Director of Automation Engineering Details

Director of Automation Engineering

Albertsons Companies - Boise, ID

Employment Type : Full-Time

Albertsons Automation is in search of experienced thought-leaders in the field of Warehouse Automation & Supply Chain Technology with a degree in Industrial Engineering or related field, and five (5) years of relevant experience with Material Handling Equipment (MHE) and Warehouse Automation Systems integrated into large and complex operations.

The Automation Engineer role will serve as the strategic leader who understands material flow optimization and will be responsible for leading efforts in identifying, evaluating, piloting, and deploying new warehouse automation technology to improve productivity and warehouse capacity. The role will optimize the performance and flow of the material handling equipment and will lead building automation, continuous improvement and new installation initiatives. The role will be focused on automation system sizing and design, business case development, and project management. As a highly experienced subject matter expert and thought leader, this role will partner with operations, external suppliers, and internal stakeholders. As a key technical subject matter expert this role will help justify complex automation systems and manage their installation and deployment.

• Partner with warehouse automation solution providers to design systems and develop business cases; use hypothesis testing and sensitivity analysis to quantify risk, and calculate ROI
• Manage installation of complex and large-scale automation projects including the development of SOWs, testing and acceptance criteria, and project management of construction
• Evaluate multiple solutions in coordinated 'bake-offs', comparing, and contrasting the benefits of various automation solutions and design prototypes
• Drive the new technology discovery through developing supplier partnerships, effectively assessing warehouse automation solutions, and quantifying how the solutions address business needs to deliver value to Supply Chain; monitor industry and business trends, and benchmark competitive products to identify sources of competitive advantage
• Engage with warehouse operators to improve effectiveness of automation systems, and drive continuous improvement in equipment utilization, productivity, and efficient use of capacity
• Track project progress and automation success through data mining and developing KPIs and automated reporting; identify areas of opportunity to improve OEE
• Present business-cases, automation system performance, and continuous improvement initiatives to executive leadership through effective communication

• Minimum Bachelor's degree in Industrial, Mechanical, Computer, or other related Engineering field; graduate degree in Industrial, Computer, Finance, or Supply Chain field preferred
• Five (5) or more years of experience in warehouse automation, material handling equipment, and warehouse operations, including direct experience with AS/RS systems
• Fundamental understanding of warehouse operations, including WMS software, building layout optimization, order-filling methods, and work standards
• Experience in Lean Six Sigma, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), and AGILE development
• Strong analytics and project management background; proficient in using statistics, simulation, modeling, data mining (SQL), and analysis software packages
• Travel will be required for the role up to 35%