Production Engineer - Purchase Development - Plant Based Food - Inter IKEA Group

Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. We do this by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing and food products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.

The Inter IKEA Group is a part of Inter IKEA Systems B.V., owner of the IKEA Concept and worldwide IKEA franchisor.

IKEA Supply is responsible for securing that the product offer is produced and delivered to our customers. We lead the supply agenda across many functions and work together with all business areas, different business units, but also retail markets to secure customer availability in all markets and sales channels at lowest total cost.

IKEA Purchasing and Logistics Services (US) inc. is part of our Supply Area Americas which also has an office in Curitiba, Brazil, and King of Prussia, PA, Mexico City, Mexico and is a subsidiary of the Inter IKEA Group. 

Do you have passion for food? Would you like to be part of a fantastic IKEA Food journey?

Do you have a solid base in manufacturing and quality improvement methodologies within the food industry? Would you like a position where you will have a great impact on the way IKEA is working together with our suppliers’ manufacturing sites across the world? A position that offers you a chance to challenge existing manufacturing techniques with a win-win mindset? A position where you will lead the work of securing the high quality and Food Safety of our products to millions of customers each year? Then this might be a chance for you!

About you

We believe that you have a solid background in Quality, Food Safety, Production Engineering, Regulatory or Compliance experience in the food industry, preferably having Science or Food Science education and at least 3-5 years of working experience within the food industry.

We believe you can build and maintain business relations, have excellent communication skills, be a good team player, be persistent and live our IKEA values.  You are able to prioritize, set a clear agenda and like to deliver high quality results on time. You have the ability to make decisions and solve problems with a holistic view. You have high energy and a self-driven way of working to deliver better products for the many people by working together with the suppliers and co-workers in IKEA.

You are willing to travel up to 30% of the time, as travelling is a part of the assignment since our Engineers spend a lot of time with our suppliers. You are interested in taking your next step in a big global company to develop yourself further and to develop IKEA Food together with us!

About the job

If you are the right person for this position, we can offer you an assignment in a global organization with a great possibility to build and create something new, where your ideas are heard and where the goal is always “to create a better everyday life for the many people”! 

IKEA Food develops and provides the food sold and served in all IKEA Restaurants, Bistro´s, Swedish Food Markets and the IKEA co-worker restaurants. IKEA Food has over 400 restaurants in 53 markets and every year 650 million guests are enjoying the IKEA Food.

About the assignment

As the Production Engineer, you will lead the engineering and quality agenda with the overall goal to improve customer satisfaction.  You are the main contact towards the suppliers in the Americas and work as part of the business team together with the supplier to develop and secure quality and compliance in the production process, handling of quality deviations, and secure compliance to all IKEA requirements.  Amongst your responsibilities:
 

• Perform Product audits and production risk and food safety assessments at suppliers.
• Lead the Supplier Development for quality and manufacturing with responsibility to identify and implement actions and execution of the projects
• Lead implementation of product news at suppliers
• Evaluate potential new supplier’s production facilities and quality systems, understands holistic picture for the Americas
• Secure supplier & product quality/safety compliance following GFSI standard
• Collaborate across globe within quality matrix to develop IKEA food safety and quality policies and performance
• Are leading the continuous improvements agenda from a quality production perspective
• You are eager to actively search for information and continuously learn from good examples and mistakes. 
• You have a sense of urgency and a never compromise attitude towards Quality and Food Safety.
• Have the interest and drive to build trust and partnership to reach common goals.
• Are results oriented, high energy, and self-driven in ways of working to deliver better products for the many people by working together in IKEA and with suppliers.
• Travel required (20-30%).

Required:

• Practical knowledge of HACCP and HARPC analyses, be able to identify gaps
• Six sigma and Lean Manufacturing methods and tools (FMEA, RCA, fish bone, 5 why etc).
• Experience with New Product development, Sensory and laboratory testing
• Lead new product implementation in production
• Able to assess manufacturing process and packaging line efficiencies

Preferred:

• Knowledge about Total Quality Management - University degree in Engineering or corresponding field
• Experience in production with a process oriented environment
• Previous experience as Process or Production Engineer in manufacturing, Quality, Food Safety, regulatory and compliance
• Project Management skills

For us at IKEA, the most important thing is that our co-workers share our values, such as togetherness and enthusiasm, constant desire for renewal and simplicity. We offer a fun, dynamic and challenging position in a global organization.

If you want to be part of something big, this could be the right challenge for you. We are looking forward to getting to know you soon!

Co-workers within Purchasing Development lead an exciting life! The mission is to develop business with suppliers in order to deliver IKEA Home Furnishing and Food products to our stores located around the world. The goal is to meet the price, quality and quantity expectations of our customers. In our Supply Area we are working with suppliers in the Americas (US, Canada, Mexico and Chile and beyond)

At IKEA, we value diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We are committed to providing coworkers with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. We encourage individualism and invite you to come join our team and be yourself with us! 

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability status, or any other applicable characteristic protected by law. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need.  

Want to learn more about current opportunities? Come say Hej (hello in Swedish) here:  https://about.ikea.com/en/work-with-us