Automation Engineer

The Automation Engineer supports and develops the Critical Control Network - CCN and systems according to the defined strategy. The Automation Engineer provides technical support where required, works closely with process improvement teams to deliver projects and leads the site automation team.

Key Responsibilities

• Safety Health and Environment: Drive a Safety Health and Environment culture and role model behaviours. Responsible for Safety Health and Environment requirements and legislation implementation and complies to legal and corporate standards & policies. Ensures compliance to Personal Protective Equipment – PPE and necessary safety tools. Carry out Behaviour Observation Safety – BOS and Ongoing Feedback System - OFS to the required standard. Follows safety instructions and work safely & orderly using as an example Lock Out Tag Out Test Out – LOTOTO and permit to work – PTW.
• Quality: Deliver a Quality culture and role model behaviours. Responsible for Quality requirements and legislation implementation and complies to legal and corporate standards & policies. Develops the Quality competence of all associates, (new) associates, temporary staff and contractors in the team (100% trained and qualified on mandatory quality trainings).
• Leadership: Support Human Resource requirements and legislation implementation and complies to legal and corporate standards & policies such as setting objectives in line with the plant objectives, actively participating in recruitment and hiring processes and onboarding new associates. Enables and assists in the training of Operators and Technicians to improve the understanding of the areas control systems.
• Delivery & Cost: Accountable for the Critical Control Network - CCN and systems. Develop strategy of Manufacturing Execution System – MES priority set up and development of guidelines in line with company strategic plans. Manufacturing applications support, maintenance and development including lifecycle planning. Systems contract management. Manage the Plant Systems Budget. Ensure manufacturing process continuity by recovering services with minimal shutdown time and utilising support of external suppliers or other contractual partners. Data back up and archiving and technical documentation management. Life cycle planning, project development and PLC Maintenance. HMI/Data collection system upkeep and development. Develop/update maintenance/operating procedures impacted by control systems. Identify, create and implement best practices for process(es)/equipment across the industry. Leads troubleshooting and root cause analysis for complex control system related issues.
• Security and resilience of the Critical Control Network - CCN and systems: Ensure that the critical infrastructure is compliant with the security standards and procedures while meeting the high availability requirements of the manufacturing units. Deploy security practices, measures and technologies including but not limited to OS and application patch management, Authentication, authorisation and accounting by means of Active Directory, Backup Management, Antimalware management, Firewall management. Ensure compliance to security standards and procedures and publish metrics to drive accountability and improvement. Identify and evaluate security gaps in industrial control systems. Formulate and implement security solutions based on industry leading practices to mitigate security exposure. Work with leadership to upgrade plans, rationalise and standardise solutions and secure the critical infrastructure. Follow up on security nonconformance according to the risk acceptance procedure. Promote awareness of security standards and procedures.
• Projects: Actively participate in projects to launch new products, install and start-up new production equipment and/or to implement plant wide optimisation projects in all areas. Lead/Manage/implement projects related to Automation Systems including training of users, preparation of technical documentation. Prepare yearly plans of CAPEX and compose descriptions of proposed projects.
• General: Takes full responsibility to achieve performance targets and has a strong understanding of the team and individual contribution to the Compelling Business Need - CBN. Drives manufacturing excellence through the support through hands on approach to Manufacturing Operating System - MOS roll out plan by owning the relevant tools and or systems. Updates relevant information, tracking and reporting systems and ensures data reliability. Creates and or update standards.

Qualifications

• Electrical/Technical degree relevant to local education systems or higher.
• At least 3-5 years of professional experience in an FMCG manufacturing environment (maintenance/engineering preferred).
• Demonstrated ability to teach, coach, mentor, develop others and work in a team based environment.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, prioritise and manage multiple complex, time sensitive projects.
• Profound knowledge and experience of programming, development and configuration software.
• Specific system knowledge.
• Excellent computer system skills covering both servers and workstations.
• Sound knowledge of IT systems including networks, data transfer and storage.
• Systematic and logical approach to fault finding and problem solving.
• Appreciation and understanding of local standards, codes of practices and procedures.