Automation Engineer at Lafarge Cement

Lafarge Africa Plc is a leading Sub-Saharan Africa building solutions Company and member of the LafargeHolcim group.

The vision of Lafarge Africa Plc is to be the most trusted and preferred partner of African construction professionals and home builders by delivering cement, concrete, aggregates and other building solutions that are best in quality, environmentally sustainable and nationwide available at affordable cost.

Making urbanization a success is one of the challenges of this century and at LafargeHolcim, our ambition is to contribute to Building Better Cities. As a world leader in building materials, LafargeHolcim supports the metamorphosis of cities with innovative solutions that provide cities with more housing, making them more compact, more durable, more beautiful and better connected.

For many years, Lafarge Africa Plc has been committed to a deliberate strategy of sustainable development that combines industrial know-how with performance, value creation, respect for employees and local cultures, environmental protection and the conservation of natural resources and energy.

We put certain values at the forefront of the way we do business viz: health and safety, environmental protection, corporate governance (Ethics) and social responsibility (in the areas of education, health, youth empowerment, and shelter). We develop a highly competent workforce to operate our plants and businesses, through intensive training and exchange programmes.

The company is committed to progress and attentive to the ever- changing needs of local communities. This is demonstrated by contributing to the improvement of their quality of lives in a sustainable manner through setting up local development programmes in key areas that have direct impacts on socio-economic well being of the people and their environment.

More importantly, Lafarge Africa Plc endeavors to create more value for our customers, providing them with innovative and high quality products and solutions. Our well-known brands – Ashaka Portland Limestone Cement, Elephant Cement, Powermax Cement, Supaset Cement, UniCem Cement as well as Readymix Concrete and Aggregates – all stand for quality, consistency and long term strength which help deliver solutions that contribute to more housing for people, more compact buildings, better connected communities, more beautiful structures and more durable construction.

For our concrete operations, we leverage on the Group’s 50 years of experience in innovative concrete solutions and this puts us in the position to provide quality solutions that are designed to meet the specific needs of today’s builders. Today, Lafarge Readymix operations have a production capacity of 3.5 cubic million metric tonnes in Nigeria.
Building solutions
Lafarge works with all actors in the building industry of Nigeria, from do-it-yourself builders to large construction companies, architects and local artisans. Whether supplying high-quality cement to a craftsman or helping leading architects explore and deliver creative possibilities, Lafarge Africa Plc is committed to providing solutions that fit the needs of all its clients.

Lafarge Africa Plc’s clients benefit from the technical expertise and product innovation that are the hallmark of LafargeHolcim, an international leader in building materials with a global presence in 90 countries and decades of experience. In Nigeria, LafargeHolcim offers a range of innovative and high-performance products.Responsible for ensuring the effective application and maintenance of Control & Automation principles to support plant reliability and operational efficiency.

The role will oversee the maintenance, sustainability, and continuous improvement of the plant’s automated control systems and process optimization platforms through the use of existing and emerging software and hardware technologies. Key systems include process controllers, HMI systems, industrial networks, kiln scanners, local control panels, reporting tools, and other integrated automation systems.

What you will be doing

Maintenance for the platform of hardware and software and all the items related to the control system, according/with guides of SAP (Planning, WO, Daily Tracking, Failure analysis, Critical Spares, Asset History and all the Key Indicators of Availability and Productivity).
Assurance of the correct protections and alarms for plant equipment, through the control logic and based on specific operational parameters of the machines and managers' guidelines.
Process optimization and continuous improvement in the operation.
Ensuring the development and updating of the backup of all information and electronics parts of the plant control system
Analyze and monitor the performance of infrastructure components of the Control Systems.
Keeping the historical failures of automated systems of the plant with good quality information.
Maintain current plans and diagrams of the control system.
Maintenance for the systems related to the control system, such as quality system, reporting applications, telecommunications systems e.t.c.
Support in the design and configuration of production reports with key process indicators KPI `s in manageable formats, integrating scada systems, x-ray equipment, energy meters and other systems (shell scanner, servers, SAP, TIS, HLC, HMI, PCS etcetera).
Ensure parameterization of Control Systems.
Ensure optimal implementation of new automation technology platforms.
Ensure the availability and updating of process control data.
Ensure the smooth running of resources and specific tools of Process Control Systems.
Ensure proper compliance with the rules and safety procedures, ISO and the environment.
This list of responsibilities is not exhaustive and the job holder may be required to perform duties outside of this as operationally required.

Key interfaces, stakeholders and relationships:

The incumbent regularly interacts with all cadres of staff.
He/she also regularly interacts with the external public, including suppliers and other external stakeholders.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in any engineering discipline (Electrical Engineering or Electronic or Physics as main subjects)
4/5 years’ postgraduate experience
Good knowledge of product quality parameters and quality control tests.
Good knowledge of computer aided systems for kiln and mill operation.
Able to take initiative based on sound problem solving skills
Good knowledge of cement manufacturing process