Rustenburg: Process Optimisation Specialist posted by Network Finance

About the Role

Network Finance is seeking a Process Optimisation Specialist to enable stable, predictable, and optimised processing operations through digital process control, advanced analytics, and system-enabled optimisation capabilities. The successful candidate will provide deep technical and analytical capability to improve operational stability, controllability, and optimisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical input and optimisation requirements into the definition, review, and maintenance of MES (Level 2–3) data context standards.
• Design, deploy, and continuously improve loop tuning and Advanced Process Control programmes.
• Develop and maintain analytical models to quantify process stability, variability drivers, control effectiveness, and optimisation benefits.
• Perform diagnostic and statistical analytics, including trending, variance analysis, correlation analysis, and regime detection.
• Interpret high-level plant indicators such as instability, excursions, and abnormal operating conditions.
• Analyse operational variability driven by feed changes, operating modes, and process conditions to improve detect-to-correct response through system-based logic and automation.
• Implement and technically support dynamic water balance systems.

Requirements

• Grade 12 (NQF 4)
• BEng or BSc in Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Electrical (Control) Engineering, or equivalent

Qualifications

• Lean or Six Sigma certification
• APC, MES, control systems, or industrial analytics certifications

Salary & Benefits

• Salary details not mentioned in the original job description.

Key Analytical Deliverables

• Control and optimisation performance models.
• Root cause analysis outputs explaining control- and system-driven performance deviations.
• Optimisation and APC benefit tracking models with defined baselines and measurable performance improvements.
• Predictive or pattern-based indicators supporting early detection of abnormal or unstable operating conditions.
• Analytics-enabled IOC dashboards with clear thresholds, alerts, and decision triggers.

People Enablement

• Coach operators, control room personnel, and engineers on APC usage, analytics interpretation, and control optimisation principles.
• Contribute to IOC and control room training materials.
• Support structured operational performance discussions through analytics-driven insights.

Resource & Delivery Management

• Prioritise APC, analytics, and process control improvement backlogs in collaboration with optimisation and automation leadership.
• Plan and coordinate testing and deployment windows aligned with OT change management, approval processes, and system continuity requirements.
• Support optimisation governance by establishing quantified baselines, benchmarks, and improvement tracking through analytics.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Engage with plant operations, engineering, maintenance, control rooms, automation teams, and data specialists to support optimisation enablement.
• Interface with APC, MES, analytics, and automation solution providers to support deployment and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with operational leadership to ensure analytics-driven optimisation initiatives align with plant priorities.

Risk, Safety & Compliance

• Ensure all MES contributions, APC logic, analytics models, and loop tuning changes comply with site safety rules and approved management-of-change processes.
• Ensure dynamic water balance systems and optimisation analytics are accurate, auditable, and defensible for compliance purposes.
• Ensure optimisation activities respect operational envelopes, safety constraints, and production priorities.

Role Outcomes & KPIs

• Improved process stability and controllability.
• APC adoption across approximately 70% of targeted circuits.
• Loop tuning adherence of approximately 85%.
• Dynamic water balance compliance of approximately 95%.
• Reduced unexplained process variability.
• Reduced time from deviation detection to corrective action.
• Increased percentage of optimisation initiatives supported by quantified analytics evidence.

Job Experience & Skills Required

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in process control, advanced automation, or analytics-driven optimisation within mineral processing or heavy industrial environments.
• Hands-on experience in loop tuning, APC deployment, and control optimisation.
• Proven ability to apply analytics to explain operational variability and quantify optimisation impact beyond descriptive reporting.