AME Material Flow & Intralogistics SME

Johnson Controls, Inc.; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson Controls seeks a Material Flow & Intralogistics SME to act as the global technical authority for how material moves through its plants. You will lead AGV/AMR, conveyor design, and line-balancing efforts, while driving best practices across regions.

This is a hands-on role that requires frequent Gemba presence and the ability to deliver substantial improvements in safety, quality, and productivity. Responsibilities include defining standards, owning the roadmap, deploying solutions, and

Qualifications

• Degree in Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years in material flow, intralogistics, or manufacturing systems.
• Hands-on design and deployment of AGV/AMR systems and plant layouts.

Responsibilities

• Define and govern global standards for material flow and intralogistics.
• Own the multi-year technology roadmap and pilot emerging tech.
• Deploy best practices across a global plant network with rapid experimentation.
• Serve as technical liaison between engineering and operations; manage supplier partnerships.
• Build capability through training, certification, and hands-on mentoring.
• Lead hands-on problem solving at Gemba with urgency and accountability.

Skills

AGV/AMR systems

Gemba leadership

Lean manufacturing

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's in Industrial/Manufacturing Eng

Tools

FlexSim

MES integration

Digital twin tools

Job description

Role Overview

The Material Flow & Intralogistics SME is Johnson Controls' global technical authority for how material moves through its plants - AGVs and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), conveyor system design, plant layout and manufacturing systems engineering, line balancing, and kitting and warehouse flow. Operating within the newly established global Advanced Manufacturing PPO and reporting to the VP of Advanced Manufacturing, this role sets the enterprise standards, owns the technology roadmap, and defines the best practices that govern how Johnson Controls designs and runs material flow across every region and plant. This is a hands-on, front-line role: the SME is expected to be at Gemba - on the plant floor, in the warehouse, at the line - not behind a desk, personally driving problem solving and results rather than delegating them. The role sits at the intersection of day-to-day plant operations, manufacturing/industrial engineering, and the global supply base for material-handling equipment - close enough to the shop floor to understand real constraints, close enough to engineering to influence layout and flow design, and close enough to suppliers of AGVs, AMRs, and conveyor systems to guarantee incoming capability. Success requires deep, hands-on technical mastery of material-flow and intralogistics engineering; the credibility and influence to set direction across a global network without direct line authority; an intense, urgent focus on delivering substantial, measurable improvements in safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost rather than incremental activity; and the ability to experiment quickly, prove out solutions at a single line or plant, and then scale what works decisively across locations and regions.

Key Accountabilities

A) Global Standards & Governance

Define, publish, and govern the global standards, specifications, and procedures for AGV/AMR safety and integration, conveyor system design, plant layout, and line-balancing/kitting practices that apply across all Johnson Controls plants. Establish the audit and governance mechanisms that keep every site compliant and consistent.

B) Technology Roadmap & Innovation

Own and continuously refresh the multi-year global technology roadmap for material flow and intralogistics. Evaluate and pilot emerging technologies - AGV/AMR fleets, conveyor automation, warehouse-management and MES-integrated flow systems, and plant-layout simulation/digital-twin tools - and drive their adoption where they create the greatest enterprise value.

C) Best Practice Deployment & Manufacturing Excellence

Identify, codify, and deploy material-flow best practices across the global plant network. Partner with plant, regional, and business-system teams to close performance gaps in line balance, kitting accuracy, warehouse throughput, and material availability - building a common global playbook rather than site-by-site solutions. Favor rapid experimentation over lengthy analysis: pilot new layouts, flows, and technologies quickly at a single line or plant, prove out the result, and then scale successful solutions decisively across other locations and regions.

D) Engineering & Supplier Partnership

Serve as the primary technical liaison between manufacturing/industrial engineering and plant operations, ensuring new lines and layouts are designed for efficient material flow from the earliest stages. Qualify, develop, and audit the global supply base for AGVs, AMRs, conveyor systems, and warehouse automation to guarantee that the best available technology and capability reach Johnson Controls' plants.

E) Technical Leadership & Capability Building

Build material-flow and intralogistics technical capability across the network through training, certification pathways, and hands-on mentoring of plant and engineering talent. Act as the escalation point and final technical authority for the most complex flow, layout, and logistics-bottleneck problems - leading root-cause investigations and ensuring fixes are sustained, not just applied.

F) Hands-On Gemba Leadership & Results Delivery

Spend the majority of working time at Gemba - on the plant floor, in the warehouse, at the line - rather than remotely directing work from a desk. Personally lead problem solving on the highest-priority safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost issues with a visible sense of urgency, and hold self and others accountable for converting standards and roadmaps into substantial, measurable results, not just documented plans.

Winning Behaviors

This role must model and embed Johnson Controls' Winning Behaviors as the “how”:

• We Focus on What Matters — We align our teams around customer needs and opportunities identified at Gemba, set clear priorities that deliver the most value, and enable data-informed decisions closest to where the work happens.

• We Win as One Team — We seek and bring together different perspectives, connect teams across the value stream to achieve shared goals, address challenges constructively, promote collaboration and enable ownership closest to the customer.

• We Own the Outcome — We hold our teams accountable, take ownership for team results, drive clear and consistent execution, and build systems that enable sustained performance, always prioritizing safety and integrity.

• We Improve Everyday — We create an environment where problems are surfaced transparently, “red” is embraced as an opportunity to improve, root causes are sustainably addressed, and teams rapidly learn, experiment, adapt, innovate, and grow.

Key Leadership Attributes

A. Critical thinking. Ability to process and evaluate information, challenge assumptions, deal with complexity, and make logically sound technical judgments, especially under ambiguity.

B. Strategic and systems thinking. Ability to see across the full value stream — design, process, supply base, and plant execution — and anticipate upstream and downstream implications of technical decisions. Ability to connect technology choices to longer-term cost, quality, and capability outcomes.

C. Learning agility & adaptability. Ability and willingness to learn from experience and apply it in unfamiliar plants, regions, or processes. Curiosity to seek feedback, test new technologies, and learn from both successes and failures.

D. Drive & achievement orientation. High internal standard for technical excellence and an unmistakable sense of urgency; not satisfied with standards and roadmaps on a shelf, but driven to deliver substantial, measurable improvement in safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost. Persistence in converting plans into results in the field.

E. Resilience. Ability to remain calm, confident, and composed when a complex technical failure has to be diagnosed under pressure. Ability to sustain performance and credibility across a global network over time.

F. Interpersonal awareness and orientation & influence without authority. Ability to read plant, engineering, and supplier stakeholders and understand their constraints. Natural inclination to build trust, persuade, and shape technical direction across teams that do not report to this role.

G. Disciplined and conscientious. Natural tendency toward rigor, structure, and follow-through in documentation, standards, and qualification records. Internal bar for excellence, safety, and precision.

H. Leadership courage. Confidence and conviction to challenge a plant, engineering, or supplier decision on technical grounds, and to elevate risk clearly when standards or safety are at stake.

I. Humility. Ability to place the standard and the outcome above personal authorship; inclined to share credit generously, listen to frontline and supplier expertise, and recognize that the best answer often comes from the plant floor.

J. Bias for action & hands-on presence. Genuine preference for being at Gemba over being in a conference room or behind a screen. Comfort rolling up sleeves alongside operators and technicians. Ability to move fast — testing a solution quickly, learning from the result, and scaling it across other lines, plants, and regions rather than waiting for perfect information.

Knowledge & Experience

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Logistics/Supply Chain Engineering, or a related technical field

• 10+ years of progressive experience in material flow, intralogistics, or manufacturing systems engineering within complex manufacturing or industrial operations

• Hands-on expertise designing and deploying AGV/AMR systems, conveyor systems, and plant layouts

• Demonstrated experience with line balancing, kitting design, and warehouse flow optimization

• Demonstrated experience setting material-flow standards adopted across multiple sites or a global network

• Experience partnering directly with manufacturing/industrial engineering to influence layout and flow design

• Track record of being personally hands-on at Gemba, driving urgent resolution of material-flow and logistics bottlenecks

• Willingness and ability to travel internationally (approximately 30-50%) to plants and suppliers

• Demonstrated ability to pilot a material-flow solution quickly at one line or plant and then scale it successfully across multiple locations and regions

Strongly Preferred:

• Experience with autonomous mobile robot fleet management and controls-to-WMS/MES integration

• Lean or Six Sigma certification

• Experience in high-mix, high-volume manufacturing environments

• Plant layout simulation or digital-twin tool experience (e.g., FlexSim, AnyLogic)

• Prior global or multi-country role, with exposure to diverse regulatory and cultural operating environments

• Demonstrated pilot-to-scale track record across multiple plants or regions

Core Knowledge Expectations

• AGV/AMR technology fundamentals and safety standards

• Conveyor system design principles

• Plant layout and facilities planning methodologies

• Line balancing and takt-time analysis

• Kitting and warehouse flow design

• Financial acumen sufficient to build the business case for capital investment in material-handling technology

• Ability to challenge, and be challenged by, plant, engineering, and supplier technical experts as a peer authority

Success Measures

12-Month Expectations for Success (Role Scorecard - Year 1)

• Global material-flow and AGV/AMR standards published and communicated to all plants

• Technology roadmap for material flow and intralogistics developed and aligned with Advanced Manufacturing leadership

• Baseline assessment of material-flow capability completed across the network

• Priority best practices identified and piloted at 2–3 lead plants

• Trusted technical relationships established with plant, engineering, and supplier leadership

• Escalation process defined for complex material-flow and logistics issues, with early wins on root-cause resolution

• Majority of working time demonstrably spent at Gemba, with visible, hands-on involvement in the highest-priority safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost issues

• At least one standard or best practice taken from pilot to multi-site scale within the year

24-Month Expectations for Success (Role Scorecard - Year 2)

• Global standards and best practices fully deployed and audited across the plant network

• Technology roadmap translated into funded capital projects (AGV/AMR, conveyor, layout redesigns) with measurable ROI

• Supplier base optimized, with qualified, capable suppliers producing the majority of material-handling equipment

• Global training and certification pathway established, with a growing bench of qualified practitioners

• Sustained, measurable improvement in material-flow throughput, kitting accuracy, and cost across the network

• Recognized as Johnson Controls' go-to global authority for material flow and intralogistics

• Multiple piloted solutions successfully scaled across regions, with a repeatable experiment-deploy-scale rhythm embedded as the standard way this role drives change

• Substantial, quantified improvement delivered against safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost targets, sustained through consistent Gemba presence and urgency