Position Title: Continuous Improvement Engineer
Work Location: Plymouth MN
Assignment Duration: 12 Months
Work Arrangement: Onsite
Entry-level role designed for recent graduates seeking hands-on experience in manufacturing operations and continuous improvement. This role supports operational excellence and manufacturing optimization within a medical device environment. Success requires collaboration, analytical thinking, and Lean problem-solving, with regular engagement on the production floor. The candidate will partner with operations leadership and employees to support business excellence initiatives.
Key Responsibilities
- Support continuous improvement initiatives KPI's focused on safety, quality, delivery, and cost.
- Analyze manufacturing processes, material flow, labor utilization, capacity, and performance metrics to identify improvement opportunities and support data-driven decisions.
- Conduct root cause analysis, develop recommendations, and support implementation of corrective actions.
- Facilitate Lean activities including 5S, visual management, standard work, and Kaizen events.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to improve site-to-site consistency, performance dashboards, process documentation, and change management initiatives.
- Support facility design, layout optimization, and material flow improvements to enhance safety, quality, and operational efficiency.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline preferred.
- 0-2 years of experience in manufacturing, operations, industrial engineering, or continuous improvement.
- Knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, process improvement, structured problem-solving methodologies, and data analysis.
- Self-motivated, quick learner with strong communication, collaboration, and analytical skills capable of managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Local candidates are strongly preferred.
- Why is this role open? Increasing team to handle productivity improvement projects.
- What projects will this person support? Continuous Improvement, Efficiency, Layout Optimization, etc.
- What does a typical day look like? Time study, analysis, reports, presentations, meetings, etc.
- How would you roughly break down the work in percentages (e.g., project work, meetings, documentation, other)? Project Work 80% Other 20%
- Who will they interact with regularly - All departments and production
- What does success look like in the first 90 days? Own their own improvement project and be able to present findings, results, next steps, etc.
Education: Bachelor's degree
- Does the candidate need experience in the medical or pharmaceutical industry? No
- What systems will this person be working with daily?
- What personality traits work best with your team? Collaborative, driven, self-starter
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