Director, Advanced Manufacturing

Job Description

Build your best future with the Johnson Controls team As a global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet. Join a winning team that empowers you to build your best future!

Who we are

Founded in 1994, Silent-Aire is a technology-driven company that designs, engineers, and manufactures hyperscale cooling and modular data center solutions. Silent-Aire employs over 3000 people, with a total of 13 manufacturing facilities and over 1 million sq/ft of capacity in Edmonton, Alberta; Gilbert, Arizona; and Dublin, Ireland. There are sales/service centers in Seattle, Washington; Boardman, Oregon; Ashburn, Virginia; and Dublin, Ireland. Since May 2021, Silent-Aire has been a part of Johnson Controls' Data Center Solutions group. To learn more, please visit https://www.silent-aire.com/.

What you will do

Lead the development and execution of a capacity expansion roadmap strategy and corresponding capital plan supporting the successful execution of the growth for data centers. Provide the Product Business Unit (PBU) and Manufacturing Engineering (ME) team with direction and sufficient coaching to ensure the technology roadmap strategy is executed on time and within budget. Foster strong leadership and collaboration to drive high performance across the organization, with demonstrated success leading greenfield, fully automated factory implementations.

How you will do it

Lead the development, deployment and execution of the technology roadmap strategy to ensure sufficient capacity is in place to meet customer demand, world-class technology is defined with a roadmap to implement, an inventory of equipment exists with a replacement strategy in place and supporting mid to long-term capital plan is approved and delivered on time. Identify strategic improvement areas for manufacturing operations centered around capacity improvement by doing “more with less” Lead the design and implementation of automated manufacturing systems, including robotics, PLC/SCADA control systems, material handling, and vision systems. Drive adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies Define manufacturing layouts, process flows, and automation strategies aligned with volume growth, product mix flexibility, and future expansion. Collaborate with IT/OT teams to ensure secure and reliable system integration. Support site selection and building design decisions, including utilities, floor loading, material flow, and infrastructure for automation. Plan and execute equipment relocation, line transfers, and process duplication while minimizing downtime and production risk. Lead or support capital investment projects from business case development through commissioning and handoff to operations. Specify, source, and qualify automated equipment in collaboration with global suppliers and OEMs. Act as a technical liaison between engineering, operations, quality, safety, and supply chain teams. Support change management and workforce readiness for highly automated manufacturing environments. Work in partnership with equipment and technology OEM’s to ensure a roadmap providing the latest technology innovations is co-developed and implemented, providing JCI a competitive technology advantage. Ensure the PBU ME organization has a strong understanding of the technology roadmap strategy and their areas of responsibility in the successful execution of the strategy. Ensure PBU and GISC leadership fully understand and support the technology roadmap strategy and provide quarterly updates on progress with strategy deployment. Lead the development of the long-term capital plan for manufacturing, ensuring the output of the technology strategy – introduction of new technology and replacement equipment – are budgeted for and approved by the PBU GM and controller. Provide sufficient reporting of equipment capacity utilization (CU) and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), to ensure assets are fully utilized and performance improvements are identified and implemented, to ensure high performance levels are achieved and best business practices are shared across all operations in the PBU and JCI networks. Ensure the best practice sharing process operates successfully with the PBU operations and best practices are also shared within the global JCI operations. Carry out benchmarking activities (trade shows, collaboration with universities and non-competing organizations) to identify and implement new technologies, providing a step-change in performance for the PBU manufacturing operations. Lead and provide coaching to the PBU manufacturing team, as required, to ensure Capital Appropriation Requests (CAR’s) are developed and approved on time, supporting the successful execution of the PBU capital plan. Provide leadership and coaching to ensure benchmark technology, layout and flow and all known best practices, across the JCI network, are incorporated into new product lines and operations. Provide coaching and leadership to ensure that the Johnson Controls Manufacturing System (JCMS) principle for Design for Manufacturing (DFM) is clearly understood and implemented, meeting set maturity goals across the PBU plants. Act as challenger and catalyst in changing leadership behavior throughout the region; respectfully challenge the status quo and act as a role model for Lean thinking. Raises the performance and talent level in the plant through active engagement with leaders and employees. Mentors, coaches and trains throughout assigned organization. Assists in raising the engagement and organizational health within assigned region; creates an inclusive culture through role modeling, setting of expectations and course correcting. Ensure that cost savings generated from capital projects across the PBU operations are captured and reported vs. the original business case to ensure project ROI meets expectation detailed in the CAR’S. Others duties as assigned. What we look for: Required Must be able to lead and execute large-scale projects (both regionally and globally). Self-starter with hands-on approach required to ensure projects are advanced through the process. This position requires a Bachelor’s degree in an appropriate field of study, which could include Engineering, Supply Chain Management or Operations Master Degree in Engineering or Operations or appropriate field of study is preferred; Minimum 12 years of experience in engineering operations. Senior leader with past functional expertise within Operations (running factories) and Lean Proven capability leading engineering and operations organizations. Proven ability to apply and coach DFM, problem solving, Lean and theory of constraints practices across all levels of the organization. Ability to distill complex facts and data and communicate on executive level. Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills — ideally, demonstrated when working with senior-level individuals from different geographies and functional disciplines. Must be comfortable maintaining VP-/Director-level relationships and recognize appropriate style of communication. Solid presentation skills, including creation of crisp, executive-level presentation materials and presenting to large meetings of senior-level people. Solid understanding of business planning processes and key business metrics to be achieved. Able to work independently and achieve set goals. #LI-Onsite Johnson Controls’ Canadian subsidiaries are committed to providing reasonable accommodation to applicants, candidates and employees with disabilities, in accordance with applicable human rights legislation, and in Ontario, in accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (“AODA”). When requested, accommodation will be provided throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process. To request accommodation, please contact us. Any information you provide related to accommodation measures will be treated as confidential. A copy of Johnson Controls’ applicable AODA policies are available on our website at www.johnsoncontrols.com for your reference, and can be made available in accessible formats upon request. Johnson Controls: Enhancing the Intelligence of Buildings Your buildings have a purpose. They are places for people to live or work. Facilities for learning or healing. Venues for entertainment and shopping. Sites for the specialized storage of tangible goods or mission-critical data. Your buildings have a huge variety of functions; they are central to your mission. This is where Johnson Controls comes in, helping drive the outcomes that matter most. Through a full range of systems and digital solutions, we make your buildings smarter. A smarter building is safer, more comfortable, more efficient, and, ultimately, more sustainable. Most important, smarter buildings let you focus more intensely on your unique mission. Better for your people. Better for your bottom line. Better for the planet. At Johnson Controls, we’ve been making buildings smarter since 1885, and our capabilities, depth of innovation experience, and global reach have been growing ever since. Today, we offer the world’s largest portfolio of building products, technologies, software, and services; we put that portfolio to work to transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play.