Work Schedule
Standard (Mon-Fri)
Environmental Conditions
Office
Job Description
As part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific team, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life every single day to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We provide our global teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while helping to take science a step beyond by developing solutions for some of the world’s toughest challenges, like protecting the environment, making sure our food is safe or helping find cures for cancer.
Description:
Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Digital Operations and Manufacturing Automation team is seeking a Sr. Manager, Logistics and Packaging Process Owner to lead the convergence of physical automation, embodied artificial intelligence, and advanced robotics for automated packaging solutions across diverse manufacturing network.
This role will serve as the primary Subject Matter Expert (SME) bridging plant-floor packaging, intralogistics, and Physical AI across diverse manufacturing environments including bottles, vials, cell culture products, consumables, and other manufactured components. You will partner closely with global teams, R&D, Engineering, Operations, PPI and Automation teams to standardize processes, eliminate waste, improve material flow, optimize packaging operations and accelerate automation transformation.
The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in packaging automation with a forward-looking passion for Physical AI, including edge-vision models, autonomous robotics, digital twins, and AI-driven material handling.
You will work closely with the sites to transition legacy manual operations into adaptive, autonomous, and self-optimizing packaging lines.
Key Responsibilities
Process Ownership & Strategy
- Work with manufacturing sites to evaluate manual packaging operations and identify opportunities to reduce labor, improve safety and ergonomics, increase productivity, and improve process consistency.
- Develop automation concepts for processes including product handling, bagging, pouching, sealing, cartoning, labeling, shrink wrapping, case packing, conveying, inspection, and palletizing.
- Evaluate applications for robotics, cobots, machine vision, flexible feeding, conveyors, automated material handling, and other packaging technologies.
- Develop solutions capable of accommodating multiple products, package formats, production volumes, and changeover requirements.
Technical Execution & Integration
- Support the sites in technical requirements, User Requirement Specifications (URS), and equipment design for primary/secondary packaging equipment, robotic palletizing, labeling, vision verification systems, and material movement (AGVs, AMRs, conveyors).
- Collaborate with IT/OT and engineering teams to ensure seamless integration between shop-floor automation, MES, WMS, and ERP systems.
- Scope work, evaluate proposals, and manage Tier-1 automation vendors, OEMs, and system integrators from design through FAT (Factory Acceptance Testing), SAT, and commissioning.
- Ensure suppliers clearly understand Thermo Fisher requirements for functionality, product handling, cycle time, process capability, quality, safety, documentation, validation, and schedule.
- Participate in supplier selection, design reviews, equipment testing, FAT, IQ, OQ, and PQ, installation, commissioning, and production ramp-up
Compliance, Quality & Safety
- Ensure all packaging processes and equipment designs adhere to relevant regulatory standards (FDA, GMP, ISO, OSHA/OHSA safety compliance, and machine safety guarding).
- Facilitate technical discussions between suppliers and global Thermo Fisher teams, ensuring engineering intent, technical issues, decisions, and actions are clearly understood.
- Establish quality verification checkpoints (e.g., automated vision inspection, barcode/serialization tracking, dynamic checkweighers) to eliminate packaging errors.
Change Management & Governance
- Apply Lean Manufacturing principles to simplify and optimize processes before introducing automation.
- Help develop reusable equipment concepts, supplier capabilities, standards, and best practices that can be deployed across multiple Thermo Fisher locations.
- Develop standard operating procedures (SOPs), line operation training programs, and operational readiness playbooks for local plant engineering and operations teams.
- Manage operational metrics (OEE, scrap rates, downtime, throughput) for packaging and logistics processes, reporting performance metrics to executive leadership.
Education & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Automation, Mechatronics, Manufacturing Engineering, or related field
- 8+ years of proven ability in packaging automation, manufacturing automation, automated equipment development, or a related engineering field.
- Demonstrated experience developing or implementing automated packaging equipment and systems.
- Experience taking automation projects from initial concept and specification through design, fabrication, FAT, installation, and production qualification.
- Hands-on experience troubleshooting automated equipment and resolving technical problems.
Technical Skills
Experience with several of the following technologies:
- Automated bagging and pouching
- Cartoning and case packing
- Labeling and product identification
- Robotic pick-and-place
- Conveying and product handling
- Palletizing and end-of-line automation
Travel Requirements
- Travel to Thermo Fisher manufacturing and engineering sites in Americas and EMEA will be required to evaluate existing processes, understand product and manufacturing requirements, and support equipment implementation.
- Expected travel 30%, with periods of increased travel during site assessments, equipment builds, FAT, installation, and qualification.
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