Continuous Improvement Manager

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT MANAGER

Houston, Texas

Department	Continuous Improvement / Operations	Employment Type	Full-Time, Exempt
Reports To	Director of Continuous Improvement	Location	Houston, TX
Travel	Up to 25%, as business needs require	Work Environment	Office and operational facilities

Position Summary

McLane Global is seeking a highly motivated Continuous Improvement Manager to lead operational excellence initiatives across warehousing, transportation, inventory management, customer service, food distribution, and business support functions. This role requires a true self-starter who identifies what needs to be done, takes initiative, and advances priorities without waiting to be told what to do next. The manager will convert operational needs and data into practical improvements that strengthen safety, quality, service, cost, productivity, and compliance.

The successful candidate must be committed to the development, implementation, and long-term sustainment of standardized processes. This individual will partner with cross-functional leaders to build solutions that are measurable, documented, trainable, scalable, and sustainable. Experience in the food supply chain is preferred.

SUCCESS PROFILE  Proactive ownership | Food supply chain knowledge | Sustainable process design | Data-driven execution | Change leadership

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Continuous Improvement Leadership

• Proactively identify improvement opportunities and independently move from observation to analysis, recommendation, and execution.

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on safety, quality, service, cost, productivity, and customer experience.

• Facilitate Lean, Kaizen, A3, value stream mapping, and structured problem-solving activities.

• Coach leaders and frontline teams on continuous improvement principles, standard work, and daily accountability.

Sustainable Process Development and Implementation

• Design and implement standardized processes that are practical, documented, trainable, measurable, and sustainable over time.

• Build process controls, ownership, KPIs, audit routines, training materials, and escalation paths to prevent regression after implementation.

• Validate that improvement solutions are adopted by the business and conduct post-implementation reviews to confirm effectiveness and sustainment.

• Develop SOPs, workflows, visual controls, checklists, and governance mechanisms that support consistent execution across locations and functions.

Operational Excellence

• Analyze warehouse, transportation, inventory, customer service, procurement, and food distribution processes to identify waste, constraints, and risk.

• Lead workflow redesign, labor productivity, network optimization, facility readiness, automation, and process standardization initiatives.

• Conduct observations and time studies, translate findings into actionable improvements, and support implementation with operational teams.

• Balance service, compliance, food safety, cost, and efficiency when evaluating process changes.

Data Analytics and Performance Management

• Develop and monitor KPIs, scorecards, dashboards, and management routines that create visibility and accountability.

• Use data to identify trends, quantify root causes, prioritize opportunities, and measure realized benefits.

• Prepare business cases and operational or financial analyses that define expected impact, required resources, and return on investment.

• Present concise findings, risks, recommendations, and results to operational and executive leadership.

Project and Change Management

• Execute against a Continuous Improvement Roadmap (CIR)

• Lead cross-functional projects from charter and current-state assessment through implementation, stabilization, and closeout.

• Develop project plans, milestones, risk registers, stakeholder maps, communication plans, and benefit-tracking methods.

• Manage multiple initiatives simultaneously while maintaining clear ownership, timely follow-through, and high-quality deliverables.

• Engage affected employees early, address resistance, and ensure changes are understood, adopted, and incorporated into standard work.

Root Cause Analysis and Corrective Action

• Lead investigations into service failures, inventory variances, customer complaints, audit findings, compliance issues, and operational disruptions.

• Apply methods such as 5 Whys, fishbone analysis, Pareto analysis, process mapping, FMEA, CAPA, and A3 problem solving.

• Differentiate containment, corrective action, and preventive action; assign ownership and verify effectiveness before closure.

• Ensure root causes and corrective actions are supported by evidence and translated into sustainable process controls.

Technology and Systems Improvement

• Partner with IT and business stakeholders to improve workflows involving Microsoft Dynamics 365, WMS, Power BI, EDI, and related business systems.

• Translate operational requirements into clear process and system requirements, test cases, controls, and implementation plans.

• Identify appropriate opportunities for automation, digital workflows, reporting improvements, and error-proofing.

Compliance, Quality, and Food Supply Chain

• Support processes that meet company, customer, regulatory, food safety, inventory control, traceability, and quality requirements.

• Incorporate food supply chain risks, including product integrity, lot and batch control, temperature requirements, sanitation, and service continuity, into improvement work as applicable.

• Support audits, corrective action programs, process governance, and documentation readiness.

• Partner with warehouse, transportation, quality, inventory, customer service, and commercial teams to improve end-to-end execution.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Business Administration, Logistics, or a related field.

• Five or more years of progressive experience in continuous improvement, operational excellence, supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, or distribution operations.

• Demonstrated experience independently identifying opportunities and leading cross-functional improvements from concept through sustained implementation.

• Experience developing standard work, SOPs, process controls, KPIs, and governance routines.

• Strong analytical, facilitation, project management, communication, and change leadership skills.

• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and experience with data visualization or business intelligence tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in the food supply chain, food distribution, food-grade warehousing, temperature-controlled logistics, or consumer packaged goods.

• Experience in third-party logistics, multi-site distribution, warehouse operations, or transportation management.