The Operations Excellence Practitioner serves as a continuous improvement expert supporting multiple sites by leading high-impact initiatives that advance the ROOT Operational Excellence program. This role evaluates performance, identifies improvement opportunities, and executes structured CI projects that drive measurable business results. Practitioners act as subject matter experts in developing and piloting new CI programs, provide hands-on problem-solving support, and deliver training that strengthens site capabilities. The ideal candidate combines strong analytical skills with practical operational insight to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and sustain long-term performance improvements across the network.
Responsibilities:
- Evaluate current-state processes against industry best practices and performance benchmarks to identify improvement opportunities.
- Prioritize continuous improvement initiatives based on return on investment, operational impact, and level of effort.
- Act as a subject matter expert in developing, piloting, and improving CI programs, standards, and methodologies within the ROOT Operational Excellence framework.
- Execute short- and long-term continuous improvement projects across sites, including planning, implementation, tracking, and documentation of process changes.
- Apply structured problem-solving methods and CI tools to eliminate causes of inefficiencies, margin erosion, and non-value-added activities.
- Analyze KPI and performance data to assess results, validate financial impact, and adjust improvement actions as needed.
- Create and maintain site-specific dashboards, reports, and metrics to demonstrate progress, sustainability, and long-term impact.
- Develop and deploy continuous improvement training and activities to support ROOT, Ardent Mills Operational Excellence program, across multiple sites.
Experience and Education:
&bull: Bachelor's degree in business administration, industrial engineering, mechanical engineer, or a related field or 4-6+ years of experience in Continuous Improvement for manufacturing
&bull: Experience with continuous improvement, 5S, lean manufacturing, kaizen, lean six sigma, root cause analysis, and value stream mapping
&bull: Technical acumen including systems and data visualization
&bull: Excellent written and verbal communication including facilitation skills
&bull: 1-2 years managing projects using project management tools or technology
&bull: Knowledge of capital expenditure process and requirements
&bull: Proficiency in using various operations systems
&bull: Leadership, coaching, and /or mentoring
Good to Have:
&bull: Lean, Six Sigma, or related certification
&bull: Ability to work in a fast paced and changing environment
&bull: Ability to communicate with all levels of the organization
&bull: Experience delivering transactional process improvement
&bull: Flexibility and diplomacy with coworkers
&bull: Ability to make decisions as well as influence decision-making
&bull: Ability to weigh and manage priorities
&bull: Ability to manage multiple projects and programs simultaneously
Physical Requirements and Working Conditions (With or without reasonable accommodation):
&bull: Ability to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) as is required by the operating areas
&bull: Ability to work a machine paced continuous process that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with conditions which include:
o Heat / cold temperatures (inclement weather)
o Indoor/ outdoor environment
o Dusty environment
o Noisy environment
o Frequent moving/ vibration/ or other motion of equipment / process
o Elevated places, to include stairs/ladders
Other Considerations:
&bull: Up to 40% travel
Team members must be clean shaven in order to perform tasks where respiratory protection is required and the use of a respirator (including N-95 dust mask) requires a proper seal for adequate protection.
