Careers

Automation Engineer, Brecksville

Location: Brecksville, OH
Department: Engineering  
Employment Type: Full-Time  

Agrana Fruit is proud to be a Great Place to Work® Certified™ organization, reflecting our commitment to a high‑trust, collaborative, and employee‑focused culture. Agrana Fruit is the world market leader and leading ingredient supplier of fruit preparations in one of the fastest-growing segments in the food industry. We specialize in the custom development of stabilized fruit preparations for the refrigerated & frozen dairy, bakery, and food service industries. Every 3rd cup of yogurt worldwide contains fruit from Agrana! 

Agrana Fruit is seeking an Automation Engineer to manage the reliability and continued development of plant manufacturing automation infrastructure, including PLCs, HMIs, Inductive Automation Ignition, Microsoft SQL Server, industrial Ethernet networks, automation servers, production data collection, and the integration of manufacturing equipment with plant automation and business systems.

The Corporate Automation Engineer serves as a first-line corporate technical resource for automation-related production issues across AGRANA Fruit U.S. facilities. The successful candidate will combine strong controls engineering skills with IT/OT knowledge, excellent troubleshooting ability, and a service-oriented approach to supporting plant operations.

This is a hybrid position based in Brecksville Ohio which includes work from home, office, and travel to AGRANA Fruit U.S. manufacturing locations as required.

Key Responsibilities:

·     Develop, support, maintain, and troubleshoot Inductive Automation Ignition applications, including Perspective applications, tag configuration, OPC UA communications, scripting, database integration, alarming, and production data collection.

·     Support Rockwell Automation control systems, including Allen-Bradley PLC-based manufacturing systems and associated HMI and automation infrastructure.

·     Provide technical support to plant locations for automation-related production problems and emergency issue resolution, both remotely and on-site when required.

·     Troubleshoot and maintain PLCs, HMIs, industrial communications, automation servers, SQL databases, data-logging systems, and shop-floor Ethernet networks.

·     Maintain a thorough understanding of plant automation architecture and the interaction between manufacturing equipment, control systems, supervisory systems, databases, and plant business systems.

·     Develop and modify PLC and HMI applications to support new equipment, process improvements, reliability improvements, and production requirements.

·     Develop functional specifications and control narratives for PLC programming and automation projects in cooperation with process engineers, plant engineering teams, operations, and equipment suppliers.

·     Develop, maintain, and troubleshoot Microsoft SQL Server applications and integrations, including SQL queries, transactions, production data collection, reporting data, and interfaces between manufacturing systems and databases.

·     Understand and support the integration between plant automation systems and ERP/business systems.

·     Troubleshoot industrial Ethernet and OT network infrastructure, including IP-based industrial devices, communications between PLCs and supervisory systems, OPC UA connectivity, automation servers, and remote connectivity.

·     Develop and maintain electrical drawings and schematics using AutoCAD, including circuitry associated with three-phase motors, VFDs, instrumentation, analog and digital I/O, Ethernet-connected devices, and control systems.

·     Read, interpret, and work from Process and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs), electrical schematics, control drawings, and equipment documentation.

·     Support commissioning, startup, troubleshooting, and optimization of new and existing manufacturing equipment and automation systems.

·     Work with plant engineering, maintenance, operations, process engineering, IT, equipment suppliers, and system integrators to resolve automation problems and implement improvements.

·     Maintain an ongoing focus on improving manufacturing systems to increase reliability, productivity, ease of use, maintainability, and reporting effectiveness.

·     Provide timely response and resolution to production issues with a strong commitment to customer service and manufacturing uptime.

·     Maintain organized and accurate technical documentation, drawings, program backups, system information, project documentation, and status reporting.

·     Develop strong working relationships with plant personnel and gain an understanding of each facility’s manufacturing processes and automation systems.

·     Continuously expand technical knowledge and evaluate technologies that can improve the reliability, capability, supportability, and effectiveness of AGRANA manufacturing systems.

·     Travel within the United States to support plant projects, commissioning activities, troubleshooting, system upgrades, and other engineering activities as required.

Core Competencies:

Inductive Automation Ignition

·     Perspective

·     Tag configuration and management

·     OPC UA

·     Alarm configuration

·     Database integration

·     Python scripting

Rockwell Automation

·     Allen-Bradley ControlLogix and CompactLogix

·     Studio 5000

·     FactoryTalk platform (View SE, Historian, Transaction manager,etc)

·     Industrial Ethernet communications

Microsoft SQL Server

·     SQL queries

·     Database transactions

·     Production data collection and reporting

·     Manufacturing/database integration

Industrial Automation and OT Infrastructure

·     Industrial Ethernet

·     Managed network infrastructure

·     OPC UA

·     Automation servers

·     Remote troubleshooting and support

Electrical and Instrumentation Systems

·     VFDs and motor controls

·     Analog instrumentation

·     Digital I/O

·     Process instrumentation

·     Electrical controls and schematics

·     AutoCAD for electrical and controls drawings.

·     Manufacturing ERP/automation system integration.

·     Manufacturing data collection, historian, reporting, or production-information systems.

·     Lean manufacturing and continuous-improvement methodologies.

Job Requirements:

·     Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Automation Engineering, or a related technical field; or an Associate Degree combined with significant relevant industrial automation experience.

·     Demonstrated experience with factory automation and industrial controls systems.

·     Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills with the ability to diagnose issues spanning controls, instrumentation, networking, databases, servers, and manufacturing equipment.

·     Working knowledge of the Rockwell Automation and Inductive Automation platforms, including experience with Rockwell/Allen-Bradley PLC and HMI systems, and Inductive/Ignition HMI.

·     Experience with Microsoft SQL Server and SQL, including the ability to work with manufacturing data and automation/database integrations.

·     Ability to read and understand P&IDs, electrical drawings, and control schematics.

·     Ability to develop functional specifications and control requirements for PLC and automation programming.

·     Knowledge of electrical control systems, including three-phase motors, VFDs, analog instrumentation, digital I/O, and industrial communications.

·     Experience creating or modifying electrical drawings and schematics using AutoCAD.

·     Strong understanding of Ethernet networking, including IP addressing and troubleshooting communications between industrial devices and automation systems.

·     Ability to effectively support remote manufacturing facilities using approved remote-access technologies.

·     Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate manufacturing and process requirements into practical technical solutions.

·     Ability to work independently, prioritize multiple issues, and respond effectively in a production environment where troubleshooting and restoration of service may be time-critical.

·     Highly organized with strong documentation, time-management, and status-reporting skills.

·     Effective verbal, listening, and written communication skills.

·     Ability to communicate technical concepts effectively with operators, maintenance personnel, engineers, IT personnel, management, equipment suppliers, and system integrators.

·     Ability and willingness to quickly learn new technologies and manufacturing processes.

·     Working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Visio.

·     Ability and willingness to travel within the United States.

Why AGRANA Fruit?

AGRANA Fruit offers a competitive compensation and benefits package designed to support the health and well-being of our employees.

We are committed to providing a safe, collaborative, and technically challenging manufacturing environment and to continually improving the systems and technologies that support our operations.

The Corporate Automation Engineer will have the opportunity to work across multiple manufacturing facilities and technologies while playing a key role in improving the reliability, standardization, performance, and visibility of plant automation systems.

If you are an experienced automation professional who enjoys solving difficult manufacturing problems, working across multiple technologies, and helping plants improve their operations, we encourage you to apply today.

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