Continuous Improvement Manager

Continuous Improvement Manager

Role Summary

Kilkenny Cheese is a joint venture between Tirlan and Dutch family business Royal A-ware, a 130-year-old company with strong positions in EU and global markets. The facility has started up in 2024 as a greenfield site at Belview, Co Kilkenny.

Rooted in our rich heritage of family farming and embedded in our communities, Tirlan has evolved to bring the passion of our farmers and their high-quality ingredients to the international marketplace. Using modern-day technology and applying the best processes to our milk pool of three billion litres, we now export innovative products and tailored ingredients solutions to be enjoyed in more than 100 countries.

Royal A-ware is a traditional Dutch family business with a passion for food and with a strong entrepreneurial attitude. Demand-led, we offer our clients tailored products and services. In recent years investments have been made in the development and management of own supply chains resulting in independence, efficiency, and flexibility. We are specialized in producing, ripening, cutting, and packaging cheese, and also produce and package cream and fresh dairy products.

Based in Belview in South Kilkenny the role reports to the Operations Manager and will support the ambitious business excellence program for Kilkenny Cheese Ltd,

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Providing leadership in the area of operational excellence and continuously improving the LEAN maturity of the site
• Contributing to the development of strategy focused on embedding a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement across the Kilkenny Cheese business

• Ensuring that the site daily management system KPI reviews and continuous improvement forums are embedded at all levels of the site, including putting in place health check to assess effectiveness & drive site wide improvements to achieve business targets

• Driving and embedding our continuous improvement strategy, culture, philosophies, tools & techniques across the site
• Provide relevant Continuous Improvement training & development programs for staff to ensure effective implementation & daily practice of continuous improvement / Lean techniques
• Leading the RCA process and ensure effectiveness in problem solving
• Implementing standardisation for all business critical processes (Business KPI’s, RCA, CI, and Standard Work) across the site
• Preforming systematic ongoing site wide performance analysis, identifying areas of opportunity, improvement & driving / supporting implementation of improvements.
• Lead, support & implement key business improvement projects across functions (One Right Way, Standard Work, 5S, Centerlining, etc.), facilitating & monitoring improvement initiatives.
• Defining process flows & standardised work in partnership with department teams with a view to producing, SOPs & value stream maps for all operations.
• Implementing best in class Visual Management System – communicating all key business information ensuring visibility & transparency.
• Working with functional leads on budget targets, constantly striving to reduce costs & improve efficiencies through detailed analysis and a continuous goal of eliminating waste.
• Coaching and mentoring of employees at all levels in the use of LEAN systems & tools
• Building and maintaining effective working relationships across the business to ensure appropriate alignment with business process improvement projects
• Communicating and engaging with people at all levels within the business in order to promote awareness and engagement in development activities

Experience

• Third level qualification or significant (+7 years) relevant hands on experience of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Process Improvement or product development, project management
• Experience in Change Management and/or Project Management a distinct advantage
• Lean six sigma black belt certified or Masters in Lean Manufacturing a distinct advantage
• Self-confident with the ability to promote a new way of thinking
• Highly motivated and self-driven
• Excellent influencing skills
• Excellent written, verbal and presentation communication skills.

Person Profile

• Knowledge of Dairy or similar food processing industry
• Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills

Please apply via the link with an up to date resume