Continuous Improvement Process Engineer

Join Oterra in making natural food and beverages easy, for a sustainable and healthy world
Headquartered in Denmark, with production sites in Europe, Latin America, and the US, we’re a passionate team of over 1400 team members in 30 countries worldwide, serving 120 markets globally. As the leading worldwide provider of natural colors, we offer food and beverage manufacturers an alternative to artificial colors. Food and health are at the heart of everything we do and every day over 400 million people eat a product with our colors in it. We believe that nature got it right the first time.

Meet your new team
The CI Process Engineer reports to the Head of Operations, indirect reports to the Global Head of OPEX, and Quality Assurance.

About the role
The Continuous Improvement Process Engineer will assist in developing and improving business processes by performing process assessments, project planning, collaboration with stakeholders and process users, process observation, baseline metrics collection, and follow-up to ensure sustained results. As a continuous improvement engineer, your job duties include collecting production data, analyzing outputs, and determining corrective courses of action to promote safety, quality, and efficiency.
You will be primarily responsible for operational excellence, quality project improvements, yield, and efficiency improvements in the manufacturing operations for Oterra and FIS NOAM.  Furthermore, you will facilitate engineering projects involving process, packaging, and utility systems and provide technical support and improve existing manufacturing processes.  Lastly, you will act as a liaison between global engineering, global functions, maintenance, and regional operations for processes in the plant.

Duties and responsibilities
•    Drive improvement in safety, quality, yield, and efficiency in the manufacturing plant
•    Participates in cross-functional and international teams for the ongoing improvement of equipment and processes and other assignments.  
•    Acts as a technical resource to manufacturing, corporate engineering, sales and marketing, and R&D/ Application.  
•    Works with operators and supervisors to troubleshoot problems in the plant. Works with global engineering and maintenance on projects and upgrades.  
•    Coordinates process work associated with large projects with Engineering.  
•    Consults with engineering and maintenance personnel relative to modification of machines, equipment and buildings to improve production and quality of products. 
•    Makes recommendations for use of equipment and improving equipment for color food ingredients production.  
•    Discusses with vendors to determine product specifications and arrange for purchase of equipment, materials, or parts, and evaluates products according to specifications and quality standards.  
•    Coordinates processes with affiliates worldwide to achieve optimum efficiencies and yields. 
•    Discusses with management, engineering, and other staff regarding manufacturing capabilities, production schedules, and other considerations to facilitate production processes. 
•    Involved with the process management department to prioritize the optimization of current and future processes.  
•    Evaluate, recommend, and implement process improvements for the colors plant.
•    Analyzes and plans workforce utilization, space requirements, workflow, and designs layout of equipment and workspace for maximum efficiency.  
•    Analyzes operating procedures and equipment functions to reduce processing time and cost. 
•    Works with Plant Management and Production Manager to ensure that process engineering projects are identified, prioritized, and completed.  
•    Prioritize and schedule work assignments and projects for timely completion. 
•    Writes reports, and utilizes quality improvement tools such as fishbone charts, histograms, affinity diagrams, etc.  
•    Applies statistical methods to estimate future manufacturing requirements and potential. 
•    Annual international travel is required up to 15% of the time for this position. 

Who are we looking for?
We are looking for a candidate with the following qualification:
•    Knowledge of liquid processing (pasteurization, homogenization, blending), powder handling (blending, packaging, dust collection), Food or Pharma facilities or Hygienic and aseptic design (CIP/SIP). 
•    Knowledge of troubleshooting processing equipment and start-up practices.
•    Systematic problem-solving skills and methodologies is a plus. 
•    Strong verbal, written, communication, analytical, interpersonal, and organizational skills. 
•    Ability to work in local and global cross-functional environments. 
•    Experience with IT and automation implementations (PLCs and HMIs) in production and production-related areas preferred. 
•    Lean & Six Sigma training or certification, with the ability to use the Six Sigma methodologies, tools, and statistical software preferred. 
•    A bachelor’s degree in engineering, Chemical or Mechanical engineering degree preferred.
•    2+ years of experience within a process-driven manufacturing environment.