Global Manufacturing SME, Automation and Robotics

Role Overview

The Automation & Robotics Integration SME is Johnson Controls' global technical authority for automating how its products are made — collaborative robotics (cobots), fixed and flexible automation cell design, controls-to-MES systems integration, and the automation technology roadmap and vendor evaluation process. Operating within the newly established global Advanced Manufacturing PPO and reporting to the VP of Advanced Manufacturing, this role sets the enterprise standards, owns the technology roadmap, and defines the best practices that govern how Johnson Controls automates its key processes across every region and plant. This is a hands-on, front-line role: the SME is expected to be at Gemba — on the plant floor, at the automation cell, at the controls cabinet — not behind a desk, personally driving problem solving and results rather than delegating them. The role sits at the intersection of day-to-day plant operations, manufacturing engineering, and the global automation/robotics supply base — close enough to the shop floor to understand real constraints, close enough to engineering to influence automatable design, and close enough to vendors to guarantee incoming capability. Success requires deep, hands-on technical mastery of automation and robotics integration; the credibility and influence to set direction across a global network without direct line authority; an intense, urgent focus on delivering substantial, measurable improvements in safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost rather than incremental activity; and the ability to experiment quickly, prove out solutions at a single line or plant, and then scale what works decisively across locations and regions. 

Key Accountabilities

A) Global Standards & Governance

Define, publish, and govern the global standards, specifications, and procedures for automation cell design, collaborative robot (cobot) safety and integration, and controls-to-MES systems integration that apply across all Johnson Controls plants. Establish the audit and governance mechanisms that keep every site compliant and consistent. 

B) Technology Roadmap & Innovation

Own and continuously refresh the multi-year global technology roadmap for automation and robotics integration. Evaluate and pilot emerging technologies — collaborative and flexible robotics, controls-to-MES/ERP integration architectures, and next-generation automation cell designs — and lead structured vendor evaluation, driving adoption where it creates the greatest enterprise value. 

C) Best Practice Deployment & Manufacturing Excellence

Identify, codify, and deploy automation best practices across the global plant network. Partner with plant, regional, and business-system teams to close performance gaps in OEE, uptime, and automation reliability — building a common global playbook rather than site-by-site solutions. Favor rapid experimentation over lengthy analysis: pilot new automation cells and technologies quickly at a single line or plant, prove out the result, and then scale successful solutions decisively across other locations and regions. 

D) Engineering & Supplier Partnership

Serve as the primary technical liaison between manufacturing engineering and plant operations, ensuring new processes are designed to be automatable from the earliest stages. Lead structured evaluation, qualification, and management of automation and robotics vendors to guarantee that the best available technology and capability reach Johnson Controls' plants. 

E) Technical Leadership & Capability Building

Build automation and robotics technical capability across the network through training, certification pathways, and hands-on mentoring of plant and controls engineering talent. Act as the escalation point and final technical authority for the most complex automation, integration, and uptime problems — leading root-cause investigations and ensuring fixes are sustained, not just applied. 

F) Hands-On Gemba Leadership & Results Delivery

Spend the majority of working time at Gemba — on the plant floor, at the automation cell, at the controls cabinet — rather than remotely directing work from a desk. Personally lead problem solving on the highest-priority safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost issues with a visible sense of urgency, and hold self and others accountable for converting standards and roadmaps into substantial, measurable results, not just documented plans. 

Winning Behaviors

This role must model and embed Johnson Controls' Winning Behaviors as the “how”: 

• We Focus on What Matters — We align our teams around customer needs and opportunities identified at Gemba, set clear priorities that deliver the most value, and enable data-informed decisions closest to where the work happens. 

• We Win as One Team — We seek and bring together different perspectives, connect teams across the value stream to achieve shared goals, address challenges constructively, promote collaboration and enable ownership closest to the customer. 

• We Own the Outcome — We hold our teams accountable, take ownership for team results, drive clear and consistent execution, and build systems that enable sustained performance, always prioritizing safety and integrity. 

• We Improve Everyday — We create an environment where problems are surfaced transparently, “red” is embraced as an opportunity to improve, root causes are sustainably addressed, and teams rapidly learn, experiment, adapt, innovate, and grow. 

Key Leadership Attributes

A. Critical thinking. Ability to process and evaluate information, challenge assumptions, deal with complexity, and make logically sound technical judgments, especially under ambiguity.

B. Strategic and systems thinking. Ability to see across the full value stream — design, process, supply base, and plant execution — and anticipate upstream and downstream implications of technical decisions. Ability to connect technology choices to longer-term cost, quality, and capability outcomes.

C. Learning agility & adaptability. Ability and willingness to learn from experience and apply it in unfamiliar plants, regions, or processes. Curiosity to seek feedback, test new technologies, and learn from both successes and failures.

D. Drive & achievement orientation. High internal standard for technical excellence and an unmistakable sense of urgency; not satisfied with standards and roadmaps on a shelf, but driven to deliver substantial, measurable improvement in safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost. Persistence in converting plans into results in the field.

E. Resilience. Ability to remain calm, confident, and composed when a complex technical failure has to be diagnosed under pressure. Ability to sustain performance and credibility across a global network over time.

F. Interpersonal awareness and orientation & influence without authority. Ability to read plant, engineering, and supplier stakeholders and understand their constraints. Natural inclination to build trust, persuade, and shape technical direction across teams that do not report to this role.

G. Disciplined and conscientious. Natural tendency toward rigor, structure, and follow-through in documentation, standards, and qualification records. Internal bar for excellence, safety, and precision.

H. Leadership courage. Confidence and conviction to challenge a plant, engineering, or supplier decision on technical grounds, and to escalate risk clearly when standards or safety are at stake.

I. Humility. Ability to place the standard and the outcome above personal authorship; inclined to share credit generously, listen to frontline and supplier expertise, and recognize that the best answer often comes from the plant floor.

J. Bias for action & hands-on presence. Genuine preference for being at Gemba over being in a conference room or behind a screen. Comfort rolling up sleeves alongside operators and technicians. Ability to move fast — testing a solution quickly, learning from the result, and scaling it across other lines, plants, and regions rather than waiting for perfect information.

Knowledge & Experience

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechatronics, Electrical, Controls, Robotics, or Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical field 

• 10+ years of progressive experience in automation and robotics integration within complex manufacturing or industrial operations 

• Hands-on expertise designing and deploying fixed and flexible automation cells, including collaborative robotics (cobots) 

• Demonstrated experience integrating automation controls with MES/ERP systems 

• Demonstrated experience setting automation standards adopted across multiple sites or a global network 

• Experience evaluating, qualifying, and managing automation and robotics vendors 

• Track record of being personally hands-on at Gemba, driving urgent resolution of automation and uptime issues 

• Willingness and ability to travel internationally (approximately 30–50%) to plants and suppliers 

• Demonstrated ability to pilot an automation solution quickly at one line or plant and then scale it successfully across multiple locations and regions 

Strongly Preferred:

• Experience with major robotics/cobot platforms (e.g., Universal Robots, FANUC, ABB, KUKA) 

• Controls/PLC programming experience (e.g., Allen-Bradley, Siemens) 

• MES platform integration experience 

• Lean or Six Sigma certification 

• Prior global or multi-country role, with exposure to diverse regulatory and cultural operating environments 

• Demonstrated pilot-to-scale track record across multiple plants or regions 

Core Knowledge Expectations:

• Robotics and cobot safety standards (e.g., ISO/TS 15066) 

• Automation cell design principles (fixed vs. flexible) 

• Controls architecture and MES/ERP integration fundamentals 

• OEE and automation uptime/reliability analysis 

• Vendor evaluation and technology benchmarking methodologies 

• Financial acumen sufficient to build the business case for capital investment in automation and robotics 

• Ability to challenge, and be challenged by, plant, engineering, and supplier technical experts as a peer authority 

Success Measures

12-Month Expectations for Success (Role Scorecard — Year 1)

• Global automation cell design and cobot safety/integration standards published and communicated to all plants 

• Automation technology roadmap developed and aligned with Advanced Manufacturing leadership 

• Baseline assessment of automation capability and OEE completed across the network 

• Priority best practices identified and piloted at 2–3 lead plants 

• Trusted technical relationships established with plant, engineering, and vendor leadership 

• Escalation process defined for complex automation and integration issues, with early wins on root-cause resolution 

• Majority of working time demonstrably spent at Gemba, with visible, hands-on involvement in the highest-priority safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost issues 

• At least one standard or best practice taken from pilot to multi-site scale within the year 

24-Month Expectations for Success (Role Scorecard — Year 2)

• Global standards and best practices fully deployed and audited across the plant network 

• Technology roadmap translated into funded automation capital projects with measurable ROI 

• Vendor base optimized, with qualified, capable partners producing the majority of automation and robotics equipment 

• Global training and certification pathway established, with a growing bench of qualified practitioners 

• Sustained, measurable improvement in OEE, uptime, throughput, and cost across the network 

• Recognized as Johnson Controls' go-to global authority for automation and robotics integration 

• Multiple piloted solutions successfully scaled across regions, with a repeatable experiment-deploy-scale rhythm embedded as the standard way this role drives change 

• Substantial, quantified improvement delivered against safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost targets, sustained through consistent Gemba presence and urgency