SMART Factory Expert – Food & Beverage

VDS Consulting Group•West Palm Beach, FL

About The Position

Value Driven Solutions (VDS), a management consulting firm focused on Operational Excellence for middle-market and private equity-backed manufacturers, is hiring a SMART Factory Expert to lead smart manufacturing work for food and beverage clients. The role combines plant-floor work with engagement with owners and private equity sponsors, applying Lean fundamentals and connected technologies to help plants increase safe, high-quality output from existing production lines. Investments are tied to measurable outcomes such as OEE, yield, giveaway and labor productivity. The expert will assess digital maturity across processing, packaging and warehousing; establish operational baselines; and develop value-based roadmaps and business cases. They will stabilize operations with Lean practices before designing connectivity and implementing systems such as MES, OEE monitoring, digital work instructions and electronic batch records. They will use data and targeted technologies to improve efficiency, reduce downtime and waste, strengthen food safety and quality, and sustain results through daily management systems. The position also involves coaching client teams, presenting findings to executives, boards and private equity sponsors, shaping VDS's food and beverage smart factory offerings, and supporting business development. Frequent travel to client plants is required. Success measures include delivering an approved roadmap in the first 90 days, launching a measured pilot by month six, and demonstrating audited KPI improvements and client ownership of the operating system by month twelve.

Requirements

10+ years in food and beverage manufacturing, including at least 5 years in operations, engineering or continuous improvement leadership.
Record of measurable plant-floor results, such as improved OEE, reduced giveaway, shorter changeovers or reduced sanitation downtime.
Hands-on experience delivering smart manufacturing or Industry 4.0 projects, including line connectivity, MES, OEE systems, SCADA or historians.
Working knowledge of food safety and quality systems, including FSMA, HACCP, GMPs and GFSI schemes such as SQF or BRCGS.
Experience with 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 building KPIs, dashboards and business cases using tools such as Excel, Power BI or Tableau.
Clear communication with operators, plant managers, executives and investors.
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 Haves

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, PCQI or HACCP certification.
Experience with ISA-88 batch control or ISA-95 integration, and Rockwell or Siemens automation platforms.
Hands-on experience with food and beverage MES and analytics platforms 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.
Fluency in Spanish.

Responsibilities

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 for owners and private equity sponsors.
Establish Lean foundations, including 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.
Use line data to reduce unplanned downtime, giveaway, scrap and rework, and improve 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 to sustain results.
Coach plant leaders, engineers and operators so clients can own the system after the engagement.
Present findings and results to executives, boards and private equity sponsors.
Shape VDS's food and beverage smart factory offerings and support business development.

Benefits

Opportunity to work alongside plant teams and see operational changes reflected in results.
Recommendations tied to EBITDA, capacity, cash or enterprise value.
Opportunity to help shape VDS's growing food and beverage smart factory practice.

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