Site Electrical and Automation Manager at Unilever

Main Job Purpose

• The Electrical & Automation Manager is responsible for leading the design, operation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of electrical and automation systems within an industrial or manufacturing environment. The role ensures high equipment availability, safety, energy efficiency, and compliance with applicable standards while driving automation initiatives that improve productivity and product quality.
• Core responsibilities include managing electrical infrastructure (power distribution, motors, drives), automation systems (PLCs, SCADA, DCS, instrumentation), and control strategies, leading troubleshooting and root-cause analysis, and overseeing preventive and condition-based maintenance. The manager also leads and develops technical teams, manages capital projects and upgrades, works closely with production and maintenance functions, and ensures compliance with safety, regulatory, and corporate engineering standards.

Responsibilities

• Ensure that the HT / LT electrical installations, Instrumentation and automation installations in the manufacturing plant at Horana site are well maintained by following the planned maintenance and autonomous maintenance pillar activities in line with engineering maintenance road map,
• To achieve " zero production stoppages" due to machine breakdowns
• To optimize repair & maintenance expenditure
• To increase machine reliability
• To increase knowledge of technicians and plant operators
• Responsible for guiding the respective engineering members for electrical maintenance activity programs at Grandpass main office, Lindel manufacturing site and company owned bungalows to ensure implementation of safe electrical installations.
• Lead and drive the electrical safety audits, identification of gaps, development of action plans, corrective actions and follow up for improvement of electrical safety programs in manufacturing plant at Horana. And closely work with respective engineering members of head office at Grandpass, Lindel site and Unilever owned bungalow in periodic time intervals for ensuring electrical safety in Unilever owned sites.
• Ensure electrical aspects such as electrical efficiency, electrical safety, life cycle cost and reliability for new capital expenditure projects. i.e innovation management projects, infrastructure development projects, capacity enhancement projects, etc.
• Responsible for evaluation of existing HT / LT electrical distribution systems, planning and budgeting for new investments, execution of new improvement / capacity enhancement projects without any Safety, health and environmental issue within agreed budget and agreed time plan.
• Responsible for evaluation of existing instrumentation and automation systems of the manufacturing plants, planning and budgeting for new investments, execution of new improvement / capacity enhancement projects without any Safety, health and environmental issue within agreed budget and agreed time plan.
• Responsible for taking adequate prescribed measures to prevent electrical injury to subordinate employees, contractors, and visitors entering premises, and also to prevent damage to the property and surrounding environment.
• Lead and drive cost effective programs to minimize the factory conversion cost related to electrical demand reduction, selection of alternative electrical sources and distribution loss minimization. Evaluation between purchased electricity and in-house generated electricity and facilitate factory teams for necessary generation switching as cost saving measures..
• Responsible for skill gap analysis for electrical safety and driving training programs for upgrading engineering knowledge / skills on electrical safety and proper utilization in consultation with Manufacturing managers, factory manager and HR Business partner -SC.
• Ensure to keep close relationship with Local Electricity Board for reliability improvement of power supply to the site as the key contact for LEB electrical matters.
• Ensure to follow Unilever mandatory policies such as Safety, Health, Environment, Quality, Travel safety, Code of business principles
• Ensure to manage contractual services (plant operations and maintenance activities) of the Engineering department in line with Unilever contract management guidelines and local legislations.

Experiences & Qualifications

• BSc Electrical Engineering
• Experience with HT/LT distribution systems
• Automation certification working with Siemens/Rockwell automations systems

Unilever Behaviors

• Care Deeply: We care deeply about how consumers experience our brands every day, everywhere; about our people’s growth and development, and our impact on the planet. We care about our performance, to a point where it hurts when we don’t win.
• Focus on What Counts: We ruthlessly prioritise what truly matters, and so do fewer things brilliantly. We set clear goals & direction and recognise others for maximum impact.
• Stay Three Steps Ahead: We think boldly and creatively to make breakthroughs in performance. We are always curious and confident - anticipating and staying ahead of consumer needs and external trends, to beat the competition.
• Deliver with Excellence: We deliver excellence in what we do at pace. We take personal ownership and hold each other to account – always finding a way to do what we said we will do.