What are the responsibilities and job description for the Controls, Applications Engineer position at Fives?
Position summary
The Controls, Applications Engineer owns the controls scope and its price.
Every system we sell has an electrical and controls scope: panels, drives,
devices, network, safety and the installation labor behind them. The
Controls, Applications Engineer designs that architecture at concept level,
prices it, and documents the basis well enough that it can be reviewed and
then built.
The role works alongside the Application Engineer on the mechanical scope
and the Solutions Engineer on the operational flow the controls have to
serve. Where the requirement cannot be satisfied by application of standard
architecture, the answer is escalation, not invention.
Character qualifications
Innovation – We create a culture of relentless improvement of solutions and
processes to make every day better.
Integrity – We are open, honest, and committed to giving the straight story
every time.
Service – We serve our clients, families, communities, and most importantly
our people who are empowered and safe in making decisions and taking
actions that dare to make us better.
Ownership – We take full, personal, individual responsibility for our
actions and our work.
Essential duties & responsibilities
Solution development
•Decide how Fives equipment answers the requirement, and size and select it
to hit throughput, product profile and operating hours at a price that
wins.
•Own the electrical and controls architecture: panels, I/O, network and
safety.
Estimating & cost
•Build the complete electrical estimate for the scope: panels, devices and
installation labor.
•Develop the bill of material.
•Document cost drivers, assumptions, exclusions and risk allowances well
enough that another engineer can review the estimate without rebuilding it.
Customer & supply
•Obtain and evaluate vendor and subcontractor pricing, and recommend
selection.
Execution & turnover
•Hand execution a package they can build from: the reasoning and
assumptions, not only the drawings.
Contributes to
○Reviewing the RFP, contract and statement of work for risk
○The bid/no-bid technical recommendation
○Process and material flow design across functional areas
○Block-level layout and technology class per area
○Third-party and partner selection
○Layout drawings
○The manifest and equipment list
○Technology feasibility evaluation
○Standard-hours and cost-data studies
○Estimating tool and SAP improvement
○CRD authorship
○Technical writing, description of operation and scope
○Specification compliance and acceptance criteria
○Risk assessment
○Customer meetings with Sales
○The technical basis for acceptance criteria and test procedures
○Technical support to the Project Manager in early phases
○The standardization program and product classification
Working with the rest of the team
Partner They bring You keep
Application Engineer The mechanical scope, equipment selection, detailed
layout and manifest The electrical and controls architecture and its
estimate
Solutions Engineer The operational flow, rates and decision points The
controls architecture that serves them
Senior Controls Application Engineer The electrical estimating standard
and sign-off The estimate on your bid
Offering Manager Proposal schedule, vendor RFQ packages, workload
prioritization The electrical content and its quality
Operations / detailed engineering Detailed design and field execution
The handoff package and the reasoning inside it
Qualifications
Education and experience
•Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, or an equivalent combination
of education and experience.
•5 to 8 years in electrical design, controls engineering or electrical
estimating for industrial systems.
•Required: demonstrated ownership of an electrical estimate, including
panels, devices and installation labor.
•Required: working knowledge of PLC and controls architecture, I/O counts,
network topology and machine safety.
•Preferred, not required: material handling, conveyor or sortation
experience. Candidates from adjacent industrial-automation sectors are
expressly welcome.
•Familiarity with applicable electrical codes and standards. AutoCAD
Electrical or equivalent. Strong Excel; SAP exposure a plus.
Skills
Language. Reads and interprets electrical specifications, codes,
single-line diagrams, contracts and statements of work. Explains a controls
architecture to a mechanical audience and to a customer. Mathematical.
Load, power and I/O calculations. Applies ratios, percentages and
proportions to practical cost problems. Reasoning. Defines problems,
collects data, establishes facts, and draws valid conclusions from
incomplete information, stating the assumptions used to get there.
Travel
Travel to customer offices, vendor plants and job sites, typically under
25%.
Progression
The Controls, Application Engineer role has three levels: Junior Controls
Application Engineer, Controls Application Engineer and Senior Controls
Application Engineer. There is no Principal level here; cross-discipline
authority sits with the Principal Application Engineer. Senior comes from
owning complete electrical estimates without correction and passing the
discipline’s method review, and carries the electrical estimating standard,
sign-off on others’ work, and coaching. Line management is a separate
route, through Supervisor, Manager and Director of Applications
Engineering, open by choice rather than by seniority.
Physical demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must
be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of
this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with
disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the
duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to
finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The employee frequently is
required to walk, sit, and reach with hands and arms. The employee is
occasionally required to stand and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The
employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally
lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by
this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and ability
to adjust focus. Travel via automobile and/or commercial airline to
customer offices for meetings, vendor’s plants, and job site to coordinate
the conveyors or equipment with the building and installers.
Work environment
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of
those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of
this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with
disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the
duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to moving
mechanical parts, outside weather conditions, risk of electrical shock, and
risk of radiation. The noise level in the work environment is usually
moderate, unless performing work in shop or field conditions.
The Controls, Applications Engineer owns the controls scope and its price.
Every system we sell has an electrical and controls scope: panels, drives,
devices, network, safety and the installation labor behind them. The
Controls, Applications Engineer designs that architecture at concept level,
prices it, and documents the basis well enough that it can be reviewed and
then built.
The role works alongside the Application Engineer on the mechanical scope
and the Solutions Engineer on the operational flow the controls have to
serve. Where the requirement cannot be satisfied by application of standard
architecture, the answer is escalation, not invention.
Character qualifications
Innovation – We create a culture of relentless improvement of solutions and
processes to make every day better.
Integrity – We are open, honest, and committed to giving the straight story
every time.
Service – We serve our clients, families, communities, and most importantly
our people who are empowered and safe in making decisions and taking
actions that dare to make us better.
Ownership – We take full, personal, individual responsibility for our
actions and our work.
Essential duties & responsibilities
Solution development
•Decide how Fives equipment answers the requirement, and size and select it
to hit throughput, product profile and operating hours at a price that
wins.
•Own the electrical and controls architecture: panels, I/O, network and
safety.
Estimating & cost
•Build the complete electrical estimate for the scope: panels, devices and
installation labor.
•Develop the bill of material.
•Document cost drivers, assumptions, exclusions and risk allowances well
enough that another engineer can review the estimate without rebuilding it.
Customer & supply
•Obtain and evaluate vendor and subcontractor pricing, and recommend
selection.
Execution & turnover
•Hand execution a package they can build from: the reasoning and
assumptions, not only the drawings.
Contributes to
○Reviewing the RFP, contract and statement of work for risk
○The bid/no-bid technical recommendation
○Process and material flow design across functional areas
○Block-level layout and technology class per area
○Third-party and partner selection
○Layout drawings
○The manifest and equipment list
○Technology feasibility evaluation
○Standard-hours and cost-data studies
○Estimating tool and SAP improvement
○CRD authorship
○Technical writing, description of operation and scope
○Specification compliance and acceptance criteria
○Risk assessment
○Customer meetings with Sales
○The technical basis for acceptance criteria and test procedures
○Technical support to the Project Manager in early phases
○The standardization program and product classification
Working with the rest of the team
Partner They bring You keep
Application Engineer The mechanical scope, equipment selection, detailed
layout and manifest The electrical and controls architecture and its
estimate
Solutions Engineer The operational flow, rates and decision points The
controls architecture that serves them
Senior Controls Application Engineer The electrical estimating standard
and sign-off The estimate on your bid
Offering Manager Proposal schedule, vendor RFQ packages, workload
prioritization The electrical content and its quality
Operations / detailed engineering Detailed design and field execution
The handoff package and the reasoning inside it
Qualifications
Education and experience
•Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, or an equivalent combination
of education and experience.
•5 to 8 years in electrical design, controls engineering or electrical
estimating for industrial systems.
•Required: demonstrated ownership of an electrical estimate, including
panels, devices and installation labor.
•Required: working knowledge of PLC and controls architecture, I/O counts,
network topology and machine safety.
•Preferred, not required: material handling, conveyor or sortation
experience. Candidates from adjacent industrial-automation sectors are
expressly welcome.
•Familiarity with applicable electrical codes and standards. AutoCAD
Electrical or equivalent. Strong Excel; SAP exposure a plus.
Skills
Language. Reads and interprets electrical specifications, codes,
single-line diagrams, contracts and statements of work. Explains a controls
architecture to a mechanical audience and to a customer. Mathematical.
Load, power and I/O calculations. Applies ratios, percentages and
proportions to practical cost problems. Reasoning. Defines problems,
collects data, establishes facts, and draws valid conclusions from
incomplete information, stating the assumptions used to get there.
Travel
Travel to customer offices, vendor plants and job sites, typically under
25%.
Progression
The Controls, Application Engineer role has three levels: Junior Controls
Application Engineer, Controls Application Engineer and Senior Controls
Application Engineer. There is no Principal level here; cross-discipline
authority sits with the Principal Application Engineer. Senior comes from
owning complete electrical estimates without correction and passing the
discipline’s method review, and carries the electrical estimating standard,
sign-off on others’ work, and coaching. Line management is a separate
route, through Supervisor, Manager and Director of Applications
Engineering, open by choice rather than by seniority.
Physical demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must
be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of
this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with
disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the
duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to
finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The employee frequently is
required to walk, sit, and reach with hands and arms. The employee is
occasionally required to stand and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The
employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally
lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by
this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and ability
to adjust focus. Travel via automobile and/or commercial airline to
customer offices for meetings, vendor’s plants, and job site to coordinate
the conveyors or equipment with the building and installers.
Work environment
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of
those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of
this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with
disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the
duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to moving
mechanical parts, outside weather conditions, risk of electrical shock, and
risk of radiation. The noise level in the work environment is usually
moderate, unless performing work in shop or field conditions.