Digital Production Planning and Control Engineer for Industrialised Construction (KTP Associate)
Newcastle, GB
Salary: £40,000 (plus substantial training budget)
Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
Closing Date: 18 November 2024
The Role
Merit Holdings Ltd. and Newcastle University are offering an exciting opportunity to develop and implement a cutting-edge solution for enhancing production and manufacturing processes through innovative digital technologies and processes.
Merit is one of the UK’s leading offsite construction specialists for technically complex and low-carbon emission buildings, and excels in providing high-quality facilities for the healthcare, pharmaceutical and bioscience sectors. Leveraging the Industrialised Construction (IC) approach, Merit has demonstrated its capability to reduce on-site construction activities and time while improving overall productivity and profitability.
You will be part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project which aims to improve the design and production processes through digitalisation and automation.
You will lead the specification and deployment of a digital solution for dynamic production planning and control. The solution will address the need for dynamic project-specific production workflows optimising resource allocation, reducing production waste, and enabling automated process control and inspection. You will digitally connect manufacturing and design processes, capture up-to-date production data and implement automated systems for production inspection, inventory tracking, and capacity planning. You will enhance production efficiency, proactively address bottlenecks and drive continuous process improvements, leveraging data from Industrial IoT devices and ML-based analytics.
Based at Merit Holdings Ltd, Cramlington, you will be supported by an interdisciplinary team from Newcastle University, led by Prof Mohamad Kassem, with expertise in digital construction and engineering, software engineering, and industrial automation and control. You will be also supported by a senior supervisor from Merit. You will interface with another KTP Associate specialising in Digital Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) for Industrialised Construction.
Candidates should have an MEng, MSc or PhD in an engineering discipline such as Mechanical/Manufacturing, Industrial, Electrical, Mechatronics, Civil, Automation, Construction Management, or a related discipline.
Benefits:
- Develop managerial skills and attend two residential managerial workshops (each of one-week duration)
- £4,000 personal training budget
- The opportunity to lead a project, develop project management skills and improve long-term career prospects
- Mentoring by a Knowledge Transfer Network Adviser
- Full access to university resources to complete the project
- Ability to work in a largely self-determined way, across the industry-academic partnership
- Opportunities to develop both technical understanding and commercial awareness
- The possibility of studying for a higher degree or undertaking professional development
The KTP Associate will be an employee of Newcastle University but will spend most of their working time at the company’s premises at 8 Silverton Court, Northumberland Business Park, Cramlington, NE23 7RY and when required at Newcastle University. Although the contract is fixed term for a duration of 2 years, more than 70% of KTP staff gain a permanent job offer by their KTP company.
For more information or informal enquiries, please contact Prof Mohamad Kassem (Mohamad.kassem@newcastle.ac.uk) and Dr John Hedley (John.Hedley@newcastle.ac.uk)
For further details on the Faculty of Science, Agriculture & Engineering please visit our web page at:
For further details about Knowledge Transfer Partnerships please visit the web page at:
The interview stage for this role is expected to take place on the week commencing 9th December, 2024.
Key Accountabilities
- Disseminate and embed the knowledge within Merit to various stakeholders throughout the KTP via reports, presentations, group discussions and workshops
- Prepare publications, case studies and attend conferences
The Person
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
- Knowledge of production/manufacturing planning and control methods
- Expertise in applying formal methods for knowledge capture (e.g. knowledge-based engineering, ontologies) to model rules and constraints and enable shared understanding across systems
- Expertise in developing digital and data-driven solutions for improving factory processes
- Skills in using Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and digital technologies for capacity planning, production scheduling, and resource management
- Expertise in designing and implementing data-driven control systems for managing production workflows for process improvement and waste reduction
- Ability to deploy and manage IoT systems (e.g. RFID tags, sensors, and other connected devices) to capture and analyse live production data
- Competence in C++, Python
- Experience with capacity and resource planning in industrial systems/processes
Desirable
- Experience with integrating various automation components, devices, and systems
- Experience in using digital acquisition systems such as laser scanners and processing point-cloud data
- Experience with data analytics and ML for predictive analytics
- Knowledge of lean manufacturing principles
Attributes and Behaviour
- Personal motivation and drive
- Excellent organisational and planning skills
- Thrives in a project environment with the ability to work to tight deadlines
- The ability to work independently and collaboratively with colleagues
- The ability to work autonomously and the confidence to lead
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate at all levels to different stakeholder groups in both academia and industry
- Good attention to detail
- Is a natural problem solver
- Excellent verbal, written and presentation skills
Qualifications / Experience
- Candidates should have a MSc, MEng or PhD in Mechanical/Manufacturing, Industrial, Electrical, Mechatronics, Civil, Automation, Construction Management, or a related discipline
- Industrial experience of a manufacturing or work-site environment desirable
Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.
We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.
At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.
In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.
Requisition ID: 27708