Warehouse Automation Solutions Lead Engineer - Lazio Search Group, Inc.

JOB SUMMARY

This position supports the development of the automation technology within Ryder’s Continuous Improvement culture across the all Business Unit’s/Vertical’s by actively promoting and facilitating the use of warehouse automation to primarily support new business, but will also work to assist existing operations when demand requires. This role will drive change through focused analysis of automation value and process profile, in order to achieve higher levels of performance in safety, quality, performance, cost and growth each and every day through the use of warehouse automation and technology. This position supports all business verticals and reports to the Automation Director.

This high-influence role will interface with employees at all levels and must be able to communicate effectively to all team members from site staff to executive leadership. This individual must possess a willingness and desire to work directly with his/her cross-functional peers and their direct reports in the business units to define and set a strategy for engineering efforts and automation activities for new and existing operations.

The Warehouse Automation Solutions Lead Engineer will be responsible for leading the effort in identifying, evaluating, piloting and deploying new warehouse automation technologies that will help differentiate Ryder by driving efficiencies to grow existing and win new business. This position will require a breadth of knowledge across many business types and automation technologies. Work directly with internal operations, solution design, continuous improvement, information technology, product teams and stakeholders to identify, select, and deploy new technology with automation partners. Consult with internal and external contacts to quickly demonstrate the value and feasibility of warehouse automation capabilities to create a competitive differentiator. Work directly with the customer and business owners to identify new ideas and collaborate across verticals, regions, and functional areas to evaluate, pilot, develop and implement warehouse automation solutions.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support sales and RFP process by identifying potential automation technologies that provide value to the proposed solutions. Obtain costs of implementation of these solutions by engaging automation/technology vendors and developing costs of proposed solutions, along with identifying timing and risk impacts. This role will then help coordinate execution plan with vendor and cross-functional Solutions Team to implement automation when it is applied.
• Develop advanced competency in wide range of engineering methods, Lean tools, and quality standards and coaches employees in the use and implementation of CI, Quality Assurance, & Lean principles. Apply company methodologies and tools and engineering methodologies/tools such as product slotting, labor standards (time studies), layouts and optimization of flow, data profiling and analysis, and resource modeling to improve distribution and/or transportation operations. Provide regular reports of data and actions to measure progress against the site objectives. Make Inventory and/or Supply Chain strategy recommendations.
• Work directly with internal operational, solution design, continuous improvement, information technology, product owners and cross-functional stakeholders to identify, select & deploy new warehouse automation technology in existing operations and in support of new business.
• Drive the Discovery Process through quickly assessing warehouse automation technologies by understanding how these address business needs, deliver significant value and can be adopted by the business. Monitor industry, technology and business trends to identify opportunities, threats and benchmarks competitive products to identify sources of competitive advantage or areas of focus. This position will continually investigate new technology opportunities that become available in the market to ensure that Ryder is utilizing the highest value solutions offered.
• Engages and helps manage the warehouse automation institutional partner relationships to identify new capabilities, support new business and drive ongoing efficiencies. Partner with the procurement organization to identify new automation partners and expand relationships with existing partners.
• Provide formal and informal training, coaching, mentoring to Ryder associates on available automation technologies that fit Ryder process profiles.

ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develops pilot activities and the hypothesis to be tested. Defines the proof of concept, formalizes the team, identifies a pilot location, obtains approvals, evaluates vendors and determines a pilot timeline. Deploys acceptable pilots to quickly evaluate business fit & operational feasibility. These results will help feed the solution design team to include proven technologies into new business proposals. Evaluate, pilot and deploy new warehouse automation technologies.
• May supervise a small team (1-3) of automation engineering professionals, make employment decisions (hire, promote, coach, development) and performance management. Manages multiple and complex Supply Chain projects. Regularly interacts with Senior Management and/or customer.
• Validation of new technology and automation will be supported by this role through Proof of Concept implementations. These POC implementations will be driven by the automation team, as they will also coordinate the value-justification of the project with Senior Management and the cross-functional team involved.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The qualifications listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION

Bachelor's degree Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or related field of study Required

Master's degree Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or related field of study Preferred

EXPERIENCE

Ten (10) years or more in warehouse automation, material handling technologies, industrial engineering or warehouse systems integration. Required

Two (2) years or more Demonstrated experience in warehouse automation Required

Two (2) years or more Experience in warehouse automation that may would preferable include some of the following, sortation conveyor, goods-to-person, autonomous vehicles/robots, ASRS’s Required

SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Driven to help organizations innovate with new warehouse automation capabilities or technologies. Required
• Strong planning, time management, collaboration, decision making, organization and presentation skills Required
• High degree of comfort and ease with ambiguity and uncertainty. Required
• Ability to create and maintain professional relationships within all levels of the organization (peers, work groups, customers, supervisors). Required
• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team Required
• Passion for understanding clients and internal customer's vision and business goals Required
• Ability to champion ambiguous scenarios and challenges Required
• Natural sense of leadership and ownership - in research, pilot and thought leadership activity. Required
• Problem-solver, curious, hands-on mentality Required
• Act as a change agent in adopting warehouse automation technologies to deliver significant operational improvement across the organization and to coach business owners and functional leads in the deployment of these new technologies Required
• Demonstrated success in assessing, developing and deploying new offerings or incremental enhancement Required

KNOWLEDGE

• Automation, Management Consulting, Physical & Process Robotic experience Intermediate Required
• Knowledge of Warehouse Management operations, data analytics, Industrial Engineering, warehouse types (ambient, temp control) and Lean methods Advanced Required
• Knowledge of all available material handling equipment and automation types such as: forklift applications, racking designs, packaging devices and automation design Intermediate Required
• Warehouse Design Tools ie; CAD, slotting, MOST, simulation, WMS, Labor Mgt. Network Design Tools (e.g., Llamasoft). Data Visualization Software (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) a plus Intermediate Required
• Industrial or Mechanical Engineering with warehouse operational knowledge Intermediate Required
• Experienced in financial business case analysis to help support targeted return on investment. M&A or past business transaction experience is a plus Intermediate Required