Continuous Improvement & Reliability Specialist

Continuous Improvement & Reliability Specialist

Blue Mountain Production Company, 31 County Road 827, Blue Mountain, Mississippi, United States of America Req #1983

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Oil-Dri Corporation of America is a leading manufacturer and supplier of specialty sorbent products for consumer and business-to-business markets that has been voted as a Top 100 workplaces in the Chicago Tribune. Oil-Dri’s products are sold in the pet care, animal health, fluids purification, agricultural, sports field, industrial and automotive markets. Oil-Dri controls millions of tons of specialty mineral reserves, including calcium bentonite, attapulgite, and diatomaceous shale. The company’s mines and manufacturing facilities are located in Georgia, Mississippi, Illinois, and California. Oil-Dri is a family-controlled and operated organization that emphasizes honesty, integrity, and accountability. The company is dedicated to fulfilling its mission to Create Value From Sorbent Minerals.

Job Summary

• Support Oil-Dri Corporation of America (ODCA) strategic Mission, Vision and the WE CARE values through the development and implementation of improvement initiatives aligned with ODCA’s business goals.
• Develop Continuous Improvement and Reliability Improvement opportunities using Data Analysis and Reliability Principles, aiming to reach and maintain high manufacturing OEE/TEEP at the highest practical Reliability through improved processes, reduced failures, and risk-based proposals.

Essential Functions

• Develop leadership skills to successfully implement operational, reliability, and process improvements throughout the manufacturing organization.
• Own the key manufacturing data systems used to record operating information and provide analysis and presentation formats that improve plant performance.
• Develop Lean, TPM, FMEA, or Six-Sigma style analytical and problem-solving abilities to identify opportunities for cost reduction, quality improvement, process streamlining, lead-time reduction, and inventory reduction.
• Utilize existing data analysis skills to create and issue performance reports including analysis of findings from multiple data sources.
• Utilize reliability analysis techniques on data available from both JDE and our Historia/Insight tools to drive reliability improvements.
• Deploy and update a standardized set of manufacturing and reliability metrics to track improvements within a Plant.
• Recommend “standards” for manufacturing lines and reliability KPI’s within the ERP system based on studies and findings.
• Assemble and train teams for improvement processes to ensure objectives are met.
• Own the process of maintenance part setup for Oil-Dri, including management of taxonomy and request system.
• Lead machine criticality studies for reliability improvement following the standard Oil-Dri process.
• Be an active member of the Continuous Improvement Team participating on common projects.
• Comply with all safety policies, practices, and procedures and act on all unsafe events.
• Participate in proactive team efforts to achieve departmental and company goals.
• Perform other such duties as may be required.

Qualifications

• Experience with an ERP Manufacturing system.
• Experience with data systems used in manufacturing.
• Understanding of databases and how to leverage them for improvement.
• Associate’s degree or higher required (in a related field).
• Minimum 3 years’ experience in and/or training in a manufacturing environment.
• Knowledge in Process Industry and experience in a process manufacturing environment preferred.
• Exposure to Continuous Improvement concepts and Maintenance and Reliability concepts.
• Knowledge of Maintenance Parts and Components.
• Strong Computer Skills and Reasoning Ability required.
• Possess core values of Honesty and Integrity.

Oil-Dri is committed to providing equal opportunity for all teammates and qualified candidates without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, mental or physical disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Accordingly, all employment decisions and personnel actions or programs such as hiring, promotion, discipline, compensation, benefits, transfers, reductions in workforce, and training, etc. will be consistent with the principle of equal employment opportunity.