With approximately 5,000 employees and 13 production locations across the U.S., Danone North America's mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.
You’ll be part of one of the largest Certified B Corps™ in the world, working to make sure our company creates real value for people and the planet. Come join our movement for a healthier world: One Planet. One Health BY YOU.
Danone North America is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. It is our policy to give equal employment opportunities to all qualified persons without regard to legally protected characteristics, or any other consideration made unlawful by applicable federal, state/provincial and/or local law. For our EEO policy statement and your EEO rights under law click here.
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At Danone, Manufacturing the best products and supplying them to meet demand is a key driver for our plant teams. We are currently looking to hire a IWS / Continuous Improvement Manager based in our Fort Worth, Texas yogurt manufacturing facility! In this role, you will report to the Plant Director and will lead the continuous improvement team and the continuous improvement program for the site. The IWS Manager/ Continuous Improvement Manager will be responsible for driving a culture of continuous improvement and driving operational excellence to all areas of the site. This includes defining the IWS (Integrated Work Systems) strategy for the site in execution of Danone’s IWS program, coaching site leaders in execution of IWS programs, and being a hands-on servant leader to enable change management in the plant. This role serves as a change agent and systems thinker, enabling a zero-loss culture while also advancing the digitization and simplification of key work systems. The IWS Manager/ Continuous Improvement Manager, must be a change catalyst with strong communication and time management skills and have the ability to quickly flow between strategic thinking and tactical coaching and execution.
In this role, you will be responsible for:
- Lead IWS Strategy & Deployment
- Owns and manages the overall IWS Program Masterplan in the site ensuring effectiveness of change management, adoption of systems and culture, integration across pillars and functions, and delivery of all result areas
- Facilitates the phased implementation of IWS Pillars (HSE/Quality/AM/PM/FI/E&T/Org) across all departments
- Develop and Manage IWS governance routines and reporting structures
- Facilitate the development of action plans to variances as identified through the audit process
- Champion the digital integration of IWS tools and systems, replacing manual paper-based processes with intuitive, tech enables solutions
- Capability Building & Coaching
- Acts as an internal partner for the site to lead, define, develop, and coach IWS activities to drive improvement in all result areas and KPI’s across all levels, from front line employees to site leadership
- Coach pillar owners, area leaders, and line teams on IWS tools and methodologies
- Facilitates training sessions and workshops to develop deep system understanding and ownership
- Coaches and facilitates the site strategic planning process in collaboration with the site leadership team and ensures consistent adherence to the process including monthly scorecard reporting and gap analysis
- Coach and mentor site resources – CI engineers and Operational Excellence leaders - in CI activities
- Daily Management Systems
- Ensure robust execution of DMS at all levels
- Drives the visual management, loss identification, and problem-solving routines that support run-to-target behaviors.
- Conducts regular and periodic audits and health checks of the Site CI Program and each pillar
- Loss Elimination and Continuous Improvemen
- Identifies key opportunities for process improvement and partners with process owners to lead activities to deliver sustainable and repeatable change and improve business result
- Lead site-wide loss analysis processes to identify and prioritize chronic and sporadic losse
- Supports, mentors, and at times lead teams on problem-solving efforts to improve safety, quality, and eliminate waste/cost at the local level through root cause analysis, Kaizen, and other CI event
- Owns and manages the Focused Improvement Pillar in the site defining the problem-solving capability, tools, and strategy across the site as well as coaching the execution and implementing countermeasures and driving action plans to resolution
- Track and report improvement project results and ROI to ensure delivery of business goals
- Identifies and leverages best practices across the plant and shares broadly across the network CI team to improve standards and guidelines for company TPM implementation
- Simplify complex systems and documentation into clear, scalable standards that enhance frontline ownership and understanding
- Cultural Transformation & Engagement
- Champion a zero-loss mindset and drive behavioral change aligned with IWS principles
- Embed systems that promote employee engagement, empowerment, and structured problems solving
- Enable high levels of team engagement by embedding digital and simplified systems that make work easier and more empowering
- Metrics and Performance
- Develops and prepares metrics and reports to drive action and change through the CI program
- Monitor IWS KPIs and report progress to site and regional leadership
- Continually assess system maturity and develop plans to close capability gaps
- Manage the site productivity process and pipeline to deliver savings vs. commitment
- Collaborate with IT, automation and engineering teams to implement user-friendly digital platforms (e.g., dashboards, mobile reporting tools, real time KPI Visibility)
Danone North America additionally offers a performance-based bonus and has a strong benefits package including Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug Coverage, 401k Plan, Wellness Program, Life Insurance, Tuition Reimbursement, Flexible Time Off, and Paid Parental Bonding Leave, among other benefit plan options.
' workfromhome="On-site" isicimsjob="" url="iws-continuous-improvement-manager-19006-en-us" recruiteremail="Brandon.WHITE@danone.com" id="contentfragment-9dfa0a0359">About the job
At Danone, Manufacturing the best products and supplying them to meet demand is a key driver for our plant teams. We are currently looking to hire a IWS / Continuous Improvement Manager based in our Fort Worth, Texas yogurt manufacturing facility! In this role, you will report to the Plant Director and will lead the continuous improvement team and the continuous improvement program for the site. The IWS Manager/ Continuous Improvement Manager will be responsible for driving a culture of continuous improvement and driving operational excellence to all areas of the site. This includes defining the IWS (Integrated Work Systems) strategy for the site in execution of Danone’s IWS program, coaching site leaders in execution of IWS programs, and being a hands-on servant leader to enable change management in the plant. This role serves as a change agent and systems thinker, enabling a zero-loss culture while also advancing the digitization and simplification of key work systems. The IWS Manager/ Continuous Improvement Manager, must be a change catalyst with strong communication and time management skills and have the ability to quickly flow between strategic thinking and tactical coaching and execution.
In this role, you will be responsible for:
- Lead IWS Strategy & Deployment
- Owns and manages the overall IWS Program Masterplan in the site ensuring effectiveness of change management, adoption of systems and culture, integration across pillars and functions, and delivery of all result areas
- Facilitates the phased implementation of IWS Pillars (HSE/Quality/AM/PM/FI/E&T/Org) across all departments
- Develop and Manage IWS governance routines and reporting structures
- Facilitate the development of action plans to variances as identified through the audit process
- Champion the digital integration of IWS tools and systems, replacing manual paper-based processes with intuitive, tech enables solutions
- Capability Building & Coaching
- Acts as an internal partner for the site to lead, define, develop, and coach IWS activities to drive improvement in all result areas and KPI’s across all levels, from front line employees to site leadership
- Coach pillar owners, area leaders, and line teams on IWS tools and methodologies
- Facilitates training sessions and workshops to develop deep system understanding and ownership
- Coaches and facilitates the site strategic planning process in collaboration with the site leadership team and ensures consistent adherence to the process including monthly scorecard reporting and gap analysis
- Coach and mentor site resources – CI engineers and Operational Excellence leaders - in CI activities
- Daily Management Systems
- Ensure robust execution of DMS at all levels
- Drives the visual management, loss identification, and problem-solving routines that support run-to-target behaviors.
- Conducts regular and periodic audits and health checks of the Site CI Program and each pillar
- Loss Elimination and Continuous Improvemen
- Identifies key opportunities for process improvement and partners with process owners to lead activities to deliver sustainable and repeatable change and improve business result
- Lead site-wide loss analysis processes to identify and prioritize chronic and sporadic losse
- Supports, mentors, and at times lead teams on problem-solving efforts to improve safety, quality, and eliminate waste/cost at the local level through root cause analysis, Kaizen, and other CI event
- Owns and manages the Focused Improvement Pillar in the site defining the problem-solving capability, tools, and strategy across the site as well as coaching the execution and implementing countermeasures and driving action plans to resolution
- Track and report improvement project results and ROI to ensure delivery of business goals
- Identifies and leverages best practices across the plant and shares broadly across the network CI team to improve standards and guidelines for company TPM implementation
- Simplify complex systems and documentation into clear, scalable standards that enhance frontline ownership and understanding
- Cultural Transformation & Engagement
- Champion a zero-loss mindset and drive behavioral change aligned with IWS principles
- Embed systems that promote employee engagement, empowerment, and structured problems solving
- Enable high levels of team engagement by embedding digital and simplified systems that make work easier and more empowering
- Metrics and Performance
- Develops and prepares metrics and reports to drive action and change through the CI program
- Monitor IWS KPIs and report progress to site and regional leadership
- Continually assess system maturity and develop plans to close capability gaps
- Manage the site productivity process and pipeline to deliver savings vs. commitment
- Collaborate with IT, automation and engineering teams to implement user-friendly digital platforms (e.g., dashboards, mobile reporting tools, real time KPI Visibility)
Danone North America additionally offers a performance-based bonus and has a strong benefits package including Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug Coverage, 401k Plan, Wellness Program, Life Insurance, Tuition Reimbursement, Flexible Time Off, and Paid Parental Bonding Leave, among other benefit plan options.