Advanced Manufacturing Automation (AMA) Lead

Adient US LLC; Warren (MI); On-site; USD 105,000 - 155,000; Full time

Job summary

Adient US LLC at Bridgewater Interiors II is seeking an experienced Automation Engineer to define and enforce plant automation standards, lead capital projects, and coordinate cross-functional teams for production-ready systems.

The role requires strong knowledge of controls engineering, lean methods, and OEE optimization, with a focus on safety, reliability, and lifecycle governance from concept to sustainment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical, mechanical, industrial, manufacturing, mechatronics, controls, or a related engineering discipline.
• Seven or more years of progressive experience in manufacturing automation, controls engineering, systems integration, or advanced manufacturing engineering.
• Experience leading automation capital projects valued at $500,000 or more, including scope, supplier management, schedule, budget, commissioning, and acceptance.
• Knowledge of lean manufacturing, OEE improvement, structured problem-solving, risk assessment, and equipment-launch processes.
• Ability to interpret electrical schematics, mechanical layouts, control narratives, network drawings, safety documentation, and supplier proposals.
• Strong leadership, decision-making, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills to set technical direction and ensure standards.

Responsibilities

• Define, maintain, and enforce plant automation standards, design specifications, controls architecture, documentation requirements, and risk-mitigation protocols.
• Review and approve automation concepts, detailed designs, software architectures, safety solutions, modifications, and production launches.
• Lead automation capital planning and execution, including business cases, ROI analysis, scope development, vendor selection, and schedule and budget control.
• Coordinate internal stakeholders, equipment suppliers, system integrators, maintenance, operations, IT/OT, quality, and safety teams to deliver compliant and production-ready systems.
• Establish launch-readiness criteria and verify that equipment meets safety, quality, cycle-time, reliability, maintainability, documentation, training, and spare-parts requirements before release to production.
• Monitor automated-cell performance using OEE, mean time between failures, downtime, throughput, quality, and 30/60/90-day launch-stability metrics; lead corrective actions and escalation for significant performance events.
• Own automation lifecycle governance from concept through sustainment, ensuring systems are not transferred to operations until defined stability criteria are achieved and no unsupported or "orphaned" systems remain.
• Drive root-cause analysis, continuous improvement, standardization, and replication of proven automation solutions across the plant.
• Maintain awareness of emerging automation technologies and recommend practical applications that improve safety, quality, productivity, flexibility, or cost.

Skills

Automation leadership

Capital project management

Controls engineering

Lean manufacturing

OEE optimization

Electrical schematics

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define, maintain, and enforce plant automation standards, design specifications, controls architecture, documentation requirements, and risk-mitigation protocols.
• Review and approve automation concepts, detailed designs, software architectures, safety solutions, modifications, and production launches.
• Lead automation capital planning and execution, including business cases, ROI analysis, scope development, vendor selection, technical bid evaluation, schedule and budget control, installation, commissioning, and final acceptance.
• Coordinate internal stakeholders, equipment suppliers, system integrators, maintenance, operations, IT/OT, quality, and safety teams to deliver compliant and production-ready systems.
• Establish launch-readiness criteria and verify that equipment meets safety, quality, cycle-time, reliability, maintainability, documentation, training, and spare-parts requirements before release to production.
• Monitor automated-cell performance using OEE, mean time between failures, downtime, throughput, quality, and 30/60/90-day launch-stability metrics; lead corrective actions and escalation for significant performance events.
• Own automation lifecycle governance from concept through sustainment, ensuring systems are not transferred to operations until defined stability criteria are achieved and no unsupported or "orphaned" systems remain.
• Drive root-cause analysis, continuous improvement, standardization, and replication of proven automation solutions across the plant.
• Maintain awareness of emerging automation technologies and recommend practical applications that improve safety, quality, productivity, flexibility, or cost.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in electrical, mechanical, industrial, manufacturing, mechatronics, controls, or a related engineering discipline.
• Seven or more years of progressive experience in manufacturing automation, controls engineering, systems integration, or advanced manufacturing engineering.
• Demonstrated experience leading automation capital projects valued at $500,000 or more, including technical scope, supplier management, schedule, budget, commissioning, and acceptance.
• Working knowledge of lean manufacturing, OEE improvement, structured problem-solving, risk assessment, and equipment-launch processes.
• Ability to interpret electrical schematics, mechanical layouts, control narratives, network drawings, safety documentation, and supplier technical proposals.
• Strong leadership, decision‑making, communication, and cross‑functional collaboration skills, with the ability to establish technical direction and hold stakeholders accountable to standards.

PRIMARY LOCATION

Bridgewater Interiors II