Controls Engineer Working Lead

Job Summary

This role ensures seamless execution of daily business, development of personnel, application of tools and processes, and compliance to company policies. The lead must work cooperatively with business partners to drive key business metrics.

Duties and Responsibilities

Technical

• Design, develop, and document control and HMI software for blow molding equipment, using advanced concepts and design practices
• Lead and participate in control system development for new product offerings and control retrofits
• Provide startup & debug assistance
• Guide technical activities and develop technical skills within the engineering discipline to ensure operational and customer needs are satisfied
• Analyze customer specifications to ensure clarity of requirements and end product application
• Maintain new and existing standard equipment designs for future use in similar types of machinery
• Ensure technical processes, procedures, and best practices are defined, documented, and followed in daily activities associated within engineering discipline
• Ensure compliance to specifications and internal design processes
• Ensure new or less experienced staff receive appropriate technical training and mentoring
• Communicate and document "institutional (tribal) knowledge" to ensure this beneficial information is shared and available to others as the company continues to grow
• Track new technological developments and subsequent recommendations in new designs and retrofits
• Provide technical expertise to manufacturing personnel during build and start-up to diagnose and correct software issues; may occasionally require time on the assembly floor to provide hands-on assistance

Financial

• Ensure realistic schedules are developed and successfully executed to approved timelines, scope, and quality constraints
• Provide estimates for timing and cost in support of development activities and other project related initiatives
• Identify, track, and drive continuous improvement with KPI's for the department

Personnel

• Direct software engineers in the design and startup of controls projects, including PLC programs, HMI programs, Motion programs and Network communications; may personally perform such duties
• Assist in coaching employees and provide feedback with respect to outlined goals and procedures
• Assist in conducting Performance Reviews
• Assist in directing development and training of personnel

Note: This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: BS in electrical/controls engineering, computer science, software engineering or other engineering
• Experience: Minimum of 10 years of experience
• Technical background: Experience with ground-up controls design for more than one complete machine or DCS
• Control systems: Demonstrable conceptual understanding of advanced PID control
• Advanced process control: A plus (internal model control, feed forward, autotuning of PID parameters)
• Hardware and software experience with some or all of the following:
• Allen Bradley - SLC and ControlLogix Platforms
• FactoryTalk View HMI
• PowerFlex drives
• B&R Automation Studio
• ACOPOS drives
• mappView
• Siemens - S7 Series PLC
• WinCC HMI
• Ethernet IP, ProfiNet, and Profibus communication protocols
• Electrical design: ACAD or EPLAN electrical design experience; several years reviewing and troubleshooting electrical schematics an acceptable substitute
• Safety knowledge: Knowledge of safety circuits
• Analog signals: Knowledge of analog control signals
• Software: Knowledge of Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Outlook)
• Work style: Able to work confidently under pressure without direct supervision
• Communication: Good communication skills – both written and verbal

Specific Technical Qualifications

• In depth knowledge of at least one object-oriented programming language or C; experience with pointers or delegates required
• Working knowledge of hydraulic/electric control systems
• Experience with hydraulics, Servo Drives/Motors and Servo Hydraulics
• Experience with B&R control systems and software IDE tools a plus
• In-depth knowledge of object-oriented programming tools and techniques
• Experience in debugging software/hydraulic/electrical systems; ability to work with version control a plus
• Experience using Microsoft Visual Studio a plus
• Experience with mappView or other widget-based GUI design software a plus

Work Environment

Office / Manufacturing environment: Employee may be occasionally exposed to moving equipment, mechanical parts in motion, risk of shock and other hazards associated with a manufacturing environment such as overhead cranes, welding, machining, painting etc.

Travel / Customer Support: Employee will occasionally provide customer support and guidance remotely or onsite. Aside from technical capability, the employee must have interpersonal skills commensurate with expectations for a field service technician who also promotes product sales and further services.

Ideal Candidate

Will be enthusiastic to participate in development of an entirely new control platform to be standardized on all product lines. Will participate in development of scalable controls platform with best practices related to deployment, archiving, and version control/bug fixes. Should be able to quickly adapt to new programming languages and platforms and be self-motivated to continually improve their professional skillset.