Continuous Improvement Intern - Amy's Kitchen

We are a family-owned, proudly independent organic food company and Certified B Corporation® whose purpose is to make it easy and enjoyable for everyone to eat well. Amy’s is committed to cooking authentic great tasting food with high quality, meticulously sourced organic ingredients and making them convenient for consumers.   

Intern/department Summary

The Continuous Improvement Department is responsible for identifying and implementing strategies to enhance efficiency and productivity within an organization. Through the use of methodologies like Lean Six Sigma and Kaizen, it aims to continuously refine processes, minimize waste, and drive ongoing improvement across all aspects of the business.

This is an onsite role in Medford, OR. 

The duration is 8 weeks.

Project Details:

During their internship, the interns will be immersed in a variety of projects aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and effectiveness. These projects include optimizing production setups to improve workflow and productivity, standardizing processes across departments to ensure consistency and reliability, and creating process maps to visualize and analyze workflows for potential improvements. Additionally, interns will delve into root cause analysis to identify underlying issues within the organization and develop targeted corrective actions to address them effectively. Integral to these projects is the collection of relevant data through various methods such as surveys, interviews, and data analysis tools, which will inform decision-making processes and measure the impact of implemented changes. Furthermore, interns will actively participate in the implementation of proposed changes, providing support to teams and facilitating the adoption of new procedures or practices to drive organizational improvement. Through these hands-on experiences, interns will develop valuable skills in problem-solving, data analysis, and project management, contributing to their professional growth and development.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION

• Attending four-year college or university to attain Bachelor's degree (B.S., or B.A.); or already awarded Bachelor’s degree from four-year college or university. Prefer someone with an Engineering, Operations Management, or Process improvement background or similar education. 

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Experience in a manufacturing environment preferred.
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal, project leadership, analytical, and reasoning skills.
• Self-starter and a team player that will thrive in an entrepreneurial environment with a sense of urgency.

SKILLS

Language Skills

• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret the most complex documents.
• Ability to make effective presentations on complex topics to plant management and other stakeholders.

Mathematical Skills

• Ability to apply advanced mathematical concepts such as exponents, logarithms, quadratic equations, and permutations.
• Ability to apply mathematical operations to such tasks as frequency distribution, determination of test reliability and validity, analysis of variance, correlation techniques, sampling theory, and factor analysis

Reasoning Ability

• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS

None required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; talk or hear; and taste or smell.  The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, cold (coolers and freezers) and hot (processing equipment) conditions and moving mechanical parts.  The noise level in the work environment can be loud.

TRAVEL

None