SME - Controls Engineering

Job Posting Start Date 01-09-2025 Job Posting End Date 03-10-2025

Flex is the diversified manufacturing partner of choice that helps market-leading brands design, build and deliver innovative products that improve the world.

We believe in the power of diversity and inclusion and cultivate a workplace culture of belonging that views uniqueness as a competitive edge and builds a community that enables our people to push the limits of innovation to make great products that create value and improve people's lives.

A career at Flex offers the opportunity to make a difference and invest in your growth in a respectful, inclusive, and collaborative environment. If you are excited about a role but don't meet every bullet point, we encourage you to apply and join us to create the extraordinary.

Job Summary

To support our extraordinary teams who build great products and contribute to our growth, we're looking to add a SME - Controls Engineering located in Libertyville, IL

Reporting to the General Manager, the SME - Controls Engineering will provide leadership and technical expertise in the areas of controls and electronic circuitry in order to achieve safety, quality, and productivity targets in a medical device manufacturing plant. Primary focus will be on controls improvements and troubleshooting of high volume automated medical device assembly equipment and associated electrical wiring/devices, instrument, embedded systems, motion control and inspection systems. In addition, it is expected that this individual will assist and provide training to maintenance, production or other personnel as needed with technical or troubleshooting related matters. The selected candidate will be skilled in the design, installation, and upkeep of PLC based controls in a manufacturing environment.

What a typical day looks like:

• Lead or support maintenance teams in troubleshooting elusive problems resulting in downtime or quality issues. Identify and correct causes of chronic equipment failures or issues.
• Develop and implement plan to achieve highly effective controls troubleshooting and repair, minimizing downtime.
• Manage control of machine software, firmware and user access security.
• Propose, evaluate risk and implement PLC program and other software/firmware or hardware changes needed to improve safety, yield and productivity.
• Interface with OEM engineers in identifying root cause and implementing improvements.
• Completing change control documentation, including change documentation, risk assessment and justification.
• Optimize and/or improve human machine interfaces, SCADA systems and MES interfaces.
• Troubleshooting and optimizing performance of Cognex vision inspection systems
• Define equipment maintenance/preventative maintenance requirements and procedures.
• Identify root-causes of equipment failures, develop and implement corrective actions.
• Develop troubleshooting and repair skills of Controls and Automation Technicians.
• Provide on expert on call support for system outages and incidents.
• Development of User Requirement Specifications for new equipment or equipment updates.
• Work with Automation and Validation Engineers to develop test script to validate software/firmware updates.
• Support commissioning and validation of new equipment and/or implementation and testing of changes to existing equipment.

The experience we're looking to add to our team:

• A Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent coupled with 10+ years of experience in high volume industrial or manufacturing environment.
• Proficiency programming and troubleshooting B&R Controllers, Allen Bradley Control Logics PLCs and Human Machine Interface (HMI / GUI )
• Proficient user of: RSLOGIX5000, Logix Designer, Studio 5000, Factory Talk SE, Ignition and Cognex
• Demonstrated ability to design fault-tolerant systems with error handling and recovery.
• Experience working with and presenting to Internal Stakeholders and external customers.
• General understanding of factory LAN/WAN ethernet networks and ability to setup devices with IP addresses or nodes Experience setting up/tuning and troubleshooting Allen Bradley Power-Flex variable frequency drives and Kinetix multi-axis servo drives.
• Solid working knowledge of:
  • Field bus Networks (ProfiNet,DeviceNet, Ethernet/IP, Safety rated field bus networks).
  • Radio frequency identification devices (RFID) and all the accompanying components (Receiver, antenna, puck, reader)
  • PID tunning and closed feedback loops
  • Serial communication (RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, ProfiBus, Modbus RTU, Data Highway) between PLCs, instruments and microcontrollers
  • Ethernet communications between machine PLCs and embedded data collection systems

Experience with Vision systems is a plus (Cognex, Keyence, Fanuc) preferred

Experience programming/troubleshooting Siemens PLC, Step7, preferred

Experience working in a highly regulated manufacturing Industry (Medical, Automotive, Aerospace) Preferred.

What you'll receive for the great work you provide:

• Full range of medical benefits, dental, vision
• Life Insurance
• Matching 401K
• PTO
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Employee discounts at local retailers

KG56

AA01

What you'll receive for the great work you provide:

• Full range of medical, dental, and vision plans
• Life Insurance
• Short-term and Long-term Disability
• Matching 401(k) Contributions
• Vacation and Paid Sick Time
• Tuition Reimbursement

Pay Range (Applicable to Illinois)

$116,200.00 USD - $159,800.00 USD Annual

Job Category
Production Engineering

Relocation: Eligible for domestic relocation only

Is Sponsorship Available?
No

Flex is an Equal Opportunity Employer and employment selection decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. We celebrate diversity and do not discriminate based on: age, race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, pregnancy status, or any other status protected by law. We're happy to provide reasonable accommodations to those with a disability for assistance in the application process. Please email [email protected] and we'll discuss your specific situation and next steps (NOTE: this email does not accept or consider resumes or applications. This is only for disability assistance. To be considered for a position at Flex, you must complete the application process first).