Loadhog Continuous Improvement Lead

This is an exciting opportunity for a dedicated and experienced **continuous improvement lead** to become part of our thriving business and contribute to our ongoing success.

Reporting to the Operations Manager, this is a full-time and permanent position. The working hours will be Monday Friday, 8.00am 4.00pm. There may be occasions where you are required to support with cover, including 12-hour shifts on a four on, four off, shift pattern.

**Who are Loadhog?**

Loadhog is a dynamic, multi-award-winning company thats redefining the future of returnable packaging. Specialising in innovative returnable packaging solutions for sectors like manufacturing, postal, and retail, we combine smart design with sustainability to help businesses work smarter and greener.

Headquartered in Sheffield, UK, with growing operations in Europe and the USA, were proud to be an employee-owned business every team member becomes a shareholder, fostering a unique culture of collaboration, pride, and entrepreneurial spirit. At Loadhog, innovation is in our DNA, and with a bold goal to generate 25% of our turnover from products less than five years old, were always pushing boundaries, investing in the future, and looking for passionate people to join us on our journey.

**What is the role?**

Were seeking a hands-on moulding process expert to join our team and play a key role in optimising our injection moulding operations. This role is ideal for someone passionate about training and mentoring setters, driving best-in-class moulding practices, and leading continuous improvement initiatives across our Engel, Wintec, and Krauss Maffei machinery. The responsibilities of this role include but are not limited to:

- training and mentoring our injection moulding setters, ensuring best in class moulding processes.
- helping the team to trouble shoot and rectify moulding issues.
- training on best practice and standard procedures for all moulding related activities.
- modifying programs and parameters to ensure optimal running, to increase part longevity, whilst reducing cycle time.
- reporting OEE performance at daily production meetings.
- completing downtime dashboards as required during day shifts.
- optimising process parameters for Loadhog moulded parts, ensuring both quality performance and optimised cycles are achieved.
- reflecting optimised cycle changes on OEE systems to accurately reflect performance metrics.
- optimising the performance and productivity of Engel, Wintec and Krauss Maffei injection moulding machines, reducing downtime.
- analysing data to help prioritise projects and to calculate ROI.
- creating SOPs for a given procedure and standardising processes where required.
- working with both tooling and engineering to ensure machines are optimally running and tools are signed off by the setting team before handover.
- implementing SMED initiatives, optimising tool changeover times.
- taking ownership of moulding trials for tools at the Sheffield site, working closely with the tooling department to ensure optimal parameters are defined.
- implementing standard processes across our global regions, instilling the one factory mentality.
- having a hands-on presence, helping the setting team during the day to complete tool changes and general moulding activities.
- taking ownership of 5S moulding audits and ensuring machines are kept to the highest cleanliness standards.
- working closely with quality, engineering, tooling, and production to ensure defect free production, whilst minimising waste, downtime & scrap.
- driving continuous improvement initiatives, including lean manufacturing and Six Sigma methodologies, to enhance operational effectiveness.

**Who are we looking for?**

Aligned with Loadhogs core values, youll bring real **_passion_** to everything you do, along with a strong sense of **_ownership_** over your role and contribution to the wider business. With **_creativity_** at the heart of your approach, youll bring fresh ideas, challenge the status quo, and help drive new ways of thinking. You wont shy away from pushing boundaries, as you strive for **_excellence_** and play an active role in making Loadhog an even better place to work
- Expert in moulding process optimisation.
- Hands-on and in-depth knowledge of Engel injection moulding machines and associated technologies, such as Viper/Sepro gantry robotics and 6 axis kuka robotics.
- Robot programming experience, both gantry and 6 axis.
- Strong knowledge working with Engel presses ranging from 100t to 2,000t.
- Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot technical issues and implement efficient solutions.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience in process optimisation and continuous improvement.
- Experience implementing automated solutions from a moulding perspective
- Ability to extract required data from OEE system and interrogate to determine trends, thus understanding areas for improvement.
- Experience training and mentoring te