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POSITION SUMMARY:

The Strategic Improvement Leader is responsible for identifying, leading, and sustaining initiatives that improve operational performance, safety, and product quality within a fully integrated paper mill. This role partners with cross-functional teams to drive continuous improvement using Lean, Six Sigma, and other methodologies, ensuring alignment with strategic business goals and compliance with environmental and safety standards while leading the reliability, process control and improvement engineering teams

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Operational Excellence

* Analyze production processes to identify inefficiencies, allocate resources and implement improvements.

* Lead initiatives to reduce waste, improve yield, and optimize machine uptime.

* Collaborate with maintenance and engineering teams to enhance equipment reliability.

Data-Driven Improvement

* Use data analytics to monitor performance metrics (OEE, downtime, ACRs, throughput, reliability).

* Lead organization that drives root cause analysis, implement corrective actions and sustainable solutions for those failures.

* Develop dashboards and reports to communicate progress and impact.

Continuous Improvement Leadership

* Collaborate with Mill Black Belt to determine priorities and help allocate resources to aid in facilitation of kaizen events, value stream mapping, and process audits.

* Work with black belt to prioritize training and mentoring teams on Lean and Six Sigma tools.

* Promote a culture of problem-solving and accountability.

* Help lead strategic deployment for the mill that results in streamlined focus on the mill\u2019s SMART objectives

Project & Change Management

* Work with the mill black belt to help prioritize and manage improvement projects from concept to execution.

* Apply change management strategies to ensure adoption and sustainability.

* Coordinate with corporate and plant leadership to align priorities.

Safety & Compliance

* Ensure all improvement initiatives adhere to safety and environmental regulations.

* Partner with EHS teams to identify and mitigate operational risks.

* Support ISO or other quality system certifications.

QUALIFICATIONS:

* Bachelor\u2019s degree in Engineering, Industrial Technology, or related field or 10+ years of applicable experience.

* 8+ years of experience in manufacturing, preferably in pulp and paper.

* Lean Six Sigma certification (Green Belt or higher).

* Strong analytical and project management skills.

* Excellent communication and leadership abilities.

Preferred Skills:

* Experience with paper mill operations and reliability.

* Familiarity with CMMS, MES, and data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI).

* Knowledge of regulatory standards (OSHA, EPA, ISO).

Keywords: Strategic Improvement Leader, process improvement manager, mill black belt, CI Leader, continuous improvement leader, operational excellence, performance excellence, SSBB, black belt, blackbelt, six sigma black belt, six sigma blackbelt, black belt, paper, pulp, linerboard, paper board, paperboard, containerboard, coated paper, kraft paper, kraft, liner, linerboard, corrugated medium, recycled board, brown box, pulp, performance excellence, process improvement, value stream, lean six sigma, six sigma, continuous improvement, CI Engineer

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) is a global leader in sustainable paper and packaging solutions. We are materials scientists, packaging designers, mechanical engineers and manufacturing experts with a shared purpose: Innovate Boldly. Package Sustainably. Guided by our values of safety, loyalty, integrity, and respect, we use leading science and technology to move fiber-based packaging forward.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by state or federal law.