Automation Systems Engineer - HROC - Lehigh Hanson

THE ROLE AND THE COMPANY

Heidelberg Materials provides the materials to build our future. Our future is sustainable. Our future is digital. And it goes way beyond cement, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete. Heidelberg Materials North America, previously known as Lehigh Hanson, operates more than 450 locations with approximately 9,000 employees in the U.S. and Canada.  

Heidelberg Materials seeks to future proof its cement operations with increased digitization and operational capability. The overarching goal is to centralize operations, and to achieve operational excellence. For this purpose, it is establishing the Heidelberg Materials Remote Optimization Center (HROC) in its headquarters in Irving, Texas.

As an HROC Systems Engineer, you will be responsible for providing technical support and expertise to multiple cement plants within a designated region. Based in a central location remote to the plants, you will collaborate closely with plant teams to optimize process performance, troubleshoot issues, and drive continuous improvement initiatives across the region. Occasional travel to the plant sites supported will be required.

What You’ll Get to Do

• Control System Support: Provide technical support for the operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of control systems at multiple cement plant sites. Collaborate with plant teams and process engineers to identify and resolve control system issues, ensuring minimal disruption to plant operations. Ensure compliance with safety and regulatory standards.
• System Optimization: Collaborate with plant teams and process engineers to analyze control system performance data, identify opportunities for optimization, and implement improvement strategies. Optimize control algorithms, tuning parameters, and control loops to enhance process stability, efficiency, and product quality.
• Expert System Application Maintenance and Optimization: Work in coordination with plant teams and process engineers to maintain and optimize expert system applications in crushing, milling, pyro-processing, environmental compliance, and quality control applications to drive high utilization and value.
• Data Acquisition/Historian Support: Provide technical support for the maintenance and troubleshooting of company’s data historian. Add tags and configure connections to new systems, build customer reports, manage user accounts, and assist process engineers with development of trends and other historian tools.
• System Upgrades and Integration: Support control system upgrades, migrations, and integration projects. Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including project managers, IT, process engineers, and vendors, to plan and execute system upgrades, implement new functionalities, and ensure seamless integration with existing plant systems.
• Maintenance and Documentation: Develop and implement preventive maintenance plans for control systems, including routine inspections, calibrations, and software updates. Maintain accurate and up-to-date documentation of control system configurations, interlock diagrams, network diagrams, business continuity plans and standard operating procedures. Ensure compliance with change management processes.
• Training and Knowledge Transfer: Provide training and technical guidance to operators and process engineers on control system operation, troubleshooting techniques, and best practices. Foster a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous learning by conducting workshops, developing training materials, and sharing expertise with the plant teams.
• Cybersecurity: Collaborate with IT teams and cybersecurity experts to implement robust security measures and protocols to protect process network systems from cyber threats. Monitor and assess system vulnerabilities, recommend, and implement security enhancements, and ensure compliance with cybersecurity standards.

Essential Experience and Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Control Systems Engineering, or a related field.
• Previous experience in control systems engineering, preferably in the cement or heavy industrial sector.
• Strong knowledge of control system principles, distributed control systems (DCS), programmable logic controllers (PLC), human-machine interfaces (HMI), and process automation.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as ladder logic, structured text, or function block. Working knowledge of multiple control systems is preferred.
• Experience with control system hardware, networking, and communication protocols.
• Experience configuring and maintaining VMware virtual environments.
• Experience with OPC DA servers, clients and tunnellers.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity principles and practices for control systems.
• Familiarity with digitalization, artificial intelligence, data historians, and expert systems
• Familiarity with power metering, instrumentation, gas analyzers, control devices, motor control centers, switchgear and control panel design and engineering.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to diagnose and resolve complex control system issues.

What We Have to Offer:

• Competitive base salary and participation in our annual incentive plan
• Competitive benefits program
• 401k retirement savings plan with an automatic company contribution as well as matching contributions

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