Manufacturing Digitalization Manager

Essity•Neenah, WI

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Essity is seeking a Manufacturing Digitalization Manager for the US Region to lead and accelerate the digital manufacturing agenda across its US factories. This role will translate the global manufacturing digitalization strategy into a practical regional roadmap, drive the adoption of standard digital tools, strengthen local ownership, and ensure digital initiatives deliver measurable value for operations. The successful candidate will act as a key bridge between US manufacturing sites, regional leadership, global Manufacturing Digitalization, IT/OT, Manufacturing Excellence / TPM, Maintenance, Production, Quality, RESH, and Supply Chain.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics, Automation, Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field.
7+ years of experience in manufacturing, operations, engineering, maintenance, automation, or industrial digitalization, with strong manufacturing know-how.
3+ years of experience leading digital manufacturing, smart factory, automation, MES, OT, or data-driven improvement initiatives.
Strong manufacturing background, preferably in large FMCG / Consumer Goods, hygiene, paper, food & beverage, pharmaceutical, or other high-volume manufacturing environments.
Proven experience leading digital manufacturing transformation, smart factory, automation, MES, OT, or manufacturing data initiatives across multiple sites.
Experience working in a global or regional matrix organization, translating global standards into practical site-level execution.
Proven project/program management experience, including delivery of digitalization, automation, data, or manufacturing system projects from planning through deployment, adoption, and value realization.
Demonstrated ability to drive adoption of standard tools and processes across factories with different levels of digital maturity.
Good understanding of manufacturing systems and technologies such as MES, historians, SCADA, PLC/DCS integration, IIoT, dashboards, SAP PM, digital maintenance, analytics, or shopfloor execution tools.
Strong leadership capabilities, including change management, coaching, communication, feedback, stakeholder engagement, critical thinking, and analytical problem-solving.
Ability to influence without direct authority and build alignment across operations, IT/OT, maintenance, engineering, quality, RESH, manufacturing excellence, and supply chain.
Strong business orientation, connecting digital initiatives to measurable improvements in efficiency, reliability, safety, quality, sustainability, standard work, and decision-making.
Practical, hands-on mindset with the ability to balance global standardization, local site needs, cybersecurity requirements, and operational realities.

Nice To Haves

Experience setting up digitalization governance models
Experience or exposure to AI, machine learning, advanced analytics, robotics, and automation projects is a plus, especially for future stages of the regional digital manufacturing roadmap.

Responsibilities

Translate the digital manufacturing vision, strategy and roadmap of the Global Supply Chain Enablement into a practical execution plan for the US region.
Contribute to the creation of global standards.
Lead the US regional digitalization roadmap creation, aligned with global standards, operational priorities, and business value.
Drive adoption of standard digital manufacturing tools across factories, ensuring they are embedded into daily routines and deliver measurable impact.
Build and coordinate a network of site digitalization representatives or key users to support local ownership, training, adoption, data quality, and follow-up.
Work closely with plant managers, production leaders, maintenance teams, engineers, operators, and technicians to understand operational needs and ensure digital solutions are practical, usable, and valuable on the shopfloor.
Support change management by engaging frontline teams early, listening to their feedback, and ensuring digital tools help simplify work, improve visibility, reduce manual effort, and support better daily execution whenever possible.
Lead or coordinate deployments of core digital manufacturing platforms such as MES, historians, dashboards, IIoT solutions, digital maintenance tools, skills management tools, and other shopfloor digital tools.
Promote consistent data practices, KPI alignment with global standards, data quality, and analytics usage across US factories.
Partner with IT, OT, and Information Security to ensure digital manufacturing solutions follow cybersecurity, architecture, and governance standards.
Identify and prioritize digital use cases that improve production efficiency, maintenance reliability, sustainability, quality, safety, standard work, and decision-making.
As the regional digital maturity evolves, explore and support the deployment of more advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, robotics, automation, and intelligent decision-support solutions where they create clear operational value.