Continuous Improvement Specialist

Christensen Farms is one of the largest family-owned pork producers in the United States marketing approximately 3 million hogs per year. Headquartered in Sleepy Eye Minnesota our 50 year old company operates throughout the Midwest with facilities in Minnesota Iowa Nebraska Illinois and South Dakota. Christensen Farms owns three feed mills manages 140000 sows on 44 farms and oversees more than 350 nurseries and grow-finish sites. Our organization employs nearly 1000 people and maintains 1500 contract partnerships. We are an industry leader with a proven commitment to ethical practices food safety and nutrition. Join our team!

Position Overview:

We are seeking a LEAN Continuous Improvement Specialist to collaborate with operational leadership in driving LEAN initiatives and fostering a culture of continuous improvement across the organization. This role is instrumental in identifying inefficiencies implementing sustainable process enhancements and supporting long-term strategies that boost productivity quality and cost savings.

From Our Manager:

This is an exciting opportunity to advance your career while making meaningful impact as a driving force for continuous this role youll take the lead on enhancing operational efficiency across our swine production system working independently and building strong cross-functional relationships. Youll play a key role in implementing LEAN principles and shaping the future of our performance-driven culture.

• Hiring Manager

What You Will Do:

• Assist in training team members on LEAN program objectives while supporting the planning and execution of Kaizen events using LEAN Six Sigma tools.
• Identify and prioritize process improvement opportunities that reduce waste lower costs and enhance execution by leveraging available resources such as people materials and finances.
• Collaborate with production sites and support departments to drive continuous improvement develop clear implementation plans and timelines and resolve technical problems with appropriate resources.
• Solicit employee buy-in to support successful change management initiatives and ensure sustained improvements across all levels.
• Conduct in-depth analyses to assess current conditions evaluate improvement potential and communicate intervention needs to the LEAN/Continuous Improvement Manager.
• Monitor execution at LEAN-trained sites through routine audits of tools like 5S and Standard Work while teaching and tracking performance metrics and key deliverables.

What You Offer Us:

• Agricultural and/or manufacturing process improvement experience in continuous improvement using LEAN Six Sigma techniques. Highly prefer LEAN training certification and experience as a green belt implementing projects under the direction of a black belt. Black belt certification a plus. Will consider a range of experience from yellow through black belt certified.
• Ability to clearly present information influence behaviors and communicate across departments.
• Ability to travel: This role may involve frequent travel for the first 18-24 months as part of a long-term project rollout across multiple production sites. Once implementation is complete the position will shift into a more permanent regional-based role.
• Strong critical thinking creativity and motivational skills in fast-paced team-driven settings prioritizing relationship-building earning trust and inspiring confidence across all levels of the organization.
• A data-driven and curious mindset with a strong focus on measuring work outcomes and creatively solving problems.
• Flexible organized and compliance-focused with the sound judgment needed to escalate issues appropriately and ensure operational integrity.
• Other Preferences: Strong Bilingual language skills in English and Spanish. Farm and/or livestock care and/or process improvement experience.

What We Offer You:

• Join a respected family-owned leader in pork production with a 50-year legacy of innovation integrity and animal care.
• Take advantage of hands-on leadership opportunities ongoing training and clear career advancement paths within a collaborative team environment that values hard work accountability and personal growth across all levels of farm operations.
• We offer a comprehensive benefits package including health dental vision a flexible spending account (FSA) life insurance short-term disability long-term disability a 401(k) plan paid holidays paid time off bank an employee assistance program (EAP) and more.
• Be an active part of an organization that gives back to the community in many ways including feed programs that support local farms food shelf programs food support for veterans agriculture education and promotion FFA/4H support charitable contributions etc.
• A company that has a passionate purpose for food safety animal welfare and for living its core values every day respect integrity excellence adaptability and innovation.
• A culture that fosters employee growth hybrid work options promotion from within and a highly team-oriented workplace environment.
• The targeted base pay range for this role is $65000 to $85000 with this range reflecting differences in candidate knowledge skills and experience.

Reports To:

Live Operations Continuous Improvement Manager

Christensen Farms promotes a culture of inclusion and strives to attract a diverse set of candidates for each of our open positions. We are an equal employment opportunity employer and proud to offer employment and growth opportunities to all candidates without regard to race color ancestry religion gender national origin pregnancy sexual orientation age citizenship marital status disability gender identity or veteran status.

Learn more about how you can put your passion and talent to work with us at:

Experience:

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