Operations Technology Engineer TN

Description

ABOUT THE COMPANY: For more than 70 years, JOST has been shaping the future of transportation with innovation, safety, and customer focus at its core. Founded in 1952 in Germany with the development of the first cast-steel fifth wheel, JOST has grown into a global leader supplying the commercial vehicle and agricultural industries with trusted, high-quality solutions.

With its portfolio of leading brands — JOST, ROCKINGER, TRIDEC, Quicke, and Hyva — the company today is a Tier 1 supplier recognized worldwide for excellence in fifth wheels, landing gear, towing hitches, steering systems, front loaders, and hydraulic solutions. The 2025 acquisition of Hyva marked a significant milestone, expanding JOST’s reach into hydraulic cylinders, tippers and components for transport and waste handling, and strengthening its position across both On-Highway and Off-Highway applications.

Headquartered in Germany with operations on five continents, JOST continues to drive industry standards through engineering expertise, a commitment to quality, and strong partnerships with OEMs and fleets around the world.

POSITION OVERVIEW: The Operations Technology (OT) Engineer is responsible for the development, integration, support, and continuous improvement of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), industrial controls, automation technologies, and connected factory systems. This role serves as the technical bridge between manufacturing operations, information technology, maintenance, quality, and engineering to enable a Smart Factory environment.

The OT Engineer will lead MES deployment and optimization initiatives while designing, programming, troubleshooting, and supporting PLC-controlled equipment, industrial robots, machine vision systems, AGVs, cobots, and plant-floor data collection systems. The position plays a critical role in driving productivity, quality, traceability, and manufacturing digitization initiatives.

This position reports to the Industrial Engineering Manager. It is solely accountable for the fulfillment of all assigned duties and has authority delegated commensurate with assigned responsibilities.

AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: Include, but are not limited to:

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)

• Administer, maintain, and enhance the company's MES platform.
• Configure production workflows, work centers, recipes, traceability, electronic work instructions, and quality checks within MES.
• Develop and support MES integrations with ERP, quality systems, machine controls, and plant databases.
• Lead MES implementation projects, upgrades, and expansion initiatives.
• Develop dashboards, KPIs, OEE reporting, and real-time production monitoring tools.
• Analyze manufacturing data to identify opportunities for productivity, quality, and throughput improvements.
• Ensure data integrity, system reliability, and production traceability requirements are maintained.

Controls Engineering & Programming

• Design, program, troubleshoot, and modify PLC systems.
• Develop, maintain, and optimize HMI applications.
• Support industrial communication networks including Ethernet/IP, Profinet, Modbus, OPC-UA, and related protocols.
• Create and maintain control system documentation including electrical schematics, network architecture diagrams, and software backups.
• Support machine startups, commissioning, debugging, and validation activities.
• Lead automation upgrades and retrofit projects.

Industrial Automation & Smart Factory Technologies

• Integrate MES with PLCs, robots, vision systems, scanners, sensors, and production equipment.
• Support deployment of Industry 4.0 technologies including:
• AI-enabled quality inspection systems
• Machine vision systems
• AGVs/AMRs
• Collaborative robots (Cobots)
• Industrial IoT devices
• Automated material handling systems
• Develop automated data collection and reporting solutions.
• Evaluate emerging manufacturing technologies and recommend implementation opportunities.

Continuous Improvement

• Lead cross-functional initiatives to improve safety, quality, throughput, and labor productivity.
• Utilize Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma methodologies to eliminate waste and process variation.
• Conduct root cause analysis for equipment, MES, and automation-related issues.
• Identify and implement automation opportunities that improve operational efficiency and reduce manual processes.

Operational Support

• Provide technical support for production, maintenance, quality, and engineering teams.
• Participate in downtime response and troubleshooting activities.
• Support production launch activities and continuous operational reliability.
• Train users, supervisors, and technical staff on MES and automation systems.
• Assist with any assigned 5S & LEAN housekeeping initiatives.
• Any additional duties that have not been specifically stated, but which may be assigned and those that are logically and properly

Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering, electrical engineering, mechatronics engineering, computer engineering, industrial technology, or another related field.
• 5+ years of manufacturing, industrial automation, MES, or controls engineering experience

REQUIRED SKILLS:

• Experience supporting manufacturing operations in a high-volume production environment
• Demonstrated experience implementing and supporting MES systems
• Experience in MES Platform; IGear, Ignition, or an equivalent system
• Completion of Information Security Training required.
• Ability to gain knowledge of company products. Comply with quality, environmental, safety and JOST company policies and procedures.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• This role will work in both the office and plant/warehouse locations.
• While performing duties of this job, the employee will regularly; sit, stand, walk, reach, bend, twist and occasionally will be required to stoop, kneel, lift or move objects of less than fifty pounds.

JOST International participates in E-Verify and is an Equal Opportunity Employer