C

creative werks

Turnkey food co-packing and manufacturing

Production Process Lead

Full-Time
$22 - $34/hr
Mid
Bachelor's
Elk Grove Village, IL, USA
In Person
Manufacturing & Process EngineeringManufacturing Engineering

About the job

Requirements
  • Basic math and mechanical aptitude.
  • Basic statistical analysis and problem-solving skills.
  • Knowledge of Lean Manufacturing and/or Six Sigma.
  • Ability to communicate effectively in writing and verbally at all levels.
  • Ability to prioritize and organize workload.
  • High school diploma or GED with four years of experience; a bachelor's degree is preferred.
  • Ability to work between an office setting and a warehouse environment with temperatures ranging from 55 to 80 degrees.
  • Ability to work weekends or shifts other than the employee's own when needed to meet business needs.
  • Ability to operate standard office equipment.
  • Ability to reach with hands and arms; lift up to 49 pounds; stand and/or walk for up to eight hours a day; and frequently push, pull, squat, bend, and reach, with or without reasonable accommodation.
Responsibilities
  • Improve and standardize production performance through a positive, safe, efficient, and quality-focused work environment.
  • Analyze and optimize processes for assigned production lines and zones, including downtime, mechanical failures, operator and crew skills, quality issues, and scrap, using project management.
  • Make operational improvements across all three shifts while maintaining a safe workspace.
  • Communicate safety as the top priority, encourage safe work practices, and address safety concerns immediately.
  • Observe assigned lines and implement safety corrections.
  • Train employees to work safely.
  • Own the budgeted performance of assigned production lines.
  • Maintain and publish overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and line performance metrics.
  • Maintain line whiteboards displaying key performance indicator (KPI) metrics, including downtime Pareto charts.
  • Trend and report performance analyses.
  • Identify improvement opportunities and own the resulting actions.
  • Report and document machine changes that have proven to improve efficiency, based on the item being run.
  • Maintain and publish an active action register of tasks to meet KPIs, including priorities, owners, and due dates.
  • Follow up with responsible parties to complete assigned tasks and escalate incomplete tasks to management when due dates are missed.
  • Create standard operating procedures (SOPs) using Dozuki software.
  • Review SOPs and train relevant personnel, including Production and Maintenance employees, on them.
  • Analyze scrap and create actionable tasks to meet annual KPIs.
  • Capture and analyze data to optimize and standardize machine setup, including recipes, best practices, and material changes.
  • Support a clean production floor by keeping equipment, pallets, and personnel in proper positions.
  • Monitor and revise 6S areas.
  • Monitor scrap and overfill.
  • Track and audit machine settings and speeds.
  • Participate in site daily management system (DMS) meetings.
  • Work scheduled shifts and come in early or stay late as needed to support all shifts, including some weekends.
  • Select and train the production team across all three shifts to ensure performance.
  • Communicate with and support all shifts throughout the day as necessary.
  • Work with personnel in various operations departments to ensure the production floor runs safely and efficiently.
  • Ensure production lines are in proper mechanical condition.
  • Enter maintenance work orders for mechanical issues; follow up and escalate to management if work orders are not completed satisfactorily.
  • Suggest changes to the preventive maintenance (PM) plan to maintenance management to reduce mechanical breakdowns.
  • Coordinate and partner with Maintenance on machine setup.
  • Take responsibility for quality-related issues on assigned lines.
  • Conduct root cause analysis within one week of an incident.
  • Specify corrective actions to prevent recurrence within one week of an incident.
  • Change written process procedures within one week of an incident to permanently prevent recurrence.
  • Maintain a positive work environment.
  • Supervise team leaders, operators, and line workers, and report issues to supervisors.
  • Coach and train team leaders, operators, and line workers in new procedures and skills.
  • Report employee disciplinary issues to the Production Supervisor.
  • Perform other duties as assigned by management.
Desired Qualifications
  • Bilingual ability in English and Spanish.
  • A bachelor's degree.
  • Demonstrated experience in data analysis, problem-solving, Six Sigma, or Lean Manufacturing.

About the company

Creative werks provides contract packaging and manufacturing services for food and beverage brands, offering turnkey design, manufacturing, and co-packing to move from concept to final retail distribution. It uses the Werkshop Design Group for in-house R&D and packaging development and operates over 70 production lines in a climate-controlled facility with more than 1,000,000 square feet. It can design, produce, fill, and package at scale in formats like bags, cartons, and thermoformed packaging, including candy cane tubes, serving high-volume programs and seasonal launches. Its goals are to streamline production, lower costs, and scale operations with strong quality and safety standards (SQF Excellent, ISO 14001), while positively impacting employees and the community as a family-owned business.

Company Size

201-500

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Founded

1999

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Website updates in 2026 highlight fresh capability additions and active capacity investment.
  • The company keeps posting packaging content through February 2026, signaling ongoing customer engagement.
  • SQF and ISO14001 credentials remain visible, supporting food-brand vendor qualification.

What critics are saying

  • Creative Werks faces a 2023 federal discrimination suit; judgment entered March 9, 2026.
  • 2026 workforce data shows headcount slipped to 332, signaling limited scale expansion.
  • Family ownership concentrates control with Steve Schroeder, increasing key-person dependency.

What makes creative werks unique

  • 2026 website lists 70 lines across 1 million square feet in Chicago.
  • Creative Werks added enrobing, bag-in-box, thermoforming, and high-speed small pouching capabilities.
  • Its vertically integrated candy cane operation still supplies over 95% of U.S. tubes.

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Benefits

  • Flexible Work Hours