Hands-On Electrical Engineer: Capital Projects & Automation

Trillium Foods; Lancaster (Lancaster County); On-site; USD 90,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Trillium Foods is seeking a hands-on Electrical Engineer to support capital projects, automation, controls, and electrical systems within our food and beverage manufacturing operations.

The role involves designing, developing, installing, and improving electrical and automation systems for food processing, production, packaging, and facility operations, with direct floor involvement from concept to startup and optimization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering.
• 3+ years of electrical engineering, controls, automation, or related experience within a food or beverage manufacturing environment.
• Hands-on experience with electrical systems, automation, controls, and production equipment within a food or beverage manufacturing facility.
• Experience supporting capital projects from technical design and equipment specification through installation, commissioning, and startup.
• Hands-on PLC programming and troubleshooting experience.
• Experience working directly on the manufacturing floor with Operations and Maintenance to troubleshoot equipment and process issues.
• Understanding of engineering considerations related to food safety, sanitary design, GMPs, sanitation, and product quality.
• Strong understanding of industrial electrical distribution systems and automation/process controls.
• Knowledge of industrial communication networks such as Ethernet/IP, Modbus, DeviceNet, and Profinet.
• Experience with AutoCAD Electrical or similar design software.
• Working knowledge of NEC, NFPA 70E, OSHA, and electrical safety practices.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of assigned capital projects supporting food processing, production, packaging, utilities, and facility operations.
• Develop project scopes, budgets, schedules, equipment specifications, technical requirements, and implementation plans.
• Provide hands-on electrical and controls engineering throughout project design, installation, commissioning, and startup.
• Evaluate new equipment and technologies and ensure electrical and controls requirements are appropriately incorporated into equipment specifications.
• Work directly with OEMs, vendors, contractors, integrators, and external engineering partners while maintaining internal ownership of technical requirements and project execution.
• Review and challenge technical recommendations, drawings, specifications, and proposed solutions to ensure they meet operational, engineering, food safety, and reliability requirements.
• Support equipment installation, testing, commissioning, validation, and production startup directly on the manufacturing floor.
• Track project costs, schedules, risks, and performance while minimizing disruption to production.
• Identify opportunities to improve safety, food quality, equipment reliability, efficiency, capacity, and overall manufacturing performance.
• Design, program, troubleshoot, modify, and optimize PLC and HMI systems supporting food and beverage manufacturing equipment and processes.
• Develop and implement automation solutions using PLCs, HMIs, SCADA systems, VFDs, industrial networks, instrumentation, and process controls.
• Support automation associated with processing, batching, mixing, filling, material handling, packaging, conveying, and other production systems.
• Troubleshoot controls and automation issues directly on production equipment and develop sustainable corrective solutions.
• Support integration between production equipment, controls, instrumentation, and related systems.
• Lead or support commissioning and startup of new and modified automated equipment.
• Develop and maintain control narratives, functional specifications, I/O documentation, electrical drawings, and other technical documentation.

Skills

Hands-on

Electrical design

PLC programming

Troubleshooting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

AutoCAD Electrical

SCADA

Rockwell/Allen-Bradley

Job description

Trillium Foods is seeking a hands-on Electrical Engineer to support capital projects, automation, controls, and electrical systems within our food and beverage manufacturing operations.

The role involves designing, developing, installing, and improving electrical and automation systems for food processing, production, packaging, and facility operations, with direct floor involvement from concept to startup and optimization.