Vacancy Name Site Automation Engineer
Employment Type Permanent
Country United Kingdom
Location Bradford
Business Area Operations
Workplace Type Onsite
About Princes The Princes Group has over 7,000 employees with offices and production sites in the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, France and Mauritius. Princes manufactures 350 different food and drink products responsibly sourced and enjoyed by consumers every day. None of this would be possible without striving to be an employer of choice, where our colleagues are proud to represent our business.
Role Description
Job Purpose
Reporting to the Site Electrical Engineer at Bradford. The role will facilitate the deployment and maintenance of the Princes Automation & Control Applications at the Bradford site.
The role provides plant support on integrated solutions for level 0 & 1. This role will integrate all the practices involved into the wider Group strategy for delivering Automation Control & Instrumentation solutions to the Bradford site.
At level 0 the role will be expected to integrate and maintain key industrial components used in the manufacturing process e.g. sensors, valves, process control systems, Industrial PC's & PLC's.
The level 1 support will require diagnosis, debug and programming at the PLC level to rectify problems and connect to other automated systems.
This engineering resource should provide effective support of levels 0 and 1. The Princes MES team supports the SCADA and Wonderware on site. These applications will need occasional automation support as required.
The role will be expected to perform key support activities which reduce reliance on 3rd party support suppliers. The Site Automation Engineer will support the Site Electrical Engineer to reduce machine obsolescence to ensure future equipment resilience.
As a part of the support function this role will work with the business to strive to achieve optimal operational efficiency at the lowest cost through the delivery of targets against the strategic objectives of the function:
Quality
Cost
Delivery
Safety
People
The role also provides a structured link between the Site Engineering function and the Site Operational systems and teams.
The role of the Site Automation Engineer is required to provide support to the engineering and manufacturing operations through the development, maintenance and administration of all aspects of the electrical process control systems infrastructure and instrumentation.
The scope of the role includes all automated manufacturing systems on site. PLC, HMI, PCC and systems along with all measuring instrumentation and devices.
This key role also serves the site competent person in electrical systems to guide and support, through close collaboration with the whole Engineering team, Operational teams, Continuous improvement and Projects teams.
The key aims are to have 100% up time of systems and infrastructure, eliminate breakdowns resulting from electrical systems, control systems and instrumentation, within agreed budgets.
To maintain product Food Safety, Legality, Integrity, Authenticity and Quality standards by ensuring all associated policies and procedures are adhered to.
Duties And Responsibilities
To ensure that all electrical and controls are designed and maintained to ensure safe operation. Conducting risk assessments.
Process control domain system administration and maintenance.
Specification, maintenance and administration of all site PLC, HMI, PCC and other automated systems, which includes: Code backups, Fault finding and disaster recovery Modifications, Maintenance monitoring, Version control, Validation, Upgrades and bug fixes, System document and procedure updates, Licensing.
Administration, maintenance of site process control communication networks which include:
Ethernet, Profinet, Profibus, AS-i
Configuration management - managing and updating network configurations including operating system versions, and network parameters.
Fault management - detecting, logging, rectifying issues or faults within the network.
Competent person for Process Control & Instrumentation Engineering:
(Equipment specification, equipment inspection and compliance, instrument setup and calibrations, Loop tuning, fault diagnosis)
Develop User Requirement Specifications for new/modifications to control and instrumentation systems.
Training team members and cross functional teams as required to continuously build site capabilities.
Commissioning and validation including FAT, SAT, IQ, OQ.
Change control agent for equipment, instrumentation and control systems
Support Engineering shutdown planning and execution, for calibration and electrical control and process equipment systems maintenance.
Support Business continuity risk assessment and strategy planning including Obsolescence reviews.
Maintain and Update control and instrument CAD drawings and other documents.
Contract support for all site instrument calibrations contracts, process control system support and software license contracts, and the building management system service support contract.
Management of self, contractors and project engineers when on site and assigned under your control.
Dimensions
Manage the version control and disaster recovery of key plant equipment at deployed sites including PLC's, HMI's and other automated systems.
Responsible for systems support of manufacturing execution systems across the site
Key Relationships
Engineering Team, Operational Teams & MES Team
Key Responsibilities
Development of solutions
The role will provide development skills to support the implementation of automation and control systems at the PLC and device layers within the system architecture.
The main areas of responsibility are described in more detail below;
Responsibility
Conduct FIT Gaps Liaising with OEMs to ensure that all future Line installations are configured for Future Applications.
For current production lines identifying the PLC configuration gaps and developing the work stream necessary to address these in line with implementation plans.
Prepare Automation solutions and maintenance strategies.
Liaise with OEMs on new installations ensuring the PLC configuration is in line with Agreed standards.
For current production lines, preparing the PLC program and managing the solutions as per agreed standards.
Standards
Ensuring that the standards applied to the solution comply with existing Group Electrical and Automation Standards.
Documentation
Preparing and updating the necessary reference documentation for site teams and handover documentation for the service desk transition.
Version Control
Authorizing and maintaining any version updates for the integrated plant deployed applications.
Establish and manage test rigs/environments.
Ensure effective monitoring and support of deployed integrated plant applications. Establish an Engineering environment to model and assess developed PLC solutions.
Deployment of Applications
The role holder will support the deployment plans in the following areas:
Perform Testing and Factory Acceptance of newly developed solutions.
Assist in the development of training materials for the support of the rollout of functionality
Provide site roll-out training
Provide predefined audit of the methodology and process usage by site to verify compliance with Group CI strategy.
System Support
The role holder will be involved in the development and delivery automation site support for deployed Automation, Control & Instrumentation systems enhancing the process with the purpose of optimizing the reliance and cost of External service contracts.
If the engineering shift team cannot resolve, then escalate to site engineering management.
Revert to external support if outside current support skills of team member
All aspects of support will be conducted within the site engineering framework for support based on best practice.
Safety, Quality, Hygiene
Undertake duties in a responsible manner giving due consideration to Safety, Environmental & Quality procedures, which form part of the Integrated Management System
Ensure work undertaken conforms to legislative requirements
Embrace a culture of safe behaviour and contractor health and safety within the production and engineering areas
Support and embrace a culture enhancing behavioral awareness to reduce accidents, incidents and near misses
Specific responsibilities can be found at section of the Health & Safety Management system
Continuous Improvement
Support and audit the A, C & I systems which is used for production, line downtime electronic data capture enabling site operational teams to practise Short
Interval Control (SIC) meetings using the data provided by MES to make informed decisions on tackling Route Cause of Downtime
Communication
Work closely with Site operational teams on key project implementations
Working cross functionally to deliver full support for deployed systems
Effectively managing all business stakeholders involved with engineering projects ensuring that the team and site values are adhered to in all interactions
Manage/Develop People
Ensure that the cross-functional teams are appropriately supported and mentored to be able effectively and safely to deliver their tasks and ensure the stability and continuity of the teams are consistent with the long-term needs of the business
Aligning and deploy resources appropriately to meet site and group strategy
Challenge work practices and processes to achieve improved operational performance
Conduct self in line with the site values and behaviors at all times
Develop a culture of ownership within the team for the on-going development of the automated integrated solution
Technical Leadership
Act as first point of technical support for engineering team
Apply defined best practice in all engineering and project management matters
Develop and apply own specialist technical skills in support of group KPI's
Role Requirements
Experience Required
In-depth manufacturing plant knowledge on critical control equipment
Advanced knowledge of SAP
Ability to test changes to manufacturing systems and feedback on improvements
Knowledge of architecture for the relevant plant industrial networks
Understanding of lean manufacturing processes – 5S, Kanban, SMED, Kaizen
Detailed understanding of developing test scripts for scenario impact analysis
Project management skills from concept to delivery of capital investments
Key Behavioral Indicators
Conduct self in line with the site values and behaviour
Strong interpersonal skills; able to quickly establish good relationships both internally, with people at all levels of an organization, and externally, with customers. Has the ability to leverage this to inspire others to identify and own change as well as motivate, coach and mentor others
Ability to develop good working relationships and cross functional team working across other business teams and functions
Ability to communicate openly and effectively with teams, factory management and across other business teams and functions at all levels tailoring the level of detail to the target audience
Creative problem solver, able to analyse problems and opportunities and determine the most appropriate course of action to rectify
Excellent organisational skills, able to set and drive through an agenda
Strong influencer, able to contribute effectively outside immediate area of expertise
Assertive, persuasive, patient and resilient
Attention to detail and ability to plan, prioritise and work to tight deadlines
Ability to work on own initiative
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Benefits:
22 shift Annual Leave plus Birthday off
14.5% Pension – 5% employee opt in / 9.5% employer
Flexible Holiday Option - Buy 5 Additional Days
Enhanced Family Friendly & Carers Policies
Critical Illness Cover
Learning & Development Opportunities