Controls & Testing Engineering Group Leader

Are you interested in being part of an innovative company with a family oriented culture? Rausch and Pausch LP (RAPA) is hiring in Auburn, AL! 

We are looking for a Controls/Testing Engineering Group Leader. 

RAPA offers the following benefits:

• Primary & Secondary medical coverage
• Supplemental Insurance coverage
• Dental coverage
• 401-K with a company match
• Paid time off
• 11 Paid Holidays per year
• Potential Bonus opportunities
• Company paid benefits, including: Vision insurance, Life Insurance, and Disability coverage

Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Demonstrate technical adeptness in the area of manufacturing processes, and ability to work with R & D, manufacturing equipment, and operations in the development and maintaining of controls and testing equipment..
2. Must have Excellent problem solving skills and take accountability for control and testing system programming and design for all computer controlled machinery and processes. Will work with multi-discipline teams, troubleshoot operational problems, develop process control strategies, and provide training.
3. Manage the day to day activities of controls and testing engineers to ensure both project level and larger departmental goals meet desired metric targets.
4. Responsible for hiring, training, and professional growth of Engineers within the department.
5. Participate as the controls and testing expert in leadership meetings to set project goals, priorities and strategies.
6. Responsible for annual training, operational, and capital budgeting for OPC department.
7. Oversee machine controls and operations within the company and the development of the overall machine controls/testing strategy for projects. 
8. Ability to perform and oversee MSA’s and other test system capability analysis
9. Manage work being done with equipment vendors to facilitate process control integration. Communicate progress and plans to other team leads. Work with other team leads to negotiate conflicts.
10. Lead/oversee the development of all process and machine control design including control network architecture, wiring diagrams, control schemes, plc, testing, and control interface equipment.
11. Lead runoff/acceptance/installation activities for new equipment pertaining to the control and operation of the machine. Develop integration plans including resources. Communicate the plan to all involved such as contractors, plant electricians, engineers, designers, plant technicians.
12. Manage capital projects that focus on process control integration or upgrades.
13. Responsible for maintaining and updating facility IT systems and infrastructure in close coordination with RAPA Group IT (Germany)
14. Lead RAPA LP IT Service Help Desk - Assist users with technical or programming issues or needs.
15. Perform first-level trouble shooting of any IT system or infrastructure issues and work with RAPA Group IT to resolve.
16. Contribute to IT annual budgeting for RAPA LP inclusive of hardware and infrastructure items.
17. Support implementation of RAPA IT Roadmap 
18. Works as a liaison with the Selb, Germany IT team to standardize IT infrastructure, services and support.
19. Train users on use of new programs and technologies.
20. Own individual work and personal performance.
21. Other duties as assigned.

 Skills, Education and Experience 

1. Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from accredited institution
2. At least 6 years of experience in the field of production processes, automotive industry or product testing
3. Programming experience in one high-level programming language (C /Java/Visual Basic/Ruby/Python). 
4. Strong working knowledge of Beckhoff TwinCat PLC and Drive technology knowledge (Beckhoff Drives ideal). 
5. Ability to program in Structured Text a must. 
6. LabView knowledge is a plus. 
7. Good Vision Systems experience (COGNEX Vision Systems, Keyence Vision Systems) 
8. Be able to read electrical drawings in IEC 60617 standard format.
9. Knowledge of US electrical norms such as NFPA70 and 79
10. Ability to design and layout Electrical cabinets.
11. Ability to hold a passport and travel within Germany without accompaniment
12. Ability to manage and motivate the process control team, resolving issues, scheduling and coordinating work among the team.
13. Must be authorized to work in the United States without company sponsorship
14. Expected to proactively solve potential problems before they occur throughout the course of the project including design, specification, construction, acceptance and start up.
15. Some knowledge of the German language and customs a plus
16. Needs to be highly motivated self-starter that is capable of being assigned a project and expected to produce results with little or no supervision.
17. Ability and willingness to make presentations to small and large groups of salary and/or hourly associates.
18. Must possess strong analytical and problem solving skills.
19. Strong Microsoft Office suite knowledge.