Manufacturing LAN Planning And Delivery Manager

We are the movers of the world and the makers of the future. We get up every day, roll up our sleeves, and build a better world-together. At Ford, we're all a part of something bigger than ourselves. Are you ready to change the way the world moves?

Do you believe reliable, secure, and resilient network connectivity is essential to building the vehicles of the future? We do! Ford's manufacturing operations depend on high-performing wired and wireless network services to connect people, equipment, automation, applications, and digital tools across the plant floor. That's where Enterprise Technology makes an impact. We enable the technology foundations that support safe, efficient, and uninterrupted manufacturing operations around the world.

We are seeking an experienced Manufacturing LAN Planning and Delivery Manager to lead the planning, governance, and coordinated delivery of wired and wireless LAN services for Ford manufacturing plants. In this role, you will translate plant programs, operational requirements, and technology needs into executable network plans that support production milestones without compromising safety, security, quality, or service continuity.

This role requires strong leadership, technical network knowledge, operational discipline, and the ability to coordinate across Manufacturing, Plant IT, Facilities, Network Engineering, Cybersecurity, Network Operations, construction trades, and external suppliers. You will lead a portfolio spanning plant modernization, new-model and capacity programs, technology refresh, plant-floor MDF and IDF readiness, high-density wireless, outdoor and yard connectivity, and critical manufacturing use cases that depend on the network.

Responsibilities include end-to-end network planning and readiness, portfolio governance, supplier and financial management, risk mitigation, delivery coordination, and continuous improvement. By combining technical expertise with strong program leadership, you will help ensure Ford manufacturing sites have the network capacity, resiliency, coverage, security, and operational readiness required to support current and future production needs.

MFG LAN Planning and Delivery Manager Leads the people, processes, and portfolio decisions needed to translate business and manufacturing requirements into secure, supportable, investment-ready LAN designs - from initial planning through commissioning and formal turnover to Plant and Network Operations.

Leadership & Portfolio Governance

• Own the Manufacturing LAN planning portfolio and establish clear priorities across new programs, plant expansions, modernization, technology refresh, and operational risk-reduction initiatives.
• Lead and develop LAN planners while coordinating effectively with network engineering, wireless, cellular, cybersecurity, network operations, regional technology teams, and suppliers.
• Create transparent plans, milestones, dependencies, risks, escalation paths, and executive reporting that communicate network readiness and business impact.
• Manage supplier performance, resource capacity, statements of work, purchase-order requirements, financial tracking, and quality of planning deliverables.
• Facilitate governance and planning forums to ensure initiatives are prioritized, funded, resourced, and aligned with manufacturing and enterprise technology objectives.
• Balance competing priorities across business-critical launches, site operations, infrastructure lifecycle requirements, and network-risk remediation.
• Establish consistent planning standards, delivery methods, and performance expectations across plants, regions, and supplier teams.

Plant Network Planning & Delivery Readiness

• Direct site assessments, requirements discovery, architecture reviews, site documentation, bill-of-material development, implementation planning, change-request preparation, trade coordination, and project handoff.
• Ensure plant plans incorporate all required network infrastructure elements, including MDF and IDF readiness, fiber and copper pathways, switching, wireless access points, power, space, environmental requirements, and operational prerequisites.
• Coordinate network readiness with construction schedules, production milestones, launch timing, plant access requirements, labor availability, and operational constraints.
• Work with site teams to identify risks and dependencies early, ensuring network-delivery plans are executable, sequenced appropriately, and aligned with plant business needs.
• Define acceptance criteria for network installations and require completion of installation validation, wireless coverage validation, documentation updates, asset records, and operational turnover before work is closed.
• Ensure site network designs and delivery plans consider maintainability, scalability, resiliency, security, monitoring, and long-term support requirements.
• Provide leadership and direction during plant launches, major cutovers, technology refreshes, and production-sensitive network changes.

Manufacturing Technology Enablement

• Partner with Manufacturing, Plant IT, Engineering, and Operations stakeholders to understand connectivity requirements for plant-floor applications and connected assets.
• Plan network solutions supporting manufacturing test equipment, material movement systems, vehicles, mobile devices, industrial endpoints, automation technologies, and emerging digital capabilities.
• Ensure plant network plans address high availability, network segmentation, secure access, IP addressing, VLAN design, DHCP capacity, application dependencies, and wired and wireless coverage requirements.
• Coordinate indoor, outdoor, yard, and complex-area wireless needs, including coverage maps, certification surveys, capacity assumptions, roaming requirements, interference analysis, and device-growth forecasts.
• Ensure new manufacturing use cases are evaluated through appropriate architecture, wireless-governance, cybersecurity, safety, and change-management processes.
• Partner with network engineering and cybersecurity teams to align technical designs with enterprise standards, security policies, and manufacturing operational requirements.
• Translate network constraints, dependencies, and technical risks into clear business impacts, decisions, and mitigation plans.

Operational Resilience & Continuous Improvement

• Review planned network changes for manufacturing risk, production impact, rollback readiness, validation requirements, operational support ownership, and recovery planning.
• Use incident, change, inventory, monitoring, capacity, and site-readiness data to identify recurring issues and prioritize remediation efforts.
• Partner closely with Plant IT and Network Operations teams to support troubleshooting, critical-issue response, production recovery, and lessons learned.
• Improve planning standards, reusable templates, automation, documentation quality, and delivery consistency across regions and suppliers.
• Drive continuous improvement in network planning, implementation readiness, risk management, supplier performance, and operational handoff processes.
• Ensure wired and wireless network capacity, coverage, resiliency, security, and observability are designed into plans before deployment rather than addressed reactively.
• Promote Ford+ behaviors through transparency, speed, technical excellence, accountability, collaboration, and customer-focused delivery.

Leadership & Portfolio Governance

• Own the Manufacturing LAN planning portfolio and establish clear priorities across new programs, plant expansions, modernization, technology refresh, and operational risk-reduction initiatives.
• Lead and develop LAN planners while coordinating effectively with network engineering, wireless, cellular, cybersecurity, network operations, regional technology teams, and suppliers.
• Create transparent plans, milestones, dependencies, risks, escalation paths, and executive reporting that communicate network readiness and business impact.
• Manage supplier performance, resource capacity, statements of work, purchase-order requirements, financial tracking, and quality of planning deliverables.
• Facilitate governance and planning forums to ensure initiatives are prioritized, funded, resourced, and aligned with manufacturing and enterprise technology objectives.
• Balance competing priorities across business-critical launches, site operations, infrastructure lifecycle requirements, and network-risk remediation.
• Establish consistent planning standards, delivery methods, and performance expectations across plants, regions, and supplier teams.

Plant Network Planning & Delivery Readiness

• Direct site assessments, requirements discovery, architecture reviews, site documentation, bill-of-material development, implementation planning, change-request preparation, trade coordination, and project handoff.
• Ensure plant plans incorporate all required network infrastructure elements, including MDF and IDF readiness, fiber and copper pathways, switching, wireless access points, power, space, environmental requirements, and operational prerequisites.
• Coordinate network readiness with construction schedules, production milestones, launch timing, plant access requirements, labor availability, and operational constraints.
• Work with site teams to identify risks and dependencies early, ensuring network-delivery plans are executable, sequenced appropriately, and aligned with plant business needs.
• Define acceptance criteria for network installations and require completion of installation validation, wireless coverage validation, documentation updates, asset records, and operational turnover before work is closed.
• Ensure site network designs and delivery plans consider maintainability, scalability, resiliency, security, monitoring, and long-term support requirements.
• Provide leadership and direction during plant launches, major cutovers, technology refreshes, and production-sensitive network changes.

Manufacturing Technology Enablement

• Partner with Manufacturing, Plant IT, Engineering, and Operations stakeholders to understand connectivity requirements for plant-floor applications and connected assets.
• Plan network solutions supporting manufacturing test equipment, material movement systems, vehicles, mobile devices, industrial endpoints, automation technologies, and emerging digital capabilities.
• Ensure plant network plans address high availability, network segmentation, secure access, IP addressing, VLAN design, DHCP capacity, application dependencies, and wired and wireless coverage requirements.
• Coordinate indoor, outdoor, yard, and complex-area wireless needs, including coverage maps, certification surveys, capacity assumptions, roaming requirements, interference analysis, and device-growth forecasts.
• Ensure new manufacturing use cases are evaluated through appropriate architecture, wireless-governance, cybersecurity, safety, and change-management processes.
• Partner with network engineering and cybersecurity teams to align technical designs with enterprise standards, security policies, and manufacturing operational requirements.
• Translate network constraints, dependencies, and technical risks into clear business impacts, decisions, and mitigation plans.

Operational Resilience & Continuous Improvement

• Review planned network changes for manufacturing risk, production impact, rollback readiness, validation requirements, operational support ownership, and recovery planning.
• Use incident, change, inventory, monitoring, capacity, and site-readiness data to identify recurring issues and prioritize remediation efforts.
• Partner closely with Plant IT and Network Operations teams to support troubleshooting, critical-issue response, production recovery, and lessons learned.
• Improve planning standards, reusable templates, automation, documentation quality, and delivery consistency across regions and suppliers.
• Drive continuous improvement in network planning, implementation readiness, risk management, supplier performance, and operational handoff processes.
• Ensure wired and wireless network capacity, coverage, resiliency, security, and observability are designed into plans before deployment rather than addressed reactively.
• Promote Ford+ behaviors through transparency, speed, technical excellence, accountability, collaboration, and customer-focused delivery.