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Advice / Career Paths / Career Stories

How This Engineer Is Bringing a 40-Year-Old Factory Into the 21st Century

Sarah Black-Smith, the Head of Factory Operations at Siemens Digital Industries
Sarah Black-Smith, the Head of Factory Operations at Siemens Digital Industries in Congleton, UK

These days, it’s rare to find someone who joins a company right out of college and is still there more than 15 years later. But that’s exactly how Sarah Black-Smith’s career path has played out so far.

She is driven to stay at Siemens by the opportunity to grow and create change that impacts society for the better. After five promotions, the U.K.-based Black-Smith is currently the Head of Factory Operations at Siemens, the global powerhouse in industry, energy, healthcare, and transportation solutions. Her journey is a story of passion fostered in a company that empowers its people to take ownership of their careers.

Here, Black-Smith shares how she has grown and developed her career at Siemens, why she loves the company culture, and what it’s like to work somewhere that’s preparing the world for future generations.

Tell us about your career journey, and what led you to your job at Siemens.

I graduated from Loughborough University in the U.K. in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering in manufacturing engineering and management. I went on to complete a master’s in operations excellence at Cranfield University and worked on my placement year for Alstom, a rail transport company, in Lincoln. I was then sponsored through my final year and taken on by Siemens as a graduate. I joined at the age of 22 as a lean implementer, a continuous improvement role in which I supported the Assembly and Test teams to analyze their processes and develop and implement opportunities to eliminate waste.

I moved through the ranks quite quickly, going from cell manager to manufacturing manager, looking after teams of 30 people on the shop floor. I was quite young, but it gave me a great footing in a factory environment. After a few years in Lincoln, a production manager role came up at our site in Congleton. I was promoted to the role of Head of Factory Operations, which is what I’m doing now.

What attracted you to work at Siemens?

Siemens is diverse and encourages people to be themselves at work. And the people are amazing—they are open to change and finding new ways of doing things.

How did you transition from being an engineer to Head of Factory Operations?

I love working with people and making improvements, so I was keen to move into a role that combined the two. When an opportunity came up to lead one of the manufacturing teams, I jumped at the chance to work with the team members directly to make improvements and create a vision for the area. The transition was easy for me—I followed my passion.

What are you responsible for in your role?

I lead the operational and engineering teams (including maintenance test, product, and process engineering) to deliver variable speed drives in line with safety, quality, cost, delivery, and people management standards. I am also responsible for developing the operational objectives and ensuring high performance in quality, delivery, development, and safety within agreed timeframes.

You were tasked with bringing a 40-year-old electronics factory into the 21st century. How did you do it?

I am part of a fantastic team. We have an inspiring leadership team in Congleton, and our purpose is to do what others can’t, for generations to come. I am passionate about manufacturing and ensuring we have a sustainable business. We have a strong strategic process that ensures we are constantly looking to the future and understanding what our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are.

What are you working on right now that excites or inspires you?

I am working on the development of our 2023 business strategy, which is focused on developing our people, the innovation of our processes, and the development of a true end-to-end supply chain. Within our operations teams, we have a number of exciting projects that involve automation through robotics and automated intelligent vehicles.

What is it like working for a company whose projects aim to make the world better?

It is ace! I love that our purpose is to make things better for our society, our communities, and the world in general. We should strive as humans to make the world a better place and I love being a small part in that.

What do you like best about the company culture at Siemens?

We have a great culture of ownership in Siemens. It empowers employees to think of the company as their own, the idea being that you will then be making the right decisions for the business. People here have a “can do” attitude and want to solve challenges, and Siemens doesn’t create barriers.

What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?

If you’re presented with an opportunity, no matter how small, and your initial instinct is to run in the opposite direction because it scares you, that’s a sign for you to jump at it since it will definitely open new doors.