SMART Factory Expert – Food & Beverage

West Palm Beach, FL
Contracted
Executive

SMART Factory Expert – Food & Beverage 

The role

Value Driven Solutions (VDS) is a management consulting firm dedicated to Operational Excellence for middle-market and private equity-backed manufacturers. We are looking for a SMART Factory Expert to lead smart manufacturing work for our food and beverage clients.

You will help plants get more safe, high-quality output from the lines they already run. That means Lean fundamentals first, then connected technology: line data, MES, automation and analytics, with every investment tied to measurable value such as OEE, yield, giveaway and labor productivity. You will work on the plant floor with operators and leaders, and in the boardroom with owners and private equity sponsors.

  • Title: SMART Factory Expert, Food & Beverage
  • Reports to: VDS practice leadership
  • Travel: Frequent travel to client plants

What you'll do

Assess and build the case

  • Lead smart factory and digital maturity assessments across processing, packaging and warehousing operations.
  • Baseline OEE, yield, giveaway, changeover time, sanitation downtime and labor productivity by line and value stream.
  • Build value-based roadmaps and business cases that owners and PE sponsors can fund and track.

Stabilize, then connect

  • Put Lean foundations in place first: standard work, SMED for product and allergen changeovers, autonomous maintenance and visual management.
  • Design line connectivity and data architecture from PLCs and sensors to MES, ERP and the cloud.
  • Select and implement MES, OEE monitoring, digital work instructions and electronic batch records with client IT/OT teams.

Optimize and sustain

  • Use line data to cut unplanned downtime, giveaway, scrap and rework, and to raise packaging line efficiency.
  • Deploy predictive maintenance, SPC and vision inspection where the payback is clear.
  • Strengthen food safety and quality through digital HACCP monitoring, lot traceability and audit-ready records.
  • Build tiered daily management, KPI boards and operating rhythms that make results stick.

Lead and grow the practice

  • Coach plant leaders, engineers and operators so clients own the system after we leave.
  • Present findings and results to executives, boards and private equity sponsors.
  • Shape VDS's food and beverage smart factory offerings and support business development.

What you bring

  • 10+ years in food and beverage manufacturing, with at least 5 in operations, engineering or continuous improvement leadership.
  • A record of measurable results on the plant floor, such as higher OEE, lower giveaway, shorter changeovers or reduced sanitation downtime.
  • Hands-on experience delivering smart manufacturing or Industry 4.0 projects: line connectivity, MES, OEE systems, SCADA or historians.
  • Working knowledge of food safety and quality systems: FSMA, HACCP, GMPs and GFSI schemes such as SQF or BRCGS.
  • Experience with both batch processing and high-speed packaging lines, including allergen and product changeovers.
  • Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or higher, with practical use of standard work, SMED, TPM and root cause analysis.
  • Comfort with data: building KPIs, dashboards and business cases in tools such as Excel, Power BI or Tableau.
  • Clear communication with operators, plant managers, executives and investors alike.
  • Bachelor's degree in Industrial, Chemical, Mechanical or Food Engineering, Food Science, or a related field.
  • Willingness to travel frequently to client sites.

Nice to have

  • Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, PCQI or HACCP certification.
  • Experience with ISA-88 batch control or ISA-95 integration, and with Rockwell or Siemens automation platforms.
  • Hands-on work with MES and analytics platforms used in food and beverage, such as AVEVA, Rockwell Plex, Siemens Opcenter, Ignition or Sight Machine.
  • Background in clean-in-place (CIP) optimization, cold chain or co-manufacturing operations.
  • Consulting or interim leadership experience with private equity-backed portfolio companies.
  • Multi-site or global operations experience, and fluency in Spanish.

What success looks like in year one

  1. First 90 days: Learn the VDS approach, lead your first food and beverage assessment, and deliver a value-based roadmap the client approves.
  2. By month 6: Have a pilot live on at least one line, such as OEE monitoring or a changeover program, with a measured baseline and early gains.
  3. By month 12: Show audited improvements in the client's core KPIs, see the operating system running without VDS day to day, and help win the next engagement.

Why VDS

  • Operators, not just advisors. You will work beside plant teams and see your changes show up in the numbers.
  • Value first. Every recommendation ties back to EBITDA, capacity, cash or enterprise value.
  • Room to build. You will help shape our food and beverage smart factory practice as it grows.

How to apply

Send your resume and a short note on a plant result you are proud of through vdsconsultinggroup.com.

Value Driven Solutions is an equal opportunity employer.

Share

Apply for this position

Required*
We've received your resume. Click here to update it.
Attach resume or Paste resume
Attach resume as .pdf, .doc, .docx, .odt, .txt, or .rtf (limit 5MB) or Paste resume

Paste your resume here or Attach resume file

To comply with government Equal Employment Opportunity and/or Affirmative Action reporting regulations, we are requesting (but NOT requiring) that you enter this personal data. This information will not be used in connection with any employment decisions, and will be used solely as permitted by state and federal law. Your voluntary cooperation would be appreciated. Learn more.
Invitation for Job Applicants to Self-Identify as a U.S. Veteran
  • A “disabled veteran” is one of the following:
    • a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or
    • a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.
  • A “recently separated veteran” means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.
  • An “active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran” means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.
  • An “Armed forces service medal veteran” means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.
Veteran status


Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability
Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form CC-305
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 07/31/2029
Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Please check one of the boxes below:

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.

You must enter your name and date
Human Check*