Continuous Improvement Manager (known internally as IWS Manager)
Leominster, deep in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside (Home of Tyrrells Potato Crisps)
On-site
Join our snack-loving team
We’re looking for a Continuous Improvement Manager to join us at KP Snacks. If you’re ready to bring your ideas to the table, grow your skills and be part of a team that values what makes you, you – this could be your next big move.
About the role
As Continuous Improvement Manager, you’ll lead the development and implementation of our Intersnack Working System (IWS) journey at the Leominster site. You’ll be accountable for driving performance improvements, reducing losses and building total colleague engagement. This is a hands-on leadership role where you’ll coach and support line teams, lead loss elimination initiatives and embed best practices to achieve our site Compelling Business Need (CBN).
What’s in it for you?
We believe in rewarding our colleagues and helping them thrive. Here’s a flavour of what we offer:
* Competitive annual salary.
* £6,000 annual car cash allowance.
* Annual bonus scheme, with a strong track record of overachievement
* Comprehensive healthcare support – including Medicash Health Cash Plan or Private Healthcare, Digital GP, Best Doctors second opinion service and specialist cancer care
* KP Pension Plan – contribution matching up to 7% of your salary
* 25 days holiday, plus the option to buy more
* KP4ME – our online platform for benefits, discounts, wellbeing tools and more
What will you be doing?
* Leading the site through our continued IWS Phase Journey, ensuring phased development and alignment with site CBN targets
* Coaching and supporting Line Leads during Daily Direction Setting (DDS) to set priorities, resolve issues and deliver target results
* Developing and maintaining the IWS Site Master Plan and 90-Day Plans, identifying key losses and capability gaps
* Driving breakthrough improvements in OEE, planned and unplanned downtime, and adherence to the Master Production Schedule using IWS tools and methodologies
* Building colleague engagement through coaching in the moment and ‘on the floor’ support, fostering a strong learning and development culture across the site, lead root cause analysis for chronic issues on the shop floor, ensuring timely resolution and sustainable fixes
* Supporting our 12 Pillars, ensuring that planned activity aligns with glidepath achievement
* Overseeing certification for Subject Matter Expert (SME) and next-phase IWS accreditation for the site
Who are we?
We’re KP Snacks, part of the Intersnack family. Across more than 30 countries, over 15,000 of us work together to make the snacks people love – from Hula Hoops to McCoy’s. In the UK, we’re a team of around 2,400 colleagues, based across seven sites and our Slough HQ. We’re proud of our close-knit culture, where we speak up, celebrate differences and push boundaries together.
We’re committed to inclusion
We’re building a workplace where everyone belongs. If you don’t tick every box, we’d still love to hear from you – your unique perspective could be just what we need. And if there’s anything we can do to make the process easier for you, just let us know.
We’d love to hear from you if you can bring:
* Experience in food manufacturing or FMCG environments, with a strong understanding of production processes, quality management and operational excellence specifically with data analysis and performance metrics
* Proven experience in lean systems (IWS preferred; Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification essential with Black Belt Certification desired or similar) and continuous improvement methodologies
* Strong leadership and coaching skills, with the ability to influence and engage teams at all levels
* Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, including experience with structured tools such as fishbone diagrams, 5 Whys and RCA
* Ability to manage budgets, cost centres and capital expenditure processes
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