Sr. Manufacturing Process and Packaging Engineer - Minneapolis, MN

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Sr. Manufacturing Process and Packaging Engineer (internally called a Sr. Systems Engineer) will provide technical leadership and loss elimination focus across a series of External Supply Chain systems in North American Retail (NAR), North American Foodservice (NAF) and Pet. This role is responsible to identify, lead, develop, and execute capabilities and solutions for performance improvements and loss elimination in partnership with GMI External Supply Chain (ESC) community and our External Supplier location leadership. This is accomplished through strong ESC site relationships, partnerships with External Operations Managers (XOM)s and ESC Relationship managers. Focus is on strategic productivity, capacity, and continuous improvement efforts. The team member will have a history of delivering results through a combination of operational leadership, influence of production techniques, improvement tool use and capital investment.

This Engineer will lead, accelerate or facilitate capacity improvements, loss elimination, External location system knowledge and reliability improvements where the business shows the strongest needs. The leader will play a role as a Technical General Manager and lead through influence up, down and across within the External Supply Chain community. They will also provide as a conduit to the GMI engineering resources and knowledge as needed.

There is strong preference for this role to be based out of our Minneapolis Headquarters, however, remote candidates will be considered. The amount of travel is dictated by the ability to influence and drive improvements when not on site at one of our External Supply Chain manufacturing sites.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Provide technical and business expertise on external manufacturing systems/technologies/products and materials.
• Demonstrate expertise in machine, materials, methods, environment, and personnel to provide robust operating systems.
• Drive loss elimination while improving system and equipment reliability through continuous improvement processes, problem solving, statistical analysis and support of productivity initiatives. Many of our ESC locations have less data available than our internal sites, so data capture and analysis will require differential effort.
• Provide early technical insight and support in capital projects and capital planning. Engage with new product development to ensure there are design considerations and success criteria based on existing assets or suggest locations that should be considered based on capability and capacity.
• The System Engineer is expected to influence and develop technical capabilities in themselves and surrounding team through hands on engagement, coaching and training based on the unique needs of the ESC approach. This will include relationship management with both internal and external leadership, developing credibility with key ESC locations and differentially leveraging our GIC partners.
• Leverage cost, capacity, ingredient and material summaries to mine for opportunity on a large and small scale to drive prioritization and decision making.
• Influence overarching strategic improvement plans in partnership with locations and internal teams; supporting plan execution as needed.
• Communicate and engage effectively at all levels in the organization; specifically with plant/location leaders and team members at the sites and systems they are focused on.
• Partner and coach manufacturing sites to develop and improve current and future state performance. Support cost justification when capital investment is required.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering or related degree with applicable experience or extensive relevant work experience
• 7 years of related work experience in system engineering, processing / packaging / system development or manufacturing improvement focused engineering roles across multiple manufacturing systems
• Ability to travel up to 50%
• Demonstrated track record of driving performance improvements in a manufacturing site through general engineering principles
• Recognized technical abilities and practical experience with capabilities in the following areas:
  • Theory/functionality of manufacturing systems and unit operations
  • Data and manufacturing performance metrics analysis: AFO (usage reporting), SAP, CMT, Optiva (GPLM)
  • Continuous improvement techniques (Lean, TPM, Kaizen)
  • Loss Prioritization/Quantification and Elimination
  • Coaching and Training capability
  • Process measurement and controls to optimize system and unit operation performance (System Digitization)
  • Mechanical aptitude and reliability focused improvement mindset
  • Problem Solving and Root Cause Analysis Mastery
• Self-Starter - Able to mine for data and insights to identify new opportunity areas
• Ability to influence and drive results with and through team efforts even when not directly on location

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's in Engineering
• Consumer Products Industry experience
• Statistical analysis and analytical methods
• Strong SAP / CMT experience (Entry, analysis, etc) AFO(usage reporting), SAP, CMT, Optiva (GPLM)
• Demonstrated:
  • Leadership within a plant leadership team
  • Business Team Partnership / Exposure
  • Influence management
  • Collaborative team player across a matrix of functional team members
  • Passion for Problem Solving with the capability to lead a team through Problem Solving tools / techniques
  • Coaching / building capability across multiple levels

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

• International relocation or international remote working arrangements (outside of the US) will not be considered.
• Applicants for this position must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. General Mills will not sponsor applicants for this position for work visas.

We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best - bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one other and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what's next.