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Disher

Product development, talent, and business consulting

Automation Project Manager

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/23/2026
No salary listed
Senior
Bachelor's
Comstock Park, MI, USA
In PersonOnsite in Comstock Park; travel to Lear sites up to 30%, including possible domestic and international travel.
Project & Program ManagementProject Management

About the job

Requirements
  • Comprehensive understanding of project management best practices and processes, including Microsoft Project, Excel, critical path analysis, and change management.
  • History of managing customer contracts and relationships and indirectly managing teams.
  • Ability to listen actively, probe, identify concerns, and develop credibility, loyalty, trust, and commitment.
  • Ability to negotiate, resolve conflict, and conduct proactive decision analysis.
  • Ability to travel to Lear sites up to 30% of the time, including domestic and international travel depending on the project.
  • Ability to lead and manage engineers and technical trades on project teams.
  • Bachelor's degree in engineering or an equivalent combination of experience and education.
  • At least 5 years of experience in industrial automation or the engineering services industry.
  • At least 5 years of project management experience.
Responsibilities
  • Provide leadership for projects, including scope, risk, timing, cost, and quality.
  • Serve as the customer's main point of contact, communicating and facilitating the design and build process and ensuring customer satisfaction through weekly updates and direct communication to resolve open issues.
  • Report project status to the customer and in-house teams, and share best practices and lessons learned in a monthly best-practices review after project completion.
  • Drive team cooperation, conflict resolution, and negotiation.
  • Understand each assigned project's financial details and budget, keep projects within budget, and alert management when a job approaches 80% of budget.
  • Create requests for quotation.
  • Track purchased items with all ASI departments.
  • Develop a quote and submit it to Lear.
  • Reiterate the scope in the quote to match the statement of work or align with the team requesting the quote.
  • Develop the milestone timeline and kick off the job with a meeting involving all ASI leaders and automation team members who will affect the job.
  • Develop and manage issues lists, communicate them weekly, work to close open issues daily, drive resolution, and manage the schedule so the team can complete the job.
  • Communicate timing for factory acceptance testing and any required shipping arrangements to the customer.
Desired Qualifications
  • PMP certification.

About the company

Disher provides product development, talent attraction, and business consulting to help Fortune 500 companies, suppliers, and inventors bring high-impact products to market. Its team partners with clients to discover, design, engineer, and manufacture products and services, and to recruit talent and address broader business needs. It serves multiple industries—including automotive, office furniture, alternative energy, consumer, agribusiness, industrial, and medical—through offices in Michigan and Indiana and serves clients locally, nationally, and globally. Its goal is to improve performance, productivity, and profits by turning concepts into market-ready solutions and building the teams and processes that sustain growth.

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Zeeland, Michigan

Founded

2000

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • DISHER posted engineering manager and director roles in Holland and Grand Rapids during 2026.
  • Its 25-year milestone in February 2025 signals durable client relationships and brand longevity.
  • Recent THIRA Robotics automation partnerships keep DISHER visible in factory automation growth markets.

What critics are saying

  • Contract engineering demand weakens quickly if manufacturers freeze capital projects in 2026.
  • Partner-position staffing ties DISHER revenue to client churn and project timing.
  • Automated staffing rivals and in-house engineering teams can displace DISHER on repeat work.

What makes Disher unique

  • DISHER has 100-plus partner positions, blending consulting with embedded engineering execution.
  • Since 2000, DISHER has served automotive, furniture, energy, agribusiness, industrial, and medical clients.
  • DISHER's DEN network uses vetted contractors for flexible project delivery across Michigan and Indiana.

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Benefits

  • Professional Development Budget
  • Flexible Work Hours
  • 401(k) Company Match
  • Health Insurance
  • Paid Vacation
  • Mental Health Support
  • Wellness Program
  • Remote Work Options
  • Paid Sick Leave
  • Paid Holidays
  • Employee Discounts
  • Company Social Events

Company News

Disher
Sep 29th, 2026
Recognized at home: Frank Groen named Young Professional of the Year.

Recognized at home: Frank Groen named Young Professional of the Year. DISHER is proud to share that Frank Groen, its Vice President of Sales & Marketing, has been named Young Professional of the Year by the West Coast Chamber. The honor carries even more weight coming from a Chamber recognized nationally as the best in the country, and from the community Frank calls home. DISHER asked Frank to reflect on the recognition and the people who shaped his path to it. Here is what he had to say. To put it simply, winning the West Coast Chamber Young Professional of the Year is an honor. This award was never on my radar, but the fact that it comes from my local community, which also happens to be recognized nationally as the best Chamber in the country, makes it that much better. Last year, I had the opportunity to go through West Coast Leadership, a program offered by the West Coast Chamber. It was great to have a diverse group of community leaders in my cohort, and to build real relationships with the Chamber staff along the way. Britt Delo and Collen Schipsi did an amazing job throughout the course of the program, and I'm grateful to have built relationships with them as trailblazers in the community and a powerhouse Chamber staff. I don't think there is one standalone accomplishment that warranted my recognition. Instead, I look back at those who have helped me in my career. This has been an exciting year of promotion and transition for me, joining its Executive team at DISHER this past June, and there were many years of triumph and challenge that led up to where I am now. I owe a lot of my journey to my former boss, Keri McCarthy. While she was a boss by title, she was an exceptional leader and mentor. Keri was great at stretching me out of my comfort zone, from my first year at DISHER to when she retired this past June. She grew me as a Recruiter for six years at DISHER and as a leader for DISHER Talent for four years. This past year, she tapped me on the shoulder to join the Sales team at DISHER. I knew this was a complete career pivot for me, and I had to push through the nerves. Keri saw potential in me in an area I had not worked in before. I knew this was her last push for me before she retired, and I knew it was the right thing to pursue. By challenging me with new customer projects and hard conversations, she was intentionally growing my skill set. I hope everyone can have a leader who sees potential and, more importantly, puts the tools in place for development. I also want to acknowledge Joe Dyer, President of DISHER, and Phil Dirkse, Vice President of Engineering at DISHER. Working with them these past few months has been exciting. DISHER share a united vision for the future of DISHER and how DISHER can help its customers Make a Positive Difference and leave the world better than DISHER found it. Moving forward, I see the responsibility I have. Grow the next leader, and then the next. I am excited to continue uncovering meaningful opportunities for its team and its customers, and to pour into more of its current and new leaders at DISHER. Congratulations, Frank! The way you show up for the people around you reflects the heart of what DISHER value at DISHER, and this recognition from your community is well earned. DISHER is grateful to have you on its Executive team, and DISHER cannot wait to see the leaders you grow next. Communications Team

PR Newswire
Apr 22nd, 2024
Thira Robotics And Disher Provide Practical Solutions To U.S. Manufacturing Challenges At Automate 2024

THIRA ROBOTICS will showcase their new L300 model, to provide production benefits to food and beverage factories.SEOUL, South Korea, April 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- THIRA ROBOTICS — the AMR subsidiary of THiRA-UTECH — and DISHER — a U.S.-based solution engineering innovator and system integrator—announced their 2024 AUTOMATE exhibition. Live demonstrations of THIRA's newest solution for food and beverage facilities, the L300, will take place at booth #4055 alongside their line of second-generation units. Both teams will head to Chicago from May 6th - 9th for the conference."The L300 is a model specifically designed for food factories," said THIRA ROBOTICS' CEO Peter Kim. The L300 can operate accurately and stably even on slippery and highly reflective floors, making it the optimal solution for food factories that conduct frequent water cleaning."DISHER Technical Automation lead, Shawn O'Farrell furthered, "The L300 can autonomously navigate on sloped factory floors and around drains, which are rough environments due to water drainage. It is made of stainless steel that does not rust, allowing it to be used in HACCP-certified factories." The solution is currently in use at CJ Food's factory, successfully automating their production.THIRA ROBOTICS' L300 model made its global debut in March at MODEX 2024. The L300 received an explosive response and an overwhelming number of inquiries from customers at the exhibition

PR Newswire
Feb 22nd, 2024
Bdmt Global And Disher Partner To Provide Practical Solutions To U.S. Manufacturing Challenges At Modex 2024

Featuring Success Cases from the Hyundai Transys and Second-Generation AMR Innovator; THIRA ROBOTICSBOSTON, Feb. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- BDMT Global — a five-time award-winning global business development and marketing firm — and DISHER — a U.S.-based solution engineering innovator and system integrator — announced a partnership to co-host an educational seminar at MODEX 2024. The session will detail installs of integrated solutions and how to automate facilities. The presentation is on March 11, at 2:30 pm in the Emerging Technologies Theater.DISHER"In U.S. facilities, there is a void for a skilled workforce, especially around automation. While countries like S

PR Newswire
Oct 17th, 2023
S. Korean Automation Innovator Partners With Disher To Bring Second Gen-Amr To The U.S.

THIRA ROBOTICS and the U.S. system integrator's collaboration will expand automation use cases to environments previously considered unfit for automation.SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- THIRA ROBOTICS—the AMR subsidiary of THiRA-UTECH—signed a MOU with U.S.-based solution engineering innovator and system integrator, DISHER. The agreement begins their joint effort to bring second-generation AMR to facilities with complex conditions that were previously considered unfit for automation. DISHER will travel to S. Korea from October 18-19 for a high-profile event sponsored by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and is invited to establish another MOU with the Korea Association of Robot Industry to facilitate more strategic industry collaboration between the two nations.THIRA's second-generation AMRs navigate imperfect floors, indoor/outdoor areas, chaotic spaces, elevators, and slopes

MITechNews.com
Sep 19th, 2021
DISHER hired Joe on Jan 1st 13'.

In 2013, Joe joined DISHER as a Manufacturing and Quality Engineer serving in project management, process development, automation, design, manufacturing, and quality.