN tools (i.e. Kaizen, PDCA, 5S, SMED, Process Mapping/Swimlane charting, Waste).
• Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office and SharePoint is required. Familiarity and adaptability to auxiliary programs such as ERP, analytics tools (Sisense, Tableau).
• Collaborative approach: able to work cross‑functionally and with external resources.
• Bi‑lingual preferred.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in life or physical sciences, Food Science, Engineering, related field.
• Experience in quality leadership in food plant sanitation, quality or operations, 5+ years preferred.
• Proven experience facilitating and leading Kaizen and SMED events for improving changeover time.
• Experience creating and developing changeover matrices and SKU sequencing optimization for scheduling.
• Strong experience and understanding of writing and reviewing SSOPs.
• Certified SQF Practitioner or equivalent.
• Certified in HACCP and/or PCQI.
• Experienced or certified in internal auditing.
• Experience leading projects and/or product commercialization.

Food Safety Responsibilities

• Attend all food safety training sessions (GMP, SQF, HACCP, allergen, food facility security, preventing foodborne illness).
• Participate in company GMP walks.
• Participate in company Food Safety Team meetings.
• Help ensure that all food safety and quality management systems are established, implemented, and updated.
• Maintain and create quality documentation.
• Enforce company rules regarding food safety and monitoring.
• Assist with the maintenance of SQF and HACCP documentation.
• Assist during client and third‑party audits.
• Perform internal audit processes and procedures.

Working Conditions

• Ability to work between an office setting and warehouse environment with temperature range of 55 – 80 degrees.
• Wet, dry or dusty work environments during sanitation and production periods.

Physical Requirements

• Must be comfortable between a mix of active physical work or extended time at a desk.
• Lift up to 25 pounds.
• Operate standard office equipment.

Salary: $85,000 - $100,000 plus 10% bonus opportunity.