Manufacturing Excellence Engineer- Utilities

Abbott in Ireland

Abbott has maintained a strong presence in Ireland since 1946 and celebrates its 80th anniversary in the country in 2026. The company supports the Irish healthcare sector with a broad portfolio spanning diagnostics, diabetes care, medical devices and nutritional products. Today, Abbott employs more than 6,500 people across ten sites located in Dublin, Donegal, Clonmel, Cootehill, Galway, Kilkenny, Longford and Sligo.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 122,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Abbott Ireland Nutrition Division Cootehill Cavan

Abbott Nutrition produces a range of infant formulae in all pack sizes under the brand name “Similac”. To complement the range of “Similac” infant formulae, the facility also manufactures a range of follow-on formulae under the brand name of “Gain”. The essential ingredient is liquid skim-milk and this is combined with carbohydrate, vegetable oils, vitamins and minerals. The product is blended, pasteurised, dried and packaged at the site and once packaged, is distributed to Europe, South East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Canada.

Established in 1975, Abbott Nutrition in Ireland is the largest powder manufacturing facility for the production of infant formulae within the Abbott Corporation worldwide. Approximately 1,000 dairy farms in Ireland and Northern Ireland supply quality milk to the Cootehill facility which processes 500,000 litres per day. This secure supply together with Ireland’s reputation as a green, clean environment is of significant strategic importance to Abbott Nutrition.

• Please note any offer of employment for this position is conditional upon the successful completion of a pre-employment medical examination, including drug and alcohol screening, conducted by a medical practitioner designated by the Company.

Primary Function / Goals / Objectives

• Follow all Health and Safety Rules and Regulations in the plant.
• Report any current or potential hazards to your immediate Supervisor/Dept. Manager immediately.
• The correct Personal Protective Equipment (P.P.E.) must be worn at all times. Safety glasses, safety shoes and gloves as appropriate.
• He/she is responsible for consulting any SOPs for any job task they may carry out and ensuring they fully understand and adhere to the SOP.
• Manage risk to the achievement of organisational objectives in the areas of environmental health and safety, utility reliability, asset capability, energy performance, quality and production.
• Responsible for driving Manufacturing Excellence within the Utilities Department through automation, reliability engineering, digitalisation and performance management.
• Lead the development and maintenance of utility dashboards, KPI reporting systems and visual management tools.
• Develop automated reporting solutions using Power BI, SCADA, Historian and other digital platforms.
• Gather, analyse and interpret utility performance data to identify optimisation opportunities and drive data-based decision making.
• Develop performance monitoring systems for CHP, steam generation, refrigeration, compressed air, HVAC, water treatment and wastewater systems.
• Act as the Utilities Department SME for automation systems including PLC, SCADA, BMS and Historian platforms.
• Identify and implement automation opportunities that improve reliability, efficiency and operational performance.
• Develop and maintain utility asset reliability programmes and predictive maintenance initiatives.
• Lead Root Cause Analysis investigations for utility equipment and automation failures.
• Monitor and improve MTBF, MTTR, utility availability and asset reliability metrics.
• Support Industry 4.0, digital transformation and smart utility initiatives across the site.
• Maintain departmental KPIs, visual boards and transparent reporting structures.
• Track and report improvement projects and utility performance to relevant stakeholders.

Education Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Automation, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or Science.

Knowledge

• Minimum 3 years experience working within a manufacturing, engineering, utilities or science environment.
• Knowledge of automated manufacturing and utility environments with a strong understanding of FMCG operations.
• Experience with dashboard development, data analytics and performance reporting systems.
• Knowledge of reliability engineering, automation systems and continuous improvement methodologies.

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