What are the responsibilities and job description for the Continuous Improvement Engineer position at Six Axis, LLC?
The Continuous Improvement Engineer works cross-functionally with Production, Maintenance, Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, and other departments to identify root causes, develop solutions, and ensure improvements are sustained over time.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead continuous improvement projects focused on process efficiency, productivity, quality, cost reduction, and waste elimination.
- Analyze production data, downtime, scrap, labor, cycle times, and other operational metrics to identify improvement opportunities.
- Conduct root-cause analysis using 5 Why, Fishbone, Pareto, FMEA, and other problem-solving methodologies.
- Implement Lean Manufacturing tools including 5S, Kaizen, Standard Work, Value Stream Mapping, Visual Management, SMED, and TPM.
- Develop and track project KPIs to measure improvement results and ensure long-term sustainability.
- Partner with operations and maintenance teams to improve equipment reliability, uptime, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
- Optimize manufacturing layouts, material flow, workstations, staffing, and production processes.
- Develop and maintain standard work, process documentation, work instructions, and process control plans.
- Identify opportunities for automation, ergonomic improvements, labor optimization, and material waste reduction.
- Lead Kaizen events and facilitate cross-functional improvement teams.
- Develop business cases and calculate ROI, cost savings, labor savings, and payback for improvement projects.
- Support new equipment, tooling, product launches, and process changes.
- Collaborate with Quality to reduce defects, rework, scrap, and customer complaints.
- Train employees and supervisors on Lean principles, problem-solving techniques, and standardized processes.
- Ensure improvement projects meet company safety, quality, environmental, and regulatory requirements.
- Report on project status, results, risks, and recommendations to management.
- Establish controls and follow-up activities to ensure improvements remain effective.
- Engage fully in plant safety protocols and environmental compliance.